Antonio Carrera Tractors

[Tractor Rep]

Yes, I have two dealers doing loaders, One is manufacturing loaders for our 35 horse ttr4400 model as this is the model most popular with the horse facility owners he caters too. I also have a dealer making loaders for our larger models. They are how ever loaders designed specifically for the Carraro Tractors only at this time and adapting them to others may be more work then just building one from scratch for your specific manufacturers tractor.

 

[rangerdave]

Help!!!

I have an Antonio Carraro TRX 8400 68 HP tractor with a front end loader. It's 2 years old...

I was lifting up the front end of the tractor with the front end loader (like I have done with all of my tractors) to put jacks under the frame to perform maintenance.... I heard a groan and then the whole thing just pop, pop, popped in half in a sickening sag and then a pool of hydraulic oil.... I wasn't even on the tractor when it happened, just standing to the side working the levers.

I am convinced that this is a manufacturing defect and am not getting much of a response from the company... The dealer thinks the repair would run about 18,000!!! Oh yeah, the warranty expired a couple of months before this happened too... figures...

Any advice, answers, comments appreciated.

PS: I believe that the casting is defective. When I looked at how thin the housing walls were, I was shocked. Barely thicker than 1/4 inch in spots.

They also skimped on the metal around the threaded bolts that hold it together. That's where the casting initially failed as well. When the shoulder casting around the bottom bolts went, the rest just went for the ride.

I'm sure that if the integrity of the metal wasn't compromised by any internal defects and the shoulder metal was a little more substantial, the failure would never have happened.

I had to bring it back to the dealer for the 100 hour servicing and we discovered that the cast metal bumper guard weight had cracked in half... I had never hit it. This is a 1" thick chunk of metal that protects the engine... We sent it back and the one that the dealer got was ALSO broken... no damage to the box it came in either. Third time was a charm...

 

[RAW]

What make/model of loader?
Do you have a picture that gives a wider shot?
I'm not sure what I'm looking at in the pics.

But it sure doesn't look right!!

 

[Tractor Rep]

Please forward me your info and serial number on the tractor, as well as the pertainant loader info.


The problem you're going to have here is that not only is the tractor is out of warranty, and I havent read the old warranty contracts,,, But,,, by installing a front end loader on a tractor not designed for one, this could possibly have already caused an early termination of the warranty. I don't know, and will have to find out so no cause for additional panick,, the damage is already done. The other issue is that the loader manufacturer is most likely not going to be of any help at all $$ . If you were picking up the front of the tractor you void your warranty with many manufacturers instantly even if it's new. If you read the fine print in the loader books, it says "loose materials bucket" Lifting a tractor up indicates excessive force, indicating you are not using it for "loose" materials and beyond the manufacturers recommended duty rating and function..

Digging or jacking your tractor up regardless of reason why, does cause excessive force against the very core of any tractor as well as ebing the common cause of frequently breaking king pins, blowing out front seals and prodmonately crushing bearings on a tractors front end when they hit the ground again,, especially if anything became slightly mis-aligned while it was stretched out in the air, let alone the crushing forces exserted while digging with a loader. That's a HUGE amount of force leveraged on a tractor.

Regardless of maker,,, I've seen this happen in several other makes and models,, especially having come from a shop where we would make custom loaders for odd ball tractors. It opened the flood gates for all sorts of other loader related wierdness. Saw several tractors actually pulled in half at the bell housing bolts,, Yeah, that's a real fun one to fix .... (not)

Send over your info,, (you can do this privately) I will try to find out what if any intentions there are in this situation and who this has gone to yet for consideration...

If RAW is reading this maybe they are a dealer? By the location I'm guessing this is a possibility and would like to know so between the two of us, we are not overwhelming Don or Bruce with trying to help with this. If this gentleman in in your area and you have it handled let me know.

 

[RAW]

If RAW is reading this maybe they are a dealer? By the location I'm guessing this is a possibility and would like to know so between the two of us, we are not overwhelming Don or Bruce with trying to help with this. If this gentleman in in your area and you have it handled let me know.

Nope, I'm just an owner of a TRG with Seppi mulching head.

 

[Tractor Rep]

Nope, I'm just an owner of a TRG with Seppi mulching head.

No Problem, just checking... Luckily, those Seppi's are designed to work with the Carraro and not against them. These tractors are designed to be hard terrain pullers, and essentially loaders are a discretionary and abusive luxury,,, but not part of the design concept when the Carraro Engineers had them on the drawing board,, not then or now.

It would be like buying a new one ton pick up and putting a tow rig on it, then asking it to lift up and carry a lumber supply flat bed truck repeatedly.
In the end, you'll get the same thing,, something has to give and I suspect this is not the only time this tractors been in the air with having been used for a career in logging. It takes ALOT to break through even 1/4 inch cast steel. Especially considering all the ISO standards now days.

His situation stinks but I'll do what I can to help.

 

[rangerdave]

Thanks for getting back to me. I was told when I bought the tractor that the Sigma 4 PC 630 Loader was designed for the tractor and that when the tractor left the factory in Italy, it was trucked down the street to Sigma for installation at their factory.

I have been told by many dealers, over the years, that it was not from over abuse from use that the various companies stopped installing front end loaders on their tractors, but from the liability from people rolling their tractors over...

The vast majority of folks that I have seen that have broken their tractors is from sheer abuse and neglect. I may work my tractor, but I hardly come close to taking it to the limits that I have seen in some pictures and videos...

But anyway, the serial # is 9410754

 

[Tractor Rep]

Got a barrage of copies of the email replys from the higher ups at Carraro,

Looks like my raising the red flag & pointing out your situation has captured their attention. I'm just a peon regional rep,,, And not able to help you much personally. But being a woman and a Westerner... getting her nose in the boys' business seems to rattle their cages and looks like it's gotten everyone working in your direction.

They really are a good group,, just entirely over educated and a little old fashioned compared to what Americans are used to.

Hopefully between the insurance and Simone you will be able to get fixed up and back in action...

Sorry for your inconvenience,
Paula

 

[Rara Avis]

Will be watching to see the outcome of this gentleman's problem...before I could put AC on the recommend to buy list...

 

[SPYDERLK]

Will be watching to see the outcome of this gentleman's problem...before I could put AC on the recommend to buy list...

Whether they fix it or not I suspect the failure demonstrates a fragility in design for loader work. That is an area where I need strength.
larry