DO NOT BUY TC40/45

[Dougster]

Doug- I was only trying to make some humor about Internet abbreviations, a little too dry I guess. I just was reusing your own words of LC threads being "long" and "controversial" at times. No disrespect meant; I read these things too because I'm also currently in the market for a heavy use machine as well.

Hi Harold - I didn't really take it as disrespect... although I didn't take it as humor either. I just took it as a plain and simple comment... an observation with some definite truth to it. These do end up being long threads and all the other adjectives thrown in there... but for a good reason. Folks are interested and lots of folks even have a genuine stake... or at least some very strong opinions... about the brand and model series being discussed as well as the topic of dealer vs. manufacturer responsibility. We all come away taking something different from these discussions... for me it is clearly the business aspect: what machines work reliably in that kind of rigorous service and how well they are supported by both the dealer and the manufacturer when problems arise.

No harm or dissing intended... honest.

Dougster

 

[Z-Michigan]

Given the number of posts, apparently I am not alone in my interest in these sorts of threads.

Dougster

Nope, lots of us are very interested. I'm not currently in business in this area but the thought has crossed my mind a few times.

On a different note, when I was tractor shopping 6 months ago, the local NH/Kubota dealer, which is the only nearby NH dealer but one of four nearby Kubota dealers, was steering me away from a TC45 even though it was higher priced than the botas I was looking at, and they had some aging (but new) TC's on the lot that I would have thought they'd want to get rid of. They didn't say anything bad about it, just were suggesting the botas. This place is a full line dealer for Kubota and NH, selling everything from garden tractors and zero-turns up to 300+hp row crop tractors and combines. Very interesting...

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Nope, lots of us are very interested. I'm not currently in business in this area but the thought has crossed my mind a few times.

On a different note, when I was tractor shopping 6 months ago, the local NH/Kubota dealer, which is the only nearby NH dealer but one of four nearby Kubota dealers, was steering me away from a TC45 even though it was higher priced than the botas I was looking at, and they had some aging (but new) TC's on the lot that I would have thought they'd want to get rid of. They didn't say anything bad about it, just were suggesting the botas. This place is a full line dealer for Kubota and NH, selling everything from garden tractors and zero-turns up to 300+hp row crop tractors and combines. Very interesting...

My local New Holland- Kubota dealer is the same, tends to push the Botas. I think that they may make more money on the Botas, but I don't really know.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

My local New Holland- Kubota dealer is the same, tends to push the Botas. I think that they may make more money on the Botas, but I don't really know.

A Massey Ferguson dealer I trade with is doing much the same thing. They now handle Branson tractors also. He's really pushing the branson line and putting the Massey's on the back lot. He told me it had to do with Bransons "floor plan" vs. Massey's dealer incentive program. He could afford to let the Masseys sit longer than the Bransons and still make just as much per unit, where the Bransons needed to move with-in a couple months of their arrival to make his full cut.

 

[jinman]

I took it out (big job, two mowers, two crews) and it went til exactly noon and it broke again. Same PTO switch. I call the dealer, even he's upset at this point. He says "we don't have any switch's"
I say, sure you do, that loaner without a FEL i ahd the other day is sitting there. How about if I send my wife down to get it and we'll switch it out. They agree, they strip it, I send the wife down (she can't mow anyway, what difference does it make), 30 minutes, about 20+ miles to get it. She gets it, switches it out
It runs for an hour and does the same thing.
Dead in the field. There are no more PTO switches in Denver (all 3 dealers) (obviously it's only MY problem), and every TC on their lot has been stripped from switches, they can't even sell one.

Wow! The same switch three times? On two tractors? What are the odds of this? How is it that we aren't hearing of many other people with the same problem? Surely there would other dealers/customers experiencing the same problems. I'm not there and I should not be too quick to judge, but every ounce of troubleshooting experience in my blood says that the failed switch is the symptom rather than the real problem. I think Brian is the victim of bad setup or bad repair technique. This is just too big of a coincidence for me to accept at face value. I think something's awry more than this switch...just a gut feelin'.

 

[dynasim]

One of my jobs is to give people advice on how to fix/prevent recurring problems with industrial equipment. The repair, and subsequent billing event, on Brian's TN, the repair of the wiring harness on the TC, the replacement of the transmission housing on the TC, the repair of the replacement of the transmission housing, and the repair of the "new" TC45, were all failures.

The lack of attention and service to what was clearly a cascading failure is mind boggling. If I was Brian, after receipt of the new TC45 cab, I would not return to that dealer for any item under any circumstances. I personally don't think the dealer allowed him to get a fair shake on the TC45, and think that he ought to keep it and try it out. Debugged, these are great tractors. Ask anyone who has one that works(which is almost all of the owners).

What is interesting about this sort of thing is that human nature would tend to "give the guy(the dealer) a chance". A company I worked for did that(under the same sort of circumstances) when it was clear to me that the supplier was incompetent(and I told them so, in those words). The consequences almost sunk the relatively large company.

Recurring failure of a safety switch on a PTO(when that sort of problem has not been reported around here) is clearly a repair/misdiagnosis issue.

Brian, good luck.

Chris

 

[MikePA]

How is it that we aren't hearing of many other people with the same problem? Surely there would other dealers/customers experiencing the same problems.

That's the piece of information we're missing. Are there other people/dealers having the same problem? If it were widespread, e.g., a bad batch of switches from a supplier, you'd think NH would have sent out a service alert and Brian's dealer would have known about it and known cannibalizing other tractors wont solve the problem.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

A Massey Ferguson dealer I trade with is doing much the same thing. They now handle Branson tractors also. He's really pushing the branson line and putting the Massey's on the back lot. He told me it had to do with Bransons "floor plan" vs. Massey's dealer incentive program. He could afford to let the Masseys sit longer than the Bransons and still make just as much per unit, where the Bransons needed to move with-in a couple months of their arrival to make his full cut.

I think Mahindra does the same thing as Branson. The local Mahindra dealer here doesn't carry much inventory (tractor wise) as he tells us that if he has them on the lot for any amount of time then he starts loosing money. At first I thought he was just trying to cover for not having a good inventory but I guess not if this is somewhat common now with these newer lines.

It does not seem like a good practice though as dealers won't put tractors on their lot for people to see if they stand the chance of loosing money if it don't sell right away. The Mahindra dealer had one tractor on the lot when I went by the other day. The most new tractors I have ever seen on his lot at one time was 8 and 3 of them were sold before they were even ordered so they were only there a few days.

 

[schmism]

Well...that's a slight stretch. I think you are wrong, Steve. The relief valve for at TC33D is SBA322840759, or SBA322840130. The one on all Class IIIs is SBA322840773. I believe yours is set for less pressure. All Class III tractors have the same relief valve, but your Class II is different.

ah well nuts, I was shure ive seen that exact thing quoted a number of times when others have complained about there big beafy TC40/45 not pulling worth a ***

 

[Robert_in_NY]

They were referring to the TC35 which is a class III machine