Nice job Mike . Maybe you should consider to take a paint marker and draw a straight line on the head of the bolt across to the part it’s holding. Makes it very easy every time to walk by the tractor with a quick glance to see if anything is starting to come loose. Keep up the nice videos.
Checking the torque of certain fasteners, especially lug bolts/nuts should be part of your scheduled maintenance. For example, check torque at the same time you're doing an oil drain.
Boy, Mike, I can relate to this story. Had a horse riding arena built for my wife which was covered with sand. I was lowering the level of the sand and would drag it up into a small pile, scoop it up with my bucket and carry it outside of the arena. Well, when turning in sand, it adds resistance to the turning process in general. After several loads, I did hear an occasional "pop" but did not think much about it. Then, with a full bucket load, I backed up, placed it in 2nd gear and turned to the right. I had just barely started moving when faster than I could even process what happened, the left front wheel BROKE OFF!! Thank the Lord, I had the bucket down to only about a foot off of the ground as the tractor pitched to the left as the hub buried up in the sand. Had I had the bucket up in the air where the weight of the sand would have given the fall more momentum, I have no doubt that it would have turned the tractor over! Later, after I had cleaned my drawers and gone to the dealership to get new lug bolts, I made a promise to myself to routinely check the tightness of the bolts AND to never carry a heavy bucket load high in the air. Signed, "One blessed Tennessean"
Hey Mike, Although a tractor is not capable of 100mph (yours anyway) wheel bolts are usually tightened in a crisscross sequence. Another thing of muscle importance. For leverage, place your hand at the end of the wrench to get the most for your efforts, otherwise you might have to take a second dose! LOL!! Thanks for your informative video! Aloha!
after I check mine I use a paint marker and put a line in the bolt and rim or loader bolts that way when I do my visual during the year I can see if they've come lose. hut, I still do a torque check every year
I've never had such a problem, but a friend of mine, after many, many, many hours of research and visiting dealerships for a new riding mower, the Service Manager of the dealership, who just happen to live a few doors down from my friend, delivered his new riding mower (brand name withheld purposely). The manager hops on this new rig and said something to the affect, "Now THIS is MOWING MACHINE!" and off across the 2 acre lawn he goes! ...BUT...not one blade of grass gets cut...not...one. He does some checking and discovers the idler pullies had not been installed to keep the deck belts tight. The machine goes back onto the trailer and the manager tells my friend through gritted teeth, "I'll bring your mower back tomorrow and IT WILL CUT GRASS!" We so wished we could have been at that service shop the next morning when the manager rolled in with that mower. Somebody got a boot in the keaster you can bet!😂 BTW the mower was delivered as promised and it did cut grass like a dream for many years after.
I bought a lawn mower that was returned to Sears several years ago. It looked brand new like it had never even cut grass. I looked it over really good, asked what was wrong with it, and the guy at the counter said oh the customer just didn't like the way it cut their lawn. I said heck I'll buy it, they knocked $150 off the price so I got it for 1/2 price pretty much. It wasn't a high end model, but it was a 3-in-1 mower with high rear wheels, and self propelled. Got it home, filled it up with gas and did a test cut...yeah I can see what the customer was complaining about, it wasn't cutting well, hardly at all. I did a little looking, apparently the dang thing shipped from the factory with the blade on upside down. Wonder how often that happens LOL. Its been 5 years and still using that mower...it works great, I don't use it for long periods at a time just to trim around the trees and perimeter of the yard then use my lawn tractor for the rest, but I have mowed my whole 1 acre property with it a couple times. Sometimes the simple stuff is what gets overlooked LOL.
Took your advice today on my Kioti NX4510HSC with backhoe..wheels all good, loader had 3 not to spec and backhoe had 4..all the ones that were not to torque were ones you couldn't get easily..go figure...thanks for the good advice
Lol I bup, 🤣 so true another tip is if you find Loose bolts and tighten them continue to check them if they loosened up once they'll do it again you might want to get some Loctite
Another great, useful, informative, and helpful video Mike! Thanks 1 million! I recently bought a new Kubota, it had less than 12 hours on it when I checked The wheel bolts and front end loader bolts. I’m glad I did. Of all of the bolts, one was loose enough to turn by hand.
Be sure that the torque wrench has the capability to reach the torque spec. I believe that you said some of those fasteners were had a spec of 185 lbs. Many torque wrenches, even if they're 1/2" drive, only read go to 150.
When I bought my first tractor. I purchased a large torque wrench with impact sockets to fit the bolt sizes on my tractor. I check the torques every time I service the tractor.
Using an extension with a torque wrench doesn't change anything if done right, there is a video on a channel called Shane Conley from about 5 years ago check out it
Many years ago when I was so poor I couldn't afford quality tools I rotated the tires on my Volkswagen GTI myself to save money. I knew the wheels were aluminum so I didn't want to tighten too hard and warp them. A few days later I was driving on the interstate and noticed the car was vibrating more than usual. I had cupped tires and was going to replace them when I could so some vibration was typical. Cruising on the interstate my left front wheel suddenly dropped off! I was in shock as the wheel rolled along beside the car as it screeched to a stop digging into the pavement. Amazingly only one bolt had sheered off and all the others were still in the lug holes. I was able to reattach it with the help of a good Samaritan and limp home vowing to never do such a stupid thing again! The $20 I saved doing my own rotation wound up costing me about $400 in body work.
