L3130, 100F+, plastic fan

[AntrimMan]

Well, well, well.
I am a sicko, I washed my tractor.
This is one of the things I forgot about but couldn't wash away.
When it happened I surely do remember looking around to see what fool was burning plastic in a fire on a 100F+ day. It looks like I am the fool. This is what my BIL found, quite by accident, when we went looking for the source of the smell.
Keep in mind it was a hot day, 100+, I was in the sun, and the machine was working on a slope, sometimes pushing boulders and the rest of the time backhoeing. There were times when only three wheels contacted the earth, pucker up boys. I do believe the frame twisted under load, maybe not, perhaps the fan blades straightened and lenghtened under load, perhaps the muffler is too close to the left side of the shroud, maybe all of the above. I was running the machine at 2400 revs, I never exceed that number. Never did the temp gauge show more than 4 bars out of 8, I let it idle in the shade a long time before I shut down.
So, do you think I did more damage inside than outside?
Here come the pic's, four total,
Thanks for looking,
Martin

 

[AntrimMan]

pic 2

 

[AntrimMan]

pic 3

 

[AntrimMan]

final pic
Thanks for looking,
Martin

 

[wushaw]

I would have to go down to the dealer and do a little measuring on another L3130 to see if the clearances are simular. Interesting problem though.

 

[texbaylea]

I will look at my L3130 tomorrow if I remember. It looks like the blades were dragging against the shroud there on the lower left in the last picture. Maybe due to the flexing?

Vernon

 

[slowzuki]

My L5030 has the same damage. On mine when travelling at certain speeds the hood gets a slight side to side vibe and it you look it seems to take the fan shroud with it into the fan. The damage was done before I owned it and hasn't progressed any further so I haven't done anything.

I have about 130 hrs on the machine since we bought it in late March.

 

[Bob_Young]

I doubt you did any damage, Antrim, other than what was shown on the blade tips. Looks like the assembly tolerances stacked up the wrong way on your tractor leaving you with minimal fan blade clearance. You might want to see if the radiator/shroud assembly can be loosened up and shifted toward the rub side; but be sure to check clearance all the way around after doing so.

If it were mine (and I had the time....sigh), I'd make sure everthing was tight up-front and then pull the fan, trim each blade an eighth of an inch, check the blade's balance, and put it back on. Then I'd monitor the temperature gauge more closely for awhile, especially on hot days. I doubt you'd see much difference.
FWIW
Bob

 

[_RaT_]

I agree with Bob. It's really a non issue as far as anything in cooling ability being lost. As he mentioned, see if things can be shifted around a little.