122
Tractor Repairs (europe.pub)
submitted 21 hours ago by to c/dull_mens_club@lemmy.world
15 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I have a JD 4720 Tractor that I use to do heavier work around the 5 acre yard. I have a loader on it and I use a 6 way blade to move snow come winter.

This past May, one of the two blower fan motors quit working while clearing the last snowstorm. I could smell the angry pixies blowing out the magic smoke inside the cab and then it quit altogether. My cab windows frosted over very quickly and I had to finish with the heat off and the door open to prevent the frost build up.

I put the repair off for the summer and finally got around to trouble shooting and getting parts for the repair about 2 weeks ago. I needed to remove the cab roof to get at the motors. After looking up the part number from JD, those blowers are $500 a piece. There has got to be a better way.

I tried to locate the 3 speed resistor, (.75+ .75 216/22) used for the motor. JD does NOT sell them. They are unavailable anywhere on the North American continent. But I could try and get one from the factory in Italy, or oddly enough Ukraine. Not likely.

I could actually take the resistor apart very easily by removing 2 tiny screws. On the inside, there are 2 resistor coils and with some serious searching and a couple of dumb questions ID'ed as a thermal fuse soldered in to 2 terminals. I got a good lead to DigiKey and I found the correct one under mini fuses. I ordered a pack of 5 pieces on Wednesday. Got them this morning and had one soldered into the resistor before dinner. And everything reinstalled and buttoned up 2 hours later. Everything runs like new again.

I changed what was a $500 repair down to an .83 cent repair. And yes, there is a pour of well earned bourbon today.

all 15 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] 4 points 6 hours ago (5 children)

Ukraine is THE center for “jailbroken John deer equipment and repairs”

The whole war thing kinda put a damper on them exporting that BUT it made them better known for it.

I’d anticipate a homegrown JD competitor after the war.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 5 child comments
    •
  • [–] [S] 2 points 5 hours ago (4 children)

    All things are possible, but I kind of doubt it. JD is far too big and has a dealer and parts network second to none. That's the hardest and most expensive part to build and maintain. It's why I own JD. Not because I like the color green, but it's the nearest dealership, a mere 100 mile round trip, and I can call and know they will have the part I need and when I need it. Any new manufacturer will need to match that level of service and do it everyday.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 2 points 5 hours ago (3 children)

    You should look into the Ukrainian JD tractor scene.

    Throw in the bleeding edge automation and robotics they’re currently designing on the battlefield and I’d put my money on a Ukrainian tractor firm punching up into the big boys.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] [S] 1 point 5 hours ago (2 children)

    Yeah, tech is cool and all. And jailbreaking has been used by farmers in the US for a long time also. They ain't tech stupid. But you still need distribution and parts availability. Farming is all weather dependant. If any of your machinery breaks when the rain is coming, you need those parts and you need them yesterday. If you can't get them until next week or longer, that can cost you 1000s of dollars a day. Which can be the difference between paying your bills or not.

    That's what they will need to overcome. And building out dealerships and parts supply to match JD takes decades and even generations to do.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 2 points 4 hours ago* (1 child)

    👍

    I feel like you’re just poo poo-ing what I’m saying without taking a second to look into what I’m saying.

    The reason the Ukrainian scene exists is because of the breakdown in supply to them by JD.

    Be it due to cost or availability.

    But yeah. Everything you said about JD is exactly what I’m saying they have had to do for themselves and I’d bet they exit their period of war with a reinvigorated tech / manufacturing sector.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] [S] 1 point 2 hours ago

    An invigorated manufacturing sector is a post war thing for the winners of said war. Not so much for the losers. And there is nothing like a good war to speed up human knowledge and advancement. I hope Ukraine wins their war. I understand perfectly the conditions the Ukrainians are working under for foreign made parts. Here in the US, we are working under nearly the same conditions. Except with less shooting at the moment. Terms and conditions apply. And subject to change at a deranged whim

    Farmers around the world are some of the most self-reliant people you can meet. They have little problem figuring out workarounds and modifications to equipment and even designing new things from scratch to meet their needs. So what the Ukrainian farmers are doing ain't new nor remarkable to other farmers around the world. Every farmer does similar things out of sheer self-defense to keep farming. It's a mindset and culture unique to farmers for the most part. It's what pushed me to figure out how to make my repair cheap and easy. And now that I've seen what's up with this blower motor, I know how to repair the resistor coils too.

    That Ukrainian listing for the 3 speed resistor leads right back to the Italian manufacturer of said part. It isn't a Ukrainian made part. And thanks to Trump pissing off the world, I'm not even sure I could buy one from SPAL directly in Italy either. And their website isn't setup for consumer use. I think they are BtoB only. So I didn't pursue either option.