Good tip about the ibuprofen, Mike! I found some loader bolts that were hand-tight after just a few hours of use on my brand new tractor. Thanks for sharing. -Ed
That's not surprising....I'm sure on a lot of stuff you'll find bolts that were never tightened down...dealers are in a huge hurry to make money, and get their equipment service bays emptied out for paying repairs, not warranty work or setup stuff that isn't paying them anything...so a lot of stuff will typically get missed...add in the current situation where equipment is back ordered, it shows up, the dealer is happy to see it, customer wants to see it on their property last week, so the dealer is doing things way too quickly and missing a lot of stuff...I can only imagine how horrible the quality is on new equipment now with all the rush trying to get stuff out the door not only at the dealership level, but the manufacturer's level as well, I'm not sure I want to buy anything right now, luckily my wallet agrees.
Mike hold the torgue wrench at the handle. when you hold it up like at 6:15 you can change the reading worse than the extension you talked about. Mechanic for 44 yrs. PL. believe me.
After 9500 hrs, just nicely broke in, my Deutz engine two connecting rod bolts came loose and bent the Krankshaft. Turned the krank down, ordered new rod bearings all the way from the fatherland, and 1 new connecting Rod. $4k later up and running like a champ. A little loctite would have prevented that failure from ever happening. I always loctite the con-rod bolts 🔩 now. No possible repercussions!!!! You can't bad talk me doing it either, because it works!!!! 100% effective!!!! And btw they come out perfectly fine afterwards too!! No issues at all!
When I brought home my 2021 New Holland Workmaster 25, I just happened to check the lug nuts and the fronts were tight but the rear lug nuts were all loose and required quite a bit of turning to get to torque specs. Glad I checked!!!
Good Job Mike, I watched this, then checked my bolts. Found 4 slightly loose and one on the loader frame that had backed out over 1/2" Thanks for the reminder. Only 140 hours.
Mike, I had a "horrific failure" last summer on my John Deere compact tractor. The front of my tractor separated from the frame. He's the hurt - it cost me $12,000 to repair! As you said, my front end loader sheered off the front and dropped to the ground when i was moving a load of gravel. I HAVE LEARNED MY LESSON!!!
Piece of advice when using torque wrench Mike... always libe your body so you push the torque wrench down instead of pulling the wrench up, very easy to mess up your back when you're pulling the wrench up. Great video 👍
I own a 2020 Kioti RX 7320. Two of the loader bolts came loose. One was lost entirely and the second one broke off inside the loader frame bracket. It cost $350 to have the broken bolt replaced. I now check bolts regularly.
When torquing the lug bolts I was always taught to tighten opposite bolts. Distributes the load and doesn't warp the hub. That was on cars and trucks but I think it would apply to tractors as well.
It doesn't really matter when checking the torque because the wheel is already tight. The only way that it would matter is if you find a few that are loose. God bless you! Have you placed your faith in Jesus Christ's blood washing your sins away so you go to heaven instead of spending eternity in the lake of fire?
I watched your video and was about to do scheduled maintenance. I sure am glad you posted this. I found 3 wheel not torqued and 2 loader bolts. Had to borrow an 1 3/8" socket from my neighbor for the loader nuts. Also found 3 axle bolts loose and one of them extremely loose! Keep up the great advise!
I can tell you, first hand, manufacturers are not using locktite. I have a new ls xr3135. Dealers are not using locktite. I suggest the following: pull all wheel lugs and locktite(blue). Pull all loader, backhoe, and accessories, bolted to the tractor, pull the bolts, one at a time, and locktite each. Blue locktite if you plan to remove, red if it's never coming off. Use a torque wrench. I use a makita battery impact with torque sticks - no ibuprofen required. Be aware new battery impacts are powerful enough to strip a big bolt.
Never wind back below the minimum setting on wrench. Look up at manufacturers site on internet. This is what I found. Who knows , right? Maybe! After all This Is April Fools Day ! Keep up the quality videos! I watch all of them. Good stuff!
Mike, I never miss one of your videos. Why? Because the info you give us is priceless! Quick story related to this video. 2 years ago a gentleman contacted me to find an engine oil leak on his Mahindra 2615 with only 400 hours on it. It sounded great, but puked oil on the ground. What did I find? Loose and missing nuts and bolts that held the front drive and loader on the tractor! The engine block had huge broken peices of casting and missing whole chunks of casting. Though the engine ran well the block was toast. I bought the tractor and implements for the price of used implements. Mahindra's parts book was not encouraging for a replacement block with the assorted rebuild parts. I found a low hour engine from a Toro that a tree fell on and repowered the tractor. All this because someone did not check for loose bolts with every oil change. Keep all your bolts painted so a visual scan will show loose nuts and bolts. This video should be a wakeup call for all tractor owners! Thanks for all the great videos. See you on the next one. Dave
If you use a 6-inch extension on 1/2 inch torque wrench you add 4 pounds to the torque for every 6 inches of extension you have I am a diesel technician in heavy equipment mechanic that is what we were taught at caterpillar School back in the 90s
I took delivery of brand new Massey Ferguson GC1725M in 2020. In 2021 spring I went to check lugnuts and one bolt on the back wheel needed only to be touched and bolt head snapped off.
