Maybe this should be titled, "Adventures in tractor ownership". I'm new to the tractor world so please excuse the stupid n00b questions.
I purchased 9 acres last month and the seller threw in a Yanmar 186 tractor. It is a 3 cylinder 18 hp diesel compact tractor made for the American market in the '80s. It has 580 hours on it (or is it 1580? or 2580? ...)
The day before yesterday I was out clearing some brush with the hog. In places, this stuff is THICK and HIGH. Impossible to walk through without a machete and even if you managed to get through it you'd have a serious case of the itches due to the poison ivy.
So there I was moving along in 1st gear with the transfer in HIGH. I'm guessing I was going about 5 - 7 mph. Well, it turns out that right in the middle of one of these patches is a stump about 18 inches high, totally camouflaged by all the vines and such. My left front tire hits it dead center and rather than just stop the tractor the tractor decides to climb the stump. Tractor starts tipping over so I bail. I have no intentions of being anywhere near that sucker when it is not upright.
Once the tractor and I both come to a stop the tractor is on it's right side. The bush hog is also on it's side. The tractor is still running spitting oil out of a hose that I never even noticed before that is next to the filter. The only way for me to shut it down was to reach under it and shut off the pitcock valve. It probably ran about 5 minutes on it's side before I was able to shut her down.
A come-along and some 3/16 inch cable attached to the nearest tree did the trick of uprighting the tractor. Time to assess the damage. Believe it or not the damage seems to be very minor. After putting oil and fuel back in she cranked right up.
I'm guessing that the pins in the CV joint at the PTO are shear pins and designed to snap? Because one of them did. Also, the exhaust was bent in a bit which made it difficult to raise the hood of the tractor. Again the come-along and a tree solved that problem.
My questions are this...
What not so obvious thing might have gone wrong that I should be looking for? Anything?
Other than replacing the oil should I check for other damage?
Are those indeed shear pins and how hard are they to replace?
Was I going too fast considering the fact that I'm unfamiliar with the property?
What is that hose that was spitting oil out?
Again, sorry for the dumb questions.
Michael
I purchased 9 acres last month and the seller threw in a Yanmar 186 tractor. It is a 3 cylinder 18 hp diesel compact tractor made for the American market in the '80s. It has 580 hours on it (or is it 1580? or 2580? ...)
The day before yesterday I was out clearing some brush with the hog. In places, this stuff is THICK and HIGH. Impossible to walk through without a machete and even if you managed to get through it you'd have a serious case of the itches due to the poison ivy.
So there I was moving along in 1st gear with the transfer in HIGH. I'm guessing I was going about 5 - 7 mph. Well, it turns out that right in the middle of one of these patches is a stump about 18 inches high, totally camouflaged by all the vines and such. My left front tire hits it dead center and rather than just stop the tractor the tractor decides to climb the stump. Tractor starts tipping over so I bail. I have no intentions of being anywhere near that sucker when it is not upright.
Once the tractor and I both come to a stop the tractor is on it's right side. The bush hog is also on it's side. The tractor is still running spitting oil out of a hose that I never even noticed before that is next to the filter. The only way for me to shut it down was to reach under it and shut off the pitcock valve. It probably ran about 5 minutes on it's side before I was able to shut her down.
A come-along and some 3/16 inch cable attached to the nearest tree did the trick of uprighting the tractor. Time to assess the damage. Believe it or not the damage seems to be very minor. After putting oil and fuel back in she cranked right up.
I'm guessing that the pins in the CV joint at the PTO are shear pins and designed to snap? Because one of them did. Also, the exhaust was bent in a bit which made it difficult to raise the hood of the tractor. Again the come-along and a tree solved that problem.
My questions are this...
What not so obvious thing might have gone wrong that I should be looking for? Anything?
Other than replacing the oil should I check for other damage?
Are those indeed shear pins and how hard are they to replace?
Was I going too fast considering the fact that I'm unfamiliar with the property?
What is that hose that was spitting oil out?
Again, sorry for the dumb questions.
Michael