JD 2520 gas cap/hood clearance problem

[glc24]

The tank sure seems like it is mounted very solid.

This is true in my investigation of the problem also.
I cannot budge the tank,no matter how hard I tug on it.
Hopefully,taking a little of the bend out of the bracket and adding a gussett to it will keep it centered better with the cap.
I'm going to wait until the tank is just about empty,so it's lighter to work with before I do this.

Greg

 

[bz1]

After looking at the actual hardware I can see that in addition to the 5 bolted locations the tank is supported by two very rigid supports underneath. While it is not clear to me what is causing the clearance to change I think I see how it could best be fixed. The holes in the tank are slotted. On my tractor I can see all four of the side attachment points and it appears that the tank is slid as far rearward as the slots allow. This leads me to conclude that if one were to remove the tank and make all the slots longer it could be moved further rearward. I think an additional 1/8 inch clearance could easily be had by doing this. In addition, when the tank is reinstalled I would shim the front mount behind the firewall to lift the front of the tank. I would also shim the angled/sloped side mounts to likewise move the tank rearward. The rearward most mounts are level and thus the increased slot length allows the thank to move rearward with no need for shims. I realize this is not the easiest fix but not terribly hard and I think it would permanently solve the problem. I noted that to accomplish this fix one would have to remove the hood, which involves disconnecting the headlight wires and unbolting the hood from the hinge. Then one might need to remove the firewall which is only held in place by two bolts. This would provide access to the forward most mount. The 4 mounts on either side of the tank are all accessible without removing anything. The whole job would probably take several hours. That's my thought on this.

 

[goldenwings]

bz1, I had this same thought as well. I figured that the couple of hours it would take me to do this would far outweigh the 15 extra seconds to just unscrew the cap and put it back on whenever I needed to open the hood. If it were a quick fix or still under warranty I'd probably fix/have it fixed but until it wont clear the neck anymore, mines gonna have to stay how it is.

 

[sldva00]

... the 15 extra seconds to just unscrew the cap and put it back on whenever I needed to open the hood...

The extra 15 seconds doesn't bother me. I do it all the time. What bothers me is the fact that I have to take 15 seconds to unscrew the cap. The cap should clear the hood. We shouldn't have to take the cap off to lift the hood.

I worry about gunk getting into the tank when I have to remove the cap. I look like Pigpen when I mow my property. There is a dust cloud around me most of the time. Having to blow everything off everytime I need to lift the hood gets old after awhile.

 

[the fat kid]

Bz1 isn't that a brand new tractor you got from the deal of a lifetime? Why not just bring it in for warranty?

 

[Danny Faust]

Round file did the trick for me. Same weapon I had to apply to the ROPS!

 

[glc24]

Round file did the trick for me. Same weapon I had to apply to the ROPS!

Are you saying you filed the hole in the hood?

Greg

 

[larry8818]

I'm piping up here too.
I've had my 2520 since August of '06 and from what I can recall at least the first 3 years I had no issue of opening the hood:thumbsup:
...then all of a sudden one day I opened the hood, and something seemed stuck, so I gave a little harder pull and I heard a pop. That's when I realized I had a problem.

After closing the hood back down I figure out it was the fuel tank cap. I'm lucky, my hood has the slightest of bends and it is practically un-noticable, However, it pulled up a corner of the fuel cap. My situation could have been alot worse if the what-ever happend to be the cause of this was just slightly worse. I imagine those hoods are not cheap.

Deere should figure this out. It get's old quick having to remember to take the fuel cap off everytime someone wants to open the hood.
Plus you run the risk of contaminents sliding off the hood into the tank.

There are obviously alot of 2520 owners...and I'm sure 2720 owners too out there with this problem. JOHN DEERE...if your listening, this needs re-engineering:confused3:

 

[bz1]

The clearance problem I had was with my old machine that I traded in. I had exactly the same thing happen as larry8818 did. The new tractor does not show the problem right now although when one of the nubs on the cap is facing straight forward the hood only clears the nub by about the thickness of sheet of paper. Perhaps some people don't see the problem until the nub lines up right? I did show it to my dealer and he had never seen this problem before although he sells way more large tractors and thus not as familiar with the CUTs. He had his technician look at my old tractor when they took it on trade. The tech said it looked to him that the design just lent itself to the tank being too far forward. The tank on both my machines was slid as far back as the slots in the mounting tabs would allow. He had no idea why the clearance would get worse over time. Until JD comes up with an official fix he suggested the same thing I described in an earlier post.

 

[larry8818]

Only one thought comes to mind
..."Houston, we have a problem"