Several years ago, I was at a social function in Iowa. A bunch of us guys decided we'd like to tour a John Deere factory. We got it set up, and toured the factory (don't remember where, or what tractors they made), they made BIG tractors there. Anyway while on the tour, given by a retired employee, their line is 100% automated, and computer monitored. For instance, if a tractor goes to the tire instalation station, for instance, and the worker doesn't torque the lug nuts to the proper spec, the line will shut down until they are torqued properly! Just thought this was pretty amazing. Of course, we all know techonolgy will have glitches!!!
thanks Mike. I believe though any torque wrench manual will tell you to back off a fastener from tightness slightly, then re-torque to spec. Supposed to give you a truer reading.
I learned my lesson and now I torque everything every 10 hours - wheel bolts, loader bolts, backhoe bolt AND the top link bracket bolts. I've found all of them loose at one time or another. I had a major failure when I lost all of the bolts from my top link bracket bolts loosened. It wasn't terrible but it ruined my weekend. Buy a good $300 torque wrench (not a cheapie but very important tool) and use it every 10 hours. It only takes a few minutes but its really worth it.
Mike- have found your channel in the last month or so, really enjoy. Keep it up! Yes, I definitely get the Ibuprofen comment, It's not any easier when we are getting up in age. I like Tekton tools- use them at work and on my farm, and have heard good things about their torque wrenches, when I have to torque somehing over about 80 ft lbs, I use a digital torque adapter - goes on the end of a ratchet or breaker bar - good for 250 ft lbs and with a extra long breaker, I'm not breaking my back (or other parts of the body)
I have a local dealer who I did lots of business with. The first thing I did, always was tighten. Wheels, loader frames Tedder arms .....anything I knew they put together. Why ? Because I knew better and 2, because I didn't want to be mad at him for it breaking when I needed it.
This may be a dumb question BUT shouldn't the weight of the tractor be off the wheel when you check them? I am thinking the weight of the tractor and tire would make the torque wrench "clik" before it really tightened the bolt? I have a 90 hp John Deere and with the tires full of water plus the tractor it seems like a great deal of weight that is offering resistance as far as the wrench is concerned.Also,if you will stop using artificial sweeteners and drinking colas,especially diet colas,you will notice the arthritic symptoms will greatly lessen in a few weeks.
Wheel bolts, yep. Very costly when you have to pay the dealer to replace the rim, what it bolts to and the liquid load. Amazing that they can all be backing out and you don't see or feel anything until there are only 1 or 2 left barely in place. After you torque them, mark the bolts and rim with a straight line of paint so you can visually see if they are moving. Guess I better check the backside of my rims, didn't know there were bolts back there.
Snap-On no longer go to for quality products. My torque wrenches by Snap-On are not supported for testing and calibration. I have to go to outside local labs for calibration an annual thing if you want to be able to depend on your tool.
Thanks for the honesty about Goober saying the tractor is good to go "till you see the wheel rolling past you." You need a cheater on the end of that torque wrench to skip the Ibuprofen, it's a gut killer.
My Ryobe battery impact driver torques the wheel lugs of my tractor just right. This makes it fast to go around ensuring the wheels are on tight. This may or may not be true for other battery power tools or other tractors.
Thanks for the reminder Mike. I bought a Kioti last year and had heard quite a few stories of loose bolts. I checked them all on reception and at 10 hours and all were tight. I was lucky that the guy who prep'ed the tractor had used Loctite while assembling. After the 10-hour mark, I used the Operator's Manual to write my own 50-hour inspection checklist that I print and follow every 50 hours. I included loader and wheel bolts torque check as well as many other items that I could find in the manual. It takes me about 90 minutes to complete and is a good investment of my time. If I read a comment or lesson's learned from another user that I think could apply to me, I amend my checklist and have it covered at next inspection.
The checklist you made is a great idea for everyone to do really. Even if they just write it down and photo copy it. Its so easy to forget stuff when you are doing a service on a piece of equipment, so many things to check, change, tighten, etc. Heck I even have a small checklist for my lawn tractor that I go through every year...I didn't put a pin back in the front rod for the mower deck a couple years ago, and the rod came out dropped down and bent into the shape of a U...oh was that fun to try and get out of the bracket on the lawn tractor...I was doing a test cut after putting the mower deck back on from swapping out the snow blower at the end of winter...got in a bit of a hurry I guess and missed that simple pin. I was mowing along and looked back and was wondering why the heck the thing was bogging down so bad, well that rod falling out dropped the deck to the ground...that spot in the lawn was a bit short for a while HAHA!!! Now when I swap between snow blower and mower and back, I have a little list I follow, and double check after I am through to be sure everything is put back where its supposed to go.
Hey, i resently put a hydraulic Top Link on my Ford 3930. Its a Cat 1 which works great . Question is how do i slow it down? Is there an adjustment on the Tractor to slow the speed of the rear hydraulics?
Does it have the knob under the seat like many tractors? I think Mike mentioned it or Neil Messicks mentioned that knob and did a video on it. You turn the knob to adjust how fast your rear hydraulics are...Not sure if that's a standard thing on all tractors though, maybe just certain colors?
