Problems with fiberglass?

[Anonymous Poster]

Re: Fiberglass and bitter cold?

Pete,

When it's -20, go down the road to the JD dealer's lot and bang on a few hoods... all of the one's that don't break or crack... buy! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

All kidding aside, a couple weeks ago... a customer left his television in his trunk for about a week... My guy helped him lift it out of the trunk and "CRACK!", "BANG"... the plastic cabinet literally disintegrated in their hands, falling apart, dropping on the ground breaking the picture tube... Moral - don't leave a Sharp TV in the cold for a week.

P.S. Pete... I just know you're gonna buy this John Deere... ain't ya.... I can tell... you love it!

 

[jfakerj]

I think I'll talk to the dealer before doing anything. The crack is not very noticable from the top (about 2 1/2 in.) and I am hoping that I can find something to fix the problem from under the hood so it doesn't show. I'd leave it but don't want it to crack any farther. I don't think you could even see the crack if it were put back and held from the inside. Just a thought to save some money. I'll see what the dealer says.
Thanks all

Jerry

 

[Boondox]

Re: Fiberglass and bitter cold?

John -- Yes, I'm salivating at the thought of that 4300 nestled in my garage. That said, I feel like a traitor for wanting to replace my little orange toy with this big green machine! An unforeseen complication: my wife, who has veto authority, likes the little Kubota we have because "It's so cute!"

Pete

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I think it was mentioned above about using 2 part expoxy. Check out West Systems[http://www.westsystems.com] . If you look at their web page they have a pretty good description of all the products and in the retail stores(I didn't look to see if they have it on the web page) you can get a fiberglass how-to-booklet.

There's also a product called Marine-Tex,[www.marinetex.com] it's a 2 part that will fix just about anything. The best part about it,for small repairs you don't have to get involved in mixer and additives, like you would with west systems. The marine-tex is kind of like toothpaste that turns as hard as a rock when it cures.if you use a small piece of fiberglass (they sell it in rolls, that look like masking tape) and cover it with the marine tex it will be as good as new/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[jfakerj]

shorty

Thanks, I might try the marine-tex, I don't know yet. It sounds like it would work. I just am still not sure what the hood is made of. The dealer here said it's fiberglass. When I asked, isn't it a composite, he answered with "it's a fiberglass composite". I don't think he knows what it is. He might be right though. It looks like it's got at least some fiberglass in it, looking from under the hood. If it's a fibereglass composite the marine-tex should work well. If it's plastic, I don't know if it would work as well. I think I'll have to call JD myself to find out for sure about the make up of the hood.

Jerry

 

[Fruitlady]

Re: Fiberglass and bitter cold?

I was deciding green or orange last year, and chose orange mostly because of the plastic on the JD. A friend has a JD lawn tractor whose plastic hood completely shattered when he was out doing something, don't know what but he said he didn't hit much, when it was very cold. Also I studied a 1978 JD 2040 that had just about a 6" wide piece of plastic over the radiator and the rest of the body is metal. The metal still looks good for 20 years old but that plastic piece is long gone.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

John Deere Publications (800) 522-7448 repair manuals:
Fiberglass P/N FOS5904NC $11.95
Plastics P/N FOS6501NC $11.95

On my JD5205, they seem to use different materials:
Metal rear fenders
Plastic/Composite Hood
It's either HD/reinforced Plastic or Fiberglass/Plastic Hood supports.

A repair/rebuild/restore kit I've seen was from "PSI - Polymeric Systems, Inc." with specialty epoxy putty. Looks like a roll of clay, a 3 1/2" stick is about $6. - $8. They have tubes repairing steel, wood, concrete, aluminum, boat hulls, plastic, etc.(all different kinds-not one tube for all purposes)

It you try anything, do it underneath first, in an out of the view/way area. If the stuff doesn't work, at least you won't see any "cob job".

I've never studied the 4300 unit, but what I remember was the fenders were a very rigid combo fiberglass/hd plastic type material, and the hood was more plastic, being very flexible.

 

[jfakerj]

John

I called JD today and they said the hood is made of polymer. The person I talked to is going to e-mail me with information on how to repair when she finds it. They must not have this problem very often if no body knows how to fix it. The crack hasn't changed any and I've been woking the machine very hard digging and moving dirt. Maybe it won't get any bigger. Thanks for the info on the repair kit. I'll check that out also.

Jerry

 

[OkieG]

Hello,

This thread never really got to the bottom of HD plastic polymer repair for newer tractors hoods, fenders, etc. I thought reviving this topic now (2 years later) would allow everyone a chance to contribute to an update.

My JD855 (1997 model) is a generation older than the 4000 series and the 4010 series JDs. The hood on my tractor is definitely fiberglass. I suspect either fiberglass or plastic is found on other brands ,too.

A couple days ago I began a thread on my version of grille guard. Puting a hole in my fiberglass hood with a piece of firewood that missed the loader bucket (ouch!) was my motivation to build a grille guard in the first place.

This happened about a year ago, and I repaired it right away. I didn't take a before picture, but here's the inside of the hood, now. The hole was all the way through the hood and about the size of golf ball. The brown spot in the middle of the picture is where the hole was.

 

[OkieG]

Here's a closer look. Not too pretty, but usually not in view.

 

[OkieG]

Now, here is picture of the outside of the hood, where the hole was. You can see the paint job on the front of the cowling is not as faded, yet as the rest of the hood. With close inspection you can tell there was a repair, but a casual inspection would never reveal it. I used a fiberglass repair kit from an auto parts store ($15-20).

The white surface scratches are not where the hole was and have happened since the repair was complete.

 

[OkieG]

This past Spring, I bought a Buck Top. It was only a week or two old when I backed into a big branch and cracked the left rear corner. Once again, no picture of the damage, just the repair. The crack went from the gutter up to the top edge of the corner and along the top edge for a few inches.

To the left and right of the repair, down by the guttering, you can see remnant runs of resin (alliteration)/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif where I got lazy and didn't sand them flush. From ground level you mostly can't see 'em.

Now, I must say, I had never repaired fiberglass before. And, I offer these pictures only to show that even a rank novice can work with fiberglass and get reasonable results. Plastic gloves and some sort of electric sander are very helpful.

So, don't be too afraid of buying a tractor with fiberglass parts. They may be prone to break with abuse, but are not too hard to repair.

Surely, I am not the only clutz out there. Has anyone had the chance to do repair work on the HD plastic tractor parts?

OkieG

 

[JC4HD]

I have a 4310 that I purchased last April... while manuvering around some trees one of them moved (they are know to do that occasionally) and really bent the "Plastic" fender... when I got free the only thing I had was a scratch... no dent! If it was metal I would imagine it would have been ugly! They are not fiberglass but a very flexible plastic and it appears the color goes all the way through... even the scratch was green!
I haven't operated it in -20 yet but at +10 it shows no signs of being brittle. Welcome to the 21st Century!

 

[whoodle]

I was very skeptical of the plastic until I saw some twisted up metal fenders. The metal fenders are pretty flimsey as well.

 

[Green_in_MI]

Re: Fiberglass and bitter cold?

I am sure you will like your Kubota, they are fine machines but it's too bad you made a choice of such proportions based on misinformation. Did you really expect to crash your tractor into something out in the bitter cold?