Ever had the grand kids help you do a repair????

My JD 6400 has been blowing the MFWD fuse every now and then for a few months. But I never could find the problem. It might go for a month an not blow one and then blow two in the next hour. So I had some time yesterday to finally look real deep for the problem. I had the fuse panel off the tractor which is right beside the seat. I had blown a fuse and had replaced it. I found the problem down under the operator station where the wiring harness had rubbed the frame. Real tight quarters to work in. I got it fixed but before I had buttoned everything back up my wife called me down to the house to help her do some things. The Grand sons where running around playing in the yard and in front of the shop. The youngest watches everything you do and tries to copy/help out. Well he "help" me out. He took a pair of "his" little pliers and pulled every fuse and relay out of the fuse panel. Right at 20 fuses and 7-8 relays. Even with the shop manual it took a little while to get them all back in correct. LMAO

The little helper got a butt warming and a time out in the house with Grand MA. Just a few weeks ago he pulled the swinging draw bar sway pin clips out on two tractors. I found the pins in the drive way and then had to check all the tractors out to see which ones where missing.

I know the nut does not fall far from the tree. His Father, my youngest, took all the screws out of the bottom kitchen cabinet door hinges when he was about this age.

They learn watching you but they can cause some heart burn at times.

At least you have grand kids.
I got none

one night I was in the shower,i left our son alone on the couch to watch a bit of tv while I showered.he was at the dot to dot puzzle age,we had a dalmation at the time.he found a black sharpie,then he was so proud the dog got all its dots connected,hes 20 sunday and we still tease him about that

Bison:

Don't feel like the Lone Ranger; I'll NEVER see
grand kids, Outlived 2 wives & all 7 of my children.

Doc

I learned to check the throttle positions when I start my tractors. Grand kids like to play while sitting in the seats. Several times the motors would go to full throttle on starting. Don't like that. Stan

Well I suppose I have those days coming soon enough. Mine is just 2 yrs old but he sure is taking notes when we go do something. I noticed him yesterday, really concentrating on what he was watching at the time, I could see the gears turning in his head, lol.
At least they didn't loose the fuses in the driveway.

I have nine grand children, four boys and five girls. Seems like they all want to be with me out in the shop. I heard it said that grand children are the reward for not killing your children when they were teenagers.

I don't Have any grandchildren but I was one once. Tried to help My grandfather (Dada) with his 50 Ford pickup Years ago. Me, My older brother, and My Aunt (11 months older than me)Recognized the fact that his truck needed a paint job. my older brother got up in the back of the truck and got paint, brushes, and got a can open. We went to work all we could do was talk about how happy he would be with a freshly painted truck. Unfortunately he was not pleased with the color, because he was not as happy as we thought.
Ron

Geez Doc, what did you do that God has made you live so long???

(My wife got me a poster for my shop with an old man on it and the caption of "The more you complain, God just makes you live that much longer!)

give him a broke lawn mower engine to tear down, obviously. I had to get my son a set of cheap tools before he stopped walking away with my good ones. And / or get him to actually help, he will lose interest fast.

Smart little fella. Some people disconnect the battery and some pull all the fuses when working on the electrical system.

The monkey see monkey do aspect of this had to be something that goes with that age.

Going back to that age, I do recall some similar things. One person who worked on our farm back then, used to ride a motorcycle, and I believe it was an off road type, I remember fixing the fuel line! Darned thing would not start and someone pointed the finger at me, "he fixed it for ya" LOL, it was no big deal, taken humorously, fortunately we had people that were not jerks, I can imagine other reactions could have been harsh !

I remember as a kid while at our tractor dealership, there was an old wooden garage, actually in fine shape, probably the first garage, we did sell Mobil gasoline and products (the main building was huge in comparison). The old building was not in use much, and it had all kinds of old tools, parts and pieces of steel, nuts and bolts, a giant erector set if you will. I would put all kinds of things together, my father was impressed by the fact that I figured out how to use tools, and assemble whatever it was that I made, it was something to appreciate even though it was worthless. As years went by I actually could be very helpful and would watch the mechanics work, get things for them, it was fun to be there and help in a real way, used to have lunch with them at the back of the shop overlooking an expansive area of bottom land of which we had 12 acres in some of the nicest hay, it was on an underground aquifer, and grew better than any ground I can recall.

My cousin was give a brand new, Rupp mini bike, my aunt had gone to work one day, when she came home, it was completely taken apart, down to the frame, he did put it all back together and you could not tell the difference, I remember riding it, turned out to be a fine mechanic with some of the cars he built later on.

We definitely picked up on these things by watching others, later in life, it did help with mechanical aptitude, thankfully none of us were punished for it.