The loader bolts are really bad to work loose the PTO Shield bolts are really bad and on an AGco 2 wheel drive the bolts that hold the keeper pin on front axle will fall out and let the axle fall off..massey Ferguson I have 4 wheel drive agco ghost 65 cab tractor. With 1500 hrs. They thought the clutch was bad but it was only out of adjustment. Paid 17.5 k for it was that a bad buy .every thing working perfectly on it and tires are like new .best I could get for my budget. Hope it was worth the money?????
What size frame is your New Holland I think I have a 75 horsepower that is that size frame or maybe the size bigger my daughter runs it all the time for me it has a cow bone it in -2 wheel drive but anyway I bought it for $9,600 and it had 3,500 hours on it so far my little girl has plowed about 30 Acres of potato ground with it and I've not had any problems with it at all the heat air condition everything on it works great
Mike, I am 59. I take 400mg of Motrin every morning and evening. But when I am about to do something strenuous like the video, I will just go ahead and take 200mg more. Good advice on checking torque. Happy spring. Here comes work. See ya next week.
I got my Deere 1025R last June. I did check them after 5 hours and they were all good. But this was good timing for your video because I should recheck them before I start using the tractor more often, now that the nicer weather is here. Thanks Sir
Good timing Mike - was hooking up an implement and noticed I was missing the bolt on my 3 point arm holding the pin in place and was about to lose that arm. Had to find a replacement bolt and then took the time to check my other bolts and had a few loose on my FEL. Do as Mike says!!!!
Mike, can you get away with using the sockets from a different socket wrench kit or must you use the ones that are designed specifically for a torque wrench?
For a torque wrench it doesn't matter. Now for an impact wrench you need to use impact rated sockets as some of the regular sockets that you'll find in many off the shelf socket sets are not impact rated and could possibly shatter....now you may not have that issue with small sockets 1/4, 3/8, 1/2 inch drive, but you get into 3/4 and 1 inch drive sockets on an impact gun and you are putting that much torque and impacting motion on a regular socket and you very well could shatter that socket...I've never personally seen it happen but I'm sure it has to people in the industry using those tools on a daily basis.
I just now found out there was such a thing as a torque multiplier. I’m getting old and it seems like this would be a great tool to own. Is there a trustworthy one that isn’t too expensive for us folks that would only need one a few times per year?
I bought a cheap one on Amazon and it didn't last one bolt. Somewhere there's a video on my channel where it broke trying to get a brush hog blade off. I was thinking the same way you are, surely an $80 torque multiplier would work for the 2 or 3 times a year when I needed it. Turns out it didn't :(.
That’s what I figured. Thanks for the reply Mike. I did purchase the Torque wrench you recommended. It really looks and feels like a quality tool. I recently replaced my front tractor tires and I thought had tightened the lug nuts enough. After watching your video, I looked in my owners manual and found the recommended torque is around 200 ft lbs. I received the torque wrench and deep six sockets yesterday. Not one of those lug nuts were anywhere close to tight enough. Thanks to you, they are now.
Hmmmmm never even thought about the tire bolts just assumed when I send the tractor to the dealer in the fall for servicing, I wonder if they are checked ???? Great video !!!
Probably not, just like cars, you take it in for service, the dealer often claims to do some huge courtesy inspection and service, 99.9% of it they never do, and if you are aren't careful you may find they probably never even did the oil/filter change they charged you for either.
Nice job Mike . Maybe you should consider to take a paint marker and draw a straight line on the head of the bolt across to the part it’s holding. Makes it very easy every time to walk by the tractor with a quick glance to see if anything is starting to come loose. Keep up the nice videos.
Had a loud laugh with the ibuprofen comment!
Checking the torque of certain fasteners, especially lug bolts/nuts should be part of your scheduled maintenance. For example, check torque at the same time you're doing an oil drain.
Boy, Mike, I can relate to this story. Had a horse riding arena built for my wife which was covered with sand. I was lowering the level of the sand and would drag it up into a small pile, scoop it up with my bucket and carry it outside of the arena. Well, when turning in sand, it adds resistance to the turning process in general. After several loads, I did hear an occasional "pop" but did not think much about it. Then, with a full bucket load, I backed up, placed it in 2nd gear and turned to the right. I had just barely started moving when faster than I could even process what happened, the left front wheel BROKE OFF!! Thank the Lord, I had the bucket down to only about a foot off of the ground as the tractor pitched to the left as the hub buried up in the sand. Had I had the bucket up in the air where the weight of the sand would have given the fall more momentum, I have no doubt that it would have turned the tractor over! Later, after I had cleaned my drawers and gone to the dealership to get new lug bolts, I made a promise to myself to routinely check the tightness of the bolts AND to never carry a heavy bucket load high in the air. Signed, "One blessed Tennessean"
Wow Mark, that could have been much worse! Thanks for sharing, that might keep someone else out of trouble.
I bought a torque multiplier a few years back. It eliminates the need for ibuprofen for us old guys.
Hey Mike, Although a tractor is not capable of 100mph (yours anyway) wheel bolts are usually tightened in a crisscross sequence. Another thing of muscle importance. For leverage, place your hand at the end of the wrench to get the most for your efforts, otherwise you might have to take a second dose! LOL!! Thanks for your informative video! Aloha!
after I check mine I use a paint marker and put a line in the bolt and rim or loader bolts that way when I do my visual during the year I can see if they've come lose. hut, I still do a torque check every year
I've never had such a problem, but a friend of mine, after many, many, many hours of research and visiting dealerships for a new riding mower, the Service Manager of the dealership, who just happen to live a few doors down from my friend, delivered his new riding mower (brand name withheld purposely). The manager hops on this new rig and said something to the affect, "Now THIS is MOWING MACHINE!" and off across the 2 acre lawn he goes! ...BUT...not one blade of grass gets cut...not...one. He does some checking and discovers the idler pullies had not been installed to keep the deck belts tight. The machine goes back onto the trailer and the manager tells my friend through gritted teeth, "I'll bring your mower back tomorrow and IT WILL CUT GRASS!" We so wished we could have been at that service shop the next morning when the manager rolled in with that mower. Somebody got a boot in the keaster you can bet!😂
BTW the mower was delivered as promised and it did cut grass like a dream for many years after.
I bought a lawn mower that was returned to Sears several years ago. It looked brand new like it had never even cut grass. I looked it over really good, asked what was wrong with it, and the guy at the counter said oh the customer just didn't like the way it cut their lawn. I said heck I'll buy it, they knocked $150 off the price so I got it for 1/2 price pretty much. It wasn't a high end model, but it was a 3-in-1 mower with high rear wheels, and self propelled. Got it home, filled it up with gas and did a test cut...yeah I can see what the customer was complaining about, it wasn't cutting well, hardly at all. I did a little looking, apparently the dang thing shipped from the factory with the blade on upside down. Wonder how often that happens LOL. Its been 5 years and still using that mower...it works great, I don't use it for long periods at a time just to trim around the trees and perimeter of the yard then use my lawn tractor for the rest, but I have mowed my whole 1 acre property with it a couple times.
Sometimes the simple stuff is what gets overlooked LOL.
Took your advice today on my Kioti NX4510HSC with backhoe..wheels all good, loader had 3 not to spec and backhoe had 4..all the ones that were not to torque were ones you couldn't get easily..go figure...thanks for the good advice
Lol I bup, 🤣 so true another tip is if you find Loose bolts and tighten them continue to check them if they loosened up once they'll do it again you might want to get some Loctite
Great information Mike. I use my weight to torque bolts and nuts if I can, saves on hernias.
30 year old Ford had 2 missing and 2 loose loader bolts....out of 4 bolts ...only checked because I was selling it......
Another great, useful, informative, and helpful video Mike! Thanks 1 million!
I recently bought a new Kubota, it had less than 12 hours on it when I checked The wheel bolts and front end loader bolts. I’m glad I did. Of all of the bolts, one was loose enough to turn by hand.
Be sure that the torque wrench has the capability to reach the torque spec. I believe that you said some of those fasteners were had a spec of 185 lbs. Many torque wrenches, even if they're 1/2" drive, only read go to 150.
Great job! I like to check the torque a few times a year. I use a Craftsman torque wrench.
Mine had only snug loader bolts and lug nuts. Brand new. Luckily I checked it with only a couple hours on it.
When I bought my first tractor. I purchased a large torque wrench with impact sockets to fit the bolt sizes on my tractor. I check the torques every time I service the tractor.
Using an extension with a torque wrench doesn't change anything if done right, there is a video on a channel called Shane Conley from about 5 years ago check out it
Many years ago when I was so poor I couldn't afford quality tools I rotated the tires on my Volkswagen GTI myself to save money. I knew the wheels were aluminum so I didn't want to tighten too hard and warp them. A few days later I was driving on the interstate and noticed the car was vibrating more than usual. I had cupped tires and was going to replace them when I could so some vibration was typical. Cruising on the interstate my left front wheel suddenly dropped off! I was in shock as the wheel rolled along beside the car as it screeched to a stop digging into the pavement. Amazingly only one bolt had sheered off and all the others were still in the lug holes. I was able to reattach it with the help of a good Samaritan and limp home vowing to never do such a stupid thing again! The $20 I saved doing my own rotation wound up costing me about $400 in body work.
Good tip about the ibuprofen, Mike! I found some loader bolts that were hand-tight after just a few hours of use on my brand new tractor. Thanks for sharing. -Ed
That's not surprising....I'm sure on a lot of stuff you'll find bolts that were never tightened down...dealers are in a huge hurry to make money, and get their equipment service bays emptied out for paying repairs, not warranty work or setup stuff that isn't paying them anything...so a lot of stuff will typically get missed...add in the current situation where equipment is back ordered, it shows up, the dealer is happy to see it, customer wants to see it on their property last week, so the dealer is doing things way too quickly and missing a lot of stuff...I can only imagine how horrible the quality is on new equipment now with all the rush trying to get stuff out the door not only at the dealership level, but the manufacturer's level as well, I'm not sure I want to buy anything right now, luckily my wallet agrees.
Mike hold the torgue wrench at the handle. when you hold it up like at 6:15 you can change the reading worse than the extension you talked about. Mechanic for 44 yrs. PL. believe me.
After 9500 hrs, just nicely broke in, my Deutz engine two connecting rod bolts came loose and bent the Krankshaft. Turned the krank down, ordered new rod bearings all the way from the fatherland, and 1 new connecting Rod. $4k later up and running like a champ. A little loctite would have prevented that failure from ever happening. I always loctite the con-rod bolts 🔩 now. No possible repercussions!!!! You can't bad talk me doing it either, because it works!!!! 100% effective!!!! And btw they come out perfectly fine afterwards too!! No issues at all!
15 years & 4500 hrs since then still going like a Panzer tank!! Good O'l fashioned German Engineering. 1974 I think it is just F.Y.I.
When I brought home my 2021 New Holland Workmaster 25, I just happened to check the lug nuts and the fronts were tight but the rear lug nuts were all loose and required quite a bit of turning to get to torque specs. Glad I checked!!!
Good Job Mike, I watched this, then checked my bolts. Found 4 slightly loose and one on the loader frame that had backed out over 1/2"
Thanks for the reminder. Only 140 hours.
Mike, I had a "horrific failure" last summer on my John Deere compact tractor. The front of my tractor separated from the frame. He's the hurt - it cost me $12,000 to repair! As you said, my front end loader sheered off the front and dropped to the ground when i was moving a load of gravel. I HAVE LEARNED MY LESSON!!!
What model and year JD do you have?
This is a great one, Ibuprofen is great for us older people
Piece of advice when using torque wrench Mike... always libe your body so you push the torque wrench down instead of pulling the wrench up, very easy to mess up your back when you're pulling the wrench up.
Great video 👍
I own a 2020 Kioti RX 7320. Two of the loader bolts came loose. One was lost entirely and the second one broke off inside the loader frame bracket. It cost $350 to have the broken bolt replaced. I now check bolts regularly.
You mentioned marking bolts. I have a TYM and they do that.
Widened my rear wheels out a few months back a good reminder to check torque on them and everything else keep up the videos there all great
When torquing the lug bolts I was always taught to tighten opposite bolts. Distributes the load and doesn't warp the hub. That was on cars and trucks but I think it would apply to tractors as well.
It doesn't really matter when checking the torque because the wheel is already tight. The only way that it would matter is if you find a few that are loose.
God bless you!
Have you placed your faith in Jesus Christ's blood washing your sins away so you go to heaven instead of spending eternity in the lake of fire?
Great video, but don't you check the bolts that hold the rim to the hub too? These are usually through bolts with nuts.
Yeah, I actually did in the video.
Hey Mike, those stabilizer bars underneath that tc40 are a classic spot to check for loose bolts I had one back out before
I watched your video and was about to do scheduled maintenance. I sure am glad you posted this. I found 3 wheel not torqued and 2 loader bolts. Had to borrow an 1 3/8" socket from my neighbor for the loader nuts. Also found 3 axle bolts loose and one of them extremely loose! Keep up the great advise!
I can tell you, first hand, manufacturers are not using locktite. I have a new ls xr3135. Dealers are not using locktite. I suggest the following: pull all wheel lugs and locktite(blue). Pull all loader, backhoe, and accessories, bolted to the tractor, pull the bolts, one at a time, and locktite each. Blue locktite if you plan to remove, red if it's never coming off. Use a torque wrench. I use a makita battery impact with torque sticks - no ibuprofen required. Be aware new battery impacts are powerful enough to strip a big bolt.
Never wind back below the minimum setting on wrench. Look up at manufacturers site on internet.
This is what I found. Who knows , right? Maybe! After all This Is April Fools Day ! Keep up the quality videos!
I watch all of them. Good stuff!
Mike, I never miss one of your videos. Why? Because the info you give us is priceless! Quick story related to this video. 2 years ago a gentleman contacted me to find an engine oil leak on his Mahindra 2615 with only 400 hours on it. It sounded great, but puked oil on the ground. What did I find? Loose and missing nuts and bolts that held the front drive and loader on the tractor! The engine block had huge broken peices of casting and missing whole chunks of casting. Though the engine ran well the block was toast. I bought the tractor and implements for the price of used implements. Mahindra's parts book was not encouraging for a replacement block with the assorted rebuild parts. I found a low hour engine from a Toro that a tree fell on and repowered the tractor. All this because someone did not check for loose bolts with every oil change. Keep all your bolts painted so a visual scan will show loose nuts and bolts. This video should be a wakeup call for all tractor owners! Thanks for all the great videos. See you on the next one. Dave
If you use a 6-inch extension on 1/2 inch torque wrench you add 4 pounds to the torque for every 6 inches of extension you have I am a diesel technician in heavy equipment mechanic that is what we were taught at caterpillar School back in the 90s
I don’t think mike is strong enough to add 4 more pounds . He was shaking as it was.
I took delivery of brand new Massey Ferguson GC1725M in 2020. In 2021 spring I went to check lugnuts and one bolt on the back wheel needed only to be touched and bolt head snapped off.
Several years ago, I was at a social function in Iowa. A bunch of us guys decided we'd like to tour a John Deere factory. We got it set up, and toured the factory (don't remember where, or what tractors they made), they made BIG tractors there. Anyway while on the tour, given by a retired employee, their line is 100% automated, and computer monitored. For instance, if a tractor goes to the tire instalation station, for instance, and the worker doesn't torque the lug nuts to the proper spec, the line will shut down until they are torqued properly! Just thought this was pretty amazing. Of course, we all know techonolgy will have glitches!!!
thanks Mike. I believe though any torque wrench manual will tell you to back off a fastener from tightness slightly, then re-torque to spec. Supposed to give you a truer reading.
I learned my lesson and now I torque everything every 10 hours - wheel bolts, loader bolts, backhoe bolt AND the top link bracket bolts. I've found all of them loose at one time or another. I had a major failure when I lost all of the bolts from my top link bracket bolts loosened. It wasn't terrible but it ruined my weekend. Buy a good $300 torque wrench (not a cheapie but very important tool) and use it every 10 hours. It only takes a few minutes but its really worth it.
Mike- have found your channel in the last month or so, really enjoy. Keep it up!
Yes, I definitely get the Ibuprofen comment, It's not any easier when we are getting up in age.
I like Tekton tools- use them at work and on my farm, and have heard good things about their torque wrenches, when I have to torque somehing over about 80 ft lbs, I use a digital torque adapter - goes on the end of a ratchet or breaker bar - good for 250 ft lbs and with a extra long breaker, I'm not breaking my back (or other parts of the body)
I found one loose screw watching you! Enjoyed and informative.
I have a local dealer who I did lots of business with. The first thing I did, always was tighten.
Wheels, loader frames Tedder arms .....anything I knew they put together. Why ? Because I knew better and 2, because I didn't want to be mad at him for it breaking when I needed it.
This may be a dumb question BUT shouldn't the weight of the tractor be off the wheel when you check them? I am thinking the weight of the tractor and tire would make the torque wrench "clik" before it really tightened the bolt? I have a 90 hp John Deere and with the tires full of water plus the tractor it seems like a great deal of weight that is offering resistance as far as the wrench is concerned.Also,if you will stop using artificial sweeteners and drinking colas,especially diet colas,you will notice the arthritic symptoms will greatly lessen in a few weeks.
Thank you Mike. I ordered my torque wrench and extensions after watching this video.
Wheel bolts, yep. Very costly when you have to pay the dealer to replace the rim, what it bolts to and the liquid load. Amazing that they can all be backing out and you don't see or feel anything until there are only 1 or 2 left barely in place. After you torque them, mark the bolts and rim with a straight line of paint so you can visually see if they are moving. Guess I better check the backside of my rims, didn't know there were bolts back there.
We found the same thing on our new Tractor ....just a few bolts loose but they shouldn't have been any
Is your wrench calibrated? Even a properly torqued bolt will relax?
Ibuprofen yes...but a cheater bar helps too. Grab an 18" chunka pipe.
Snap-On no longer go to for quality products. My torque wrenches by Snap-On are not supported for testing and calibration. I have to go to outside local labs for calibration an annual thing if you want to be able to depend on your tool.
Great video Mike. Most tractor manufacturers recommend re torquing lug nut bolts every 50 hours.
Damn good advice Mike,and don't use miracle wrenches.
Thanks for the honesty about Goober saying the tractor is good to go "till you see the wheel rolling past you." You need a cheater on the end of that torque wrench to skip the Ibuprofen, it's a gut killer.
I was lucky I had 0 bolts loose....oh wait I don't have a tractor LOL.
Ibuprofen.. definitely in my toolbox, too, Mike. Nice. :)
My Ryobe battery impact driver torques the wheel lugs of my tractor just right.
This makes it fast to go around ensuring the wheels are on tight.
This may or may not be true for other battery power tools or other tractors.
Lost a main rear wheel bolt out of a new 3410 Kubota several years ago. Put a new one in and found several other loose after that.
Thanks for the reminder Mike. I bought a Kioti last year and had heard quite a few stories of loose bolts. I checked them all on reception and at 10 hours and all were tight. I was lucky that the guy who prep'ed the tractor had used Loctite while assembling. After the 10-hour mark, I used the Operator's Manual to write my own 50-hour inspection checklist that I print and follow every 50 hours. I included loader and wheel bolts torque check as well as many other items that I could find in the manual. It takes me about 90 minutes to complete and is a good investment of my time. If I read a comment or lesson's learned from another user that I think could apply to me, I amend my checklist and have it covered at next inspection.
The checklist you made is a great idea for everyone to do really. Even if they just write it down and photo copy it. Its so easy to forget stuff when you are doing a service on a piece of equipment, so many things to check, change, tighten, etc. Heck I even have a small checklist for my lawn tractor that I go through every year...I didn't put a pin back in the front rod for the mower deck a couple years ago, and the rod came out dropped down and bent into the shape of a U...oh was that fun to try and get out of the bracket on the lawn tractor...I was doing a test cut after putting the mower deck back on from swapping out the snow blower at the end of winter...got in a bit of a hurry I guess and missed that simple pin. I was mowing along and looked back and was wondering why the heck the thing was bogging down so bad, well that rod falling out dropped the deck to the ground...that spot in the lawn was a bit short for a while HAHA!!!
Now when I swap between snow blower and mower and back, I have a little list I follow, and double check after I am through to be sure everything is put back where its supposed to go.
Great video! Im getting my first tractor delivered tomorrow. Perfect timing.
Good information and topic Mike, Thank you and have a good Easter!
Why not put the bolts on the other way, so you can check them from the outside?
Hey, i resently put a hydraulic Top Link on my Ford 3930. Its a Cat 1 which works great . Question is how do i slow it down? Is there an adjustment on the Tractor to slow the speed of the rear hydraulics?
