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John Fugit
07-08-2003 05:23:20
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No I'm not going to make this into a mini-series.... But there is more to the story. We baled straw all week-end. The old Massey-Ferguson 50 just kept right on plugging away. The bailer was too big for it, but it just didn't seem to mind all the attention. I think the faded paint even started to shine again. Long about 5:00PM, Sunday evening, the 50 began to run rough. Oh no. I shut it off, to have a look at things. All seemed well, so I climbed back up in the seat, and hit the start button. Click....Nothing.... Hmmm. Well, I started going through the short list of things that can be wrong with such a simple tractor. I found a dead batterey. Then I found a VERY hot generator. It had decide to quit for the day. We needed about 300 more bales, for another truck load that would go out in the morning. I ended up taking the batterey out of my pick-up, and putting the tractor batterey in the truck to charge. The pick-up batterey lasted about 2-1/2 hours in the tractor, then we did the switch again. Monday morning, I went to a local salvage yard, and got a generator that was not any better than the one I had, and sent it to be re-built. The original one would serve as an "idler pulley" untill the good generator got back from the repair shop. Adapt. Improvise. Overcome.
In the saga of the old tractor, Part I, I got a couple of replies, asking about the 2440 John Deere. I saw the sleeves yesterday. They looked like someone had taken a cutting torch, and blew several small holes, at the base. The John Deere dealer showed me several bulletins from Deere, on what they call "electrolisis" The coolant cavatation, combined with small particles of dirt, in the cooling system, ate holes in the cylinder sleeves. They have a "fix" that is going to be used. It involves the cooling system treatment, and a small filter, that keeps the anti-freeze clean. The dirt literally sandblast's the holes in the sleeves. The water getting into the oil, also got the main bearings. They are scarred and will neccesitate polishing the crankshaft. $$$$$$$$. The moral of the story. Keep your cooling system clean, and keep an old tractor on hand, in case all the expensive new ones decide to lay down. The old ones can be "fixed" by any good shadetree mechanic. The newer ones can't.
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