Is this the same grandson that painted his mom's scratched car? He sure is an active little guy!! Your electrical problem with the 6400 is like the problem I had with my 5055E John Deere tractor. I went to bale hay this summer, had the baler all set up, pulled into the windrow...turned on the pto.....killed the tractor dead. I thought what the heck?? 'Thought maybe I'd accidentally hit the switch and turned the tractor off. Nope....key was still in the "on" position. The tracotr would not even turn over period. I thought this "feels" like a fuse problem. I took the fuse cover off and sure enough the "start/relay" fuse was blown. Whatever....stuff happens. I replaced that fuse....started right up. I engage the pto again....same thing. 'Killed the tractor dead. AFter fumbling around for an hour and replacing 3 of those fuses, I finally disconnected the wiring harness that sits beside the seat. (It had to be connected in order for the tractor to start, but then I had to disconnect for the pto to run. Finally got the field baled. Next day I figured out it was the wiring going to the seat alarm that caused the problem. I disconnected that darn seat alarm and now all is good. By the way, all the wires going to that wiring harness are the same color. I just thought that your problem with the wiring on the 6400 was very similar to my problem on the 5055E.

Deere wiring on these newer tractors is not made very good at all.

Having pins out of that drawbar could of been dangerous lucky you caught them.

Need to find a way to channel all his "helping" I have no good ideas either as I'm not good with dealing with kids.

He has his "own" tools and several old things to work on but he likes the better stuff. LOL

My middle son was the inquisitive one. Had a WD engine on the shop floor, worried he might tip it on him, so I bolted a channel iron across the front mtg bolts. Come in the shop and he"s lifting it with a small hyd jack....just becuz! He also liked the sound of letting air out of the combine steering tires. Luckily the building had electricity so I could take the air compressor to it. He"s a JD diesel tech now......excellent diagnostician. His son is the electronics wiz.....his First Grade teacher couldn"t get the AV equipment hooked up, so he figured it out.

As somebody else suggested - find some old junk for him to tinker with. Make a pile of HIS stuff to work on.

As I'm sure many guys here with a mechanical inclination were, I was a nightmare myself as a kid - especially around 9 or 10 or so.

I took EVERYTHING apart. All my toys - my father's outboard engine... damn he was mad - the dryer... damn mom was mad - stereo equipment - TV's - lawn mower - etc etc etc.

Mechanically inclined people have a natural fascination with seeing what makes things work. I was always SURE I could put it back together once I looked inside.

Instead of beating the curiosity out of me (or at least once they figured out that didn't work) they started a junk pile for me.

That worked, and worked well.

I always had something interesting to take apart. a blender here, a transmission there - it doesn't take much to keep a kid occupied. In fact, I strongly encourage you to do this.

I learned so much on my own just seeing what made things tick. If a kid's got the curiosity, don't fight it, encourage it!

Make a pile of HIS stuff to work on.

I coudn't agree more. Our son was an inquisitive type and needed to take stuff apart too. Just like me I guess. I would clean up old single cylinder four stroke engines so that he wouldn't get in too much trouble with the clean up department, then loosen all the bolts and let him have at 'er. The tools were mine, but the rule of putting back seemed to stick.

He is now a well respected automotive mechanic in the big city

Sw

I think I posted these before. Lost a good ratchet that day but would loose a thousand of them to have that day back.

I know how you feel my youngest son would pull my hitch pins out at about age 5.The same kid pounded my brand new set of pry bars into the ground and not half way into the ground but flush! He also took a 1/2"pipe and slid it on the valve stem of my 3020 and broke it off.That being said he has grown up to be a great kid. He"s 20 yrs old now and turning into a fine young man.

Tell my tailgate about it. I usually crank my goosenecks a few extra turns to make sure I have plenty of tailgate clearance for the next time I hook up. But my youngest grandson apparently doesn't think the hitch has to be quite that high, so he cranks them down some, then resets the floorplate and latches them for me. Of course, I back up to the trailer, and put another dent into the tailgate. After a few choice words, I get out and crank the hitch higher, get the truck aligned to the ball, and lower the trailer onto the hitch ball. Except it isn't going down right. Yank and push on the trailer, but it still won't go down on the ball. Have to climb up onto the truck after cranking the trailer back up, pull the pin and reset the floorplate to 'open', climb back off the truck, crank the trailer down, then climb back up on the truck and finish hitching up. I'm getting too old for all that aggrivation....

Not my grand daughter, but my daughter-when she was 3 and just learning to count. I was counting off the revolutions of a tie rod end, she shows up and starts counting to her own numbers and cadence! I kept my cool, and the car did not pull when back together!

I was about eight years old and dad's SC case was sitting in the corn field with cultivators on
He had a job in town and was cultivating at night so I thought I should help him out. Mom was waiting for me at the end rows on third round. Dad told her later "next time leave him alone, he didn't plow any out!"

I'm sure my Dad could give you the exact details, but sometime in the early 80's (i was probably 4 or 5)he was replacing the heater hoses on his big block vette. Apparently one of the hoses going to the heater core was a cast iron mother to get to. The phone rang and mom told him to come in, the call was for him. In the amount of time it took him to go in and talk for a bit I pulled the hose off. He was upset, but he could tell that I really thought I was helping. We had a little talk about only helping when he was there, he put the hose back on and everything was good. That wasn't the first, or last incident we had but he was always cool about it, and I turned my interest into a career!

Every now and then, something gets me to belly laugh. That had to be one of the best tempered Dalmatians of all time.

I had a Brittany that I trained to retrieve, hold and carry. He loved to do them. I learned to keep a sharp eye on him when he was "helping me turn wrenches" after my neighbor came over with my largest ball peen Buck dropped in his driveway.

here is my grandson painting my 901.

well it just doesn't seem to want to upload today.