TYM Warranty Experience

[gooseman80]

I thought I had to say a few words about TYM and what the guys in N. Carolina will be doing for me. In 2006 I purchased a terrific looking TYM 273. She has been a work horse and I would pit her up against any sub compact in her class. Two years within the 3 year warranty, my hydraulic pump manifold went out. At the time Eddy's tractors in Baytown were still dealers and TYM graciously covered the re-built of my hydraulic pump manifold which was a pretty expensive job from what I'm told. 6 years in and she has not giving me any major troubles until........

Over the weekend I had a major malfunction with my tractor frame while moving dirt. It severed at the frame where the T post for the front end loader bolts to. Yikes! To say the least, my life has been pretty stressed for the last few days on how to tackle the problem. The frame looked quite complex to change out and I was unsure how well a weld would hold even if it could be welded and supported.

This morning I called TYM's facility in N. Carolina and emailed them pictures of my problem in hopes of searching for some advice and recommendations. The guy I talked to was Gerald Johnson who seemed generally concerned about my situation. Seeing that my warranty had been long gone for 3 years now, I never would have dream these guys would do what they have agreed to do. You guess it, replace the fame with full coverage on parts and labor. Was this a dream? I surely hope not, but won't be pinching myself for the next couple of weeks just in case. To top it all off, they had a new frame ready to ship at the dealership of my choice. Found out today that Topflight in Conroe are no longer dealers for TYM. I will be using the dealer "Small Farm Innovations" in Caldwell, Tx now as it is closest to me. Contact there is Phil Livinggood (spell?) and he seems like a nice guy. To be honest, Eddy's in Baytown went downhill after going through some kind of reorganization of their company way back when when they were still selling TYMs. I know this because of there change to terrible service, broken promises on ordered parts, and breaking my water separator than charging me to fix it. The only problem I ever had with Topflight was there high mark up on parts for these tractors. I'm honestly looking forward to a new dealership with new contacts and we will see.

Now back to the guys at the N. Carolina facility. What can I say but top notch and first class all the way. This wasn't the first time I have called them on something and the people over there seem generally concerned for the tractor owners and I have only ever been meat with politeness and kindness. Sure you will find not so great dealerships out their around the US, but as far as the main facility is concerned, I cannot think of one negative comment and will dispute any if I see them. I mean, my gosh guys, they are replacing a cracked tractor frame for me at no cost other than me transporting my tractor to the dealership. That should really say it all. Hopefully things will go OK with with frame exchange as I am told by TYM that it's not as complex as I thought and pretty easy. Sure doesn't look easy and I'm an engineer, but I'll just go with that for now. I will post an update if anyone requests it but just really wanted to say a few words about TYM. Way To Go TYM !!!!!!!

 

[vabiker23518]

As a fellow TYM (T233) owner, always like to hear a good story and this certainly qualifies....Best of luck with your "new" tractor!

 

[cmore]

Its nice to see a manufacture go above and beyond in helping a owner.

 

[lilranch2001]

Its nice to see a manufacture go above and beyond in helping a owner.

no doubt
This is an outstanding story

 

[ALKY]

My frame broke 2 years ago under warranty and I still had to beg for repair! It took almost 2 months to get my machine back.2 weeks to get the frame and 6 to get the frame replaced.To top it off they didn't tighten the oil cooler lines,routed my hyd hoses wrong[found that 1 year later],left wiring unplugged ugh get my point. U sure are lucky.

 

[Airedale]

Kudos to TYM for being stand up for this repair when they were not obligated to do so. Hopefully the mechanic that does the actual job is better than ALKY's.

Al

 

[tkappeler]

As a new T293 owner, this is very comforting to hear. Thanks and good luck with the new dealer. Hopefully, the dealer will not let you down.

 

[creekbend]

Glad to hear that everything worked out positive. In regards to TYM coming to your aid, even though the warranty had expired::thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[tym233me]

Same thing just happened to me today any help you can give would be real nice

 

[gooseman80]

I would just start making phone calls about it. I was going to get a profession welder to look at it originally. I asked some fellow engineers about it and they all thought that it could be welded. I think in my case I got lucky because TYM already had a same year and model tractor that was currently being parted out do to a blown or defective engine or something. Seeing that they already had the frame I needed, I believe that helped me to convince them to take care of mine. From what I learned however, the frame could have been welded, but it should be done professionally. By that, I mean a V notch cut in for the weld bead. The verdict is still out on my fix. The dealer has had my tractor for about a week now and I hope he does a good job replacing the frame.

 

[lilranch2001]

Is that frame cast?
Cast can be welded, but.....

I wonder what the issue is with these tractors..... 2 broken frames in a month or so, seems suspect to me

 

[gooseman80]

It is not cast. You only will see cast on older tractors from what I understand. Most newer tractors are not cast. If it were cast, you can forget about any welding repair that will hold.

 

[tym233me]

The frame is steel and the spots that broke is 3/8 thick and 6in high . tractor at dealer ,frame ,drive shafts and anything else to be replaced , my cost will be between $ 0 and $200.00 shold take about a month due to shipping and waiting for the dealer to start on it

 

[94BULLITT]

That's amazing that the are willing to fix it out of warranty, there are very few companies that would do that. Could the frame be reinforced some way to keep this from happening?

 

[gooseman80]

Wow, that's cheap. I've spend more than that on gas already.So TYM is for the most part going to warranty the part or work for you even though it is out of warranty? If this isn't a selling foint for TYM, I don't know what is.

 

[gooseman80]

One ideal I had thought about as far a reinforcing the frame would be to directly weld the front end loader "T' post directly on the frame which would act as support brackets. Right now they are just bolted on as you can see from my posted pictures in the beginning of this tread. The T post brackets are so much thinker than the tractor frame its self. I lind of wish the frame would have been made a little stouter than it is. On the inside of the frame there is not a lot of room for welding in support brackets and it would be almost impossible to get to the very top of the beam unless you started taking off stuff.

 

[ALKY]

When mine broke I was goin' to weld the 't' post on, but warranty covered it. Not happily

 

[gooseman80]

Well, other than what I would call a tractor frame that could use some thicker gauge metal, the TYM has been pretty tough for her size and I can't really complain too much with 454 hrs on a tractor I bought in 2007. Still, I wish they still built them as tough as the old Ford 3600. If you don't mind be asking, what were you doing when the frame broke? With me, it's entirely possible that I might have induced a little more torque on the frame they I should have. With a full load of dirt, I don't think I was quite on a level surface and had one of my front wheels slightly higher on part of the dirt mount. With my load and the front end at a slight tilt angle, my only theory is that I put too much strain on the frame. This is only a guess however because it's entirely possible that a crack might have formed over time then finally gave loose. A hint on this could be the the crack picture I posted in that some parts of it look new and some look old (shinny vs dull). That being said, prom now on, I'm going to be more aware of the ground I'm on when hauling full loads of dirt. and try to stay on a more level surface from now on. I don't ever want to have to go through this again.

 

[tym233me]

My tractor is 4 yrs into a 5 yr warranty , and like I said its being covered . Going to visit dealer tomorrow to check on things . Going to stay on top of things

 

[gooseman80]

Yeah, I only got a 3 year warranty when I bought mine. At the time, they were not offering 5 year warranties.