    In any case, that resistor is for a 16 year old machine that is no longer in production for a number of years now. And JD has moved on to different HVAC designs that they DO sell parts for. It's just that none of them crossover match to my tractor. So I can either chose to buy new old stock at high prices or be smart and fix the underlying problem. So just like the farmer I grew up as and did as a second job, I chose substituting my time and labor and cheap parts for a repair I will probably never need to do again before I die. Well, maybe I will need to do that other blower at some point. Those parts do tend to simply age out after enough years.

    Interestingly, there was a design change over for the blowers mid production run of this tractor for some reason. They went from a unitized 2 blower design to two separate blowers like I have. So that's different yet. Plus 4720 now refers to a sprayer at first search and not my tractor anymore. The parts are still there, but it's the second result now.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
    • [–] 16 points 21 hours ago
    1. fuck John Deere
    2. awesome job!
  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
    •
    [–] [S] 12 points 21 hours ago

    Couple extra pictures

    Blower motor

    4720

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
    •
    [–] 7 points 21 hours ago (4 children)

    It's always something simple. I did a similar thing for the blower resistor on my neighbor's box truck some years ago, which is on a little brown printed circuit board that says "DO NOT REPAIR - REPLACE ONLY" on it.

    So, um. No.

    I snipped the corroded section out of it and replaced it with a 30 amp crimp connector. Is the resistance value of that length of coil precisely the same as the original spec? Probably not. Did it make a noticeable difference one way or the other? I'll let you take a guess.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] [S] 5 points 20 hours ago (3 children)

    It kind of matters here. To much resistance can cause the rest of the circuit to fail and then I got more problems. If this fuse lasts another 16 years, I'm either drooling in a wheel chair or dead.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

    You need to take this down, JD and their lawyers are going to come after you now.

    Lol but seriously fuck JD.

    But honestly...most newer tractors are the same...my damn kioti doesn't even let me read the codes on it without their software and a proprietary reader box... it's bulllllshit

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] [S] 1 point 5 hours ago (1 child)

    My 4720 is 16 years old and doesn't suffer from those issues. It doesn't even have regen on it. Neither does the little 1023r tractor or the 325 skidsteer I own. Like me, it's all too old. And these things will last for decades with just minor repairs, (like this one) and routine maintenance. I'm no longer actively farming so none of this gets the hours of use it used to get.

    Everyone complains about JD and the right to repair. But, car manufacturers around the world have been doing the exact same thing for decades longer. And they STILL are doing it today. Apple does it it too, and you are happy and willing to buy into it every time a new iphone comes out. Yet you don't complain much. You just keep buying them. JD lost that law suit and they will sell you access to the tools and software at the same cost as the dealers pay. For someone who is actively farming, the cost is just another expense to write off. But, it does suck for people like you and me.

    But more importantly, how do you like your Kioti? What size is it and what do you mostly use it for?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 1 point 1 hour ago

    My 4720 is 16 years old and doesn't suffer from those issues. It doesn't even have regen on it. Neither does the little 1023r tractor or the 325 skidsteer I own. Like me, it's all too old. And these things will last for decades with just minor repairs, (like this one) and routine maintenance. I'm no longer actively farming so none of this gets the hours of use it used to get.

    Thankfully my kioti doesn't have DEF but does have the regen crap and it's what actually caused the issue last time. $300 farm call ($100 travel cost and $200 labor) just for them to hook up their computer and software and force it to Regen...

    Everyone complains about JD and the right to repair. But, car manufacturers around the world have been doing the exact same thing for decades longer. And they STILL are doing it today. Apple does it it too, and you are happy and willing to buy into it every time a new iphone comes out. Yet you don't complain much. You just keep buying them. JD lost that law suit and they will sell you access to the tools and software at the same cost as the dealers pay. For someone who is actively farming, the cost is just another expense to write off. But, it does suck for people like you and me.

    The issue with JD was that they were actively trying to prohibit the farmers. Car manufacturers don't, all my vehicles I can service or bring to anyone but the dealership if I need too. JD wasn't like that, I had friends with massive tractors doing hay rolling or harvesting and they were having to borrow or have friends come out if one of their machines went down because JD had to send someone out to service it...and it cost an arm and a leg. Cat was/is the same damn way. Had another friend with a big dozer and he had to wait nearly a month for it to finally get fixed by cat, and it cost a boat load as well. All computer shit that only they can do.

    But more importantly, how do you like your Kioti? What size is it and what do you mostly use it for?

    I don't mind it, I use it only for putting out hay and brush work. It's just a 35hp with a backhoe attachment. It's been solid. Minus the rails holding the backhoe on broke and the welds and kioti suggested it was a damn wear part (frame rails) and didn't cover it under the warranty and wanted $750 for both rails...so some friends and I just welded 1/2" plate to fix it. Then the whole Regen shit that happened that required them to come out with their plugs. Other than that it's 900 hours on it now and has been solid.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
    • [–] 2 points 19 hours ago (1 child)

    Yay Bourbon!

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •