25 cent Insurance
You are going up a hill, with your new Jinma tractor, full load in in the FEL bucket. You are feeling very happy about your tractor purchase. How much money you saved and how well the tractor has performed so far. All of a sudden you loose power and hydraulics! Engine is still running but struggling. You pull the fuel cut-off, but it won't shutdown! You engage the engine decompression level, and it finally spurts to a stop. You sit back in your seat, your wondering about all those stories about Chinese tractors. Numerous catastrophic things are running through you mind!
The above happened to a new Jinma owner. Here is what happened. Under full FEL load and vibration, the quick disconnect hydraulic line popped off. The pressure in the pump quickly blew the seal (see picture below), and started pumping hydraulic oil into the engine. In this case it was still the Chinese 30 weight oil. The crankcase became over filled, and the engine started dieseling on its own oil.
After removing the hydraulic pump, the repair was quickly accomplished. Getting to the pump was more of an issue. Hint: don't mount side panels when you have a FEL! The engine crankcase was drained and replennished, and hydraulic fluid resouvoir was refilled, it was about empty! Tractor is back in action!
Here is the cheap, quick preventative fix: Behind each quick disconnect collar, place an electrical tie wrap. Draw it tight, and snip off the end. Check to make sure the collar can't move. If you ever have to disconnect, just snip the tie wrap end, and remove. Replace with new ones.
Update: After another month of use, the pump quit. A shaft within the pump failed. See pictures below. New pump required. Failure was probably related to the initial problem. For the cost of a few wire ties, might save you from 100+ dollar repair!
Thanks to Mike Stuart, of Maverick Tractor, for his assistance in quickly diagnoising the problem.
Thanks for Jay for providing pictures and info.