Does it have the knob under the seat like many tractors? I think Mike mentioned it or Neil Messicks mentioned that knob and did a video on it. You turn the knob to adjust how fast your rear hydraulics are...Not sure if that's a standard thing on all tractors though, maybe just certain colors?
On my loader nuts and bolts they put the lock washers on the bolt head and not on the nut !!
I had 2 loose wheel bolts on a new Deere. Glad I read the manual and checked!
Red Loctite everything……lol
Why was my comment removed?
Are torque callouts for @ sealevel?
No loose bolts...just loose screws!
I purchased a tractor on 3/28,(kioti 2610) it should be delivered tomorrow 4/2. I'll be certain to check. Thanks for the info.
The loader bolts are really bad to work loose the PTO Shield bolts are really bad and on an AGco 2 wheel drive the bolts that hold the keeper pin on front axle will fall out and let the axle fall off..massey Ferguson I have 4 wheel drive agco ghost 65 cab tractor. With 1500 hrs. They thought the clutch was bad but it was only out of adjustment. Paid 17.5 k for it was that a bad buy .every thing working perfectly on it and tires are like new .best I could get for my budget. Hope it was worth the money?????
On my Kioti DS4510 I had many loose wheel nuts during my 200 hour service. Now I need to check the FEL bolts.
What size frame is your New Holland I think I have a 75 horsepower that is that size frame or maybe the size bigger my daughter runs it all the time for me it has a cow bone it in -2 wheel drive but anyway I bought it for $9,600 and it had 3,500 hours on it so far my little girl has plowed about 30 Acres of potato ground with it and I've not had any problems with it at all the heat air condition everything on it works great
Mike, I am 59. I take 400mg of Motrin every morning and evening. But when I am about to do something strenuous like the video, I will just go ahead and take 200mg more. Good advice on checking torque. Happy spring. Here comes work. See ya next week.
I got my Deere 1025R last June. I did check them after 5 hours and they were all good. But this was good timing for your video because I should recheck them before I start using the tractor more often, now that the nicer weather is here. Thanks Sir
Good timing Mike - was hooking up an implement and noticed I was missing the bolt on my 3 point arm holding the pin in place and was about to lose that arm. Had to find a replacement bolt and then took the time to check my other bolts and had a few loose on my FEL. Do as Mike says!!!!
Thanks Mike. Been meaning to check the torque and your video spurred me on. Also thanks for the Amazon links. I used them!
Mike, can you get away with using the sockets from a different socket wrench kit or must you use the ones that are designed specifically for a torque wrench?
Bob, I always just use whatever socket is nearest me. I'll probably blow one up someday but have been lucky so far.
For a torque wrench it doesn't matter. Now for an impact wrench you need to use impact rated sockets as some of the regular sockets that you'll find in many off the shelf socket sets are not impact rated and could possibly shatter....now you may not have that issue with small sockets 1/4, 3/8, 1/2 inch drive, but you get into 3/4 and 1 inch drive sockets on an impact gun and you are putting that much torque and impacting motion on a regular socket and you very well could shatter that socket...I've never personally seen it happen but I'm sure it has to people in the industry using those tools on a daily basis.
My 2& a half year old tractor lost two lug nuts on one wheel. The others were fine. You just never know why some come loose. Check them regularly.
I just now found out there was such a thing as a torque multiplier. I’m getting old and it seems like this would be a great tool to own. Is there a trustworthy one that isn’t too expensive for us folks that would only need one a few times per year?
I bought a cheap one on Amazon and it didn't last one bolt. Somewhere there's a video on my channel where it broke trying to get a brush hog blade off. I was thinking the same way you are, surely an $80 torque multiplier would work for the 2 or 3 times a year when I needed it. Turns out it didn't :(.
That’s what I figured. Thanks for the reply Mike. I did purchase the Torque wrench you recommended. It really looks and feels like a quality tool. I recently replaced my front tractor tires and I thought had tightened the lug nuts enough. After watching your video, I looked in my owners manual and found the recommended torque is around 200 ft lbs. I received the torque wrench and deep six sockets yesterday. Not one of those lug nuts were anywhere close to tight enough. Thanks to you, they are now.
I’ll be doing those steps on the weekend Mike, I took note when you mentioned it on the live stream the other day, thanks 👍🏻
That s good advice Mike. Thanks from Georgian Bay
You are so funny good sir!! "Hee huuuh haaa.... That one was loose!". Love it! 😄
Good one. Yes to pain meds. and sometimes a day of rest. But I'm a little older than you 75.
Nail polish across the bolt head onto the wheel body frame loader so you can look and see if they have turned. What ever color works for you
Good reminders Mike. I need to check mine before I start my spring chores.
Hmmmmm never even thought about the tire bolts just assumed when I send the tractor to the dealer in the fall for servicing, I wonder if they are checked ???? Great video !!!
Probably not, just like cars, you take it in for service, the dealer often claims to do some huge courtesy inspection and service, 99.9% of it they never do, and if you are aren't careful you may find they probably never even did the oil/filter change they charged you for either.
Good video. Convinced me to check mine.
Good reminder, I need to do this too.
Great information
Very good video
Great idea 💡
Great video