Hello all from a proud new M5040 owner. It is a very well thought out machine and I can't fault it at all. I have an impliment servicability problem however. Maybe I am missing something here that will give you guys a laugh and I'll benefit from your experience.
I just discovered that I can grease the entire tractor in much less time than it takes to do the two universal joint nipples on the Land Pride PTO drive shaft for my RCR1884 bush hog. This is because the nipples face the ends which have a lot of structure around them.
Here's what beats the heck out of me. If they just put the two grease nipples on the inboard side of the universal spiders (facing each other), they would be simple and quick to get at. Only the yoke would be in the way as in a typical automotive application.
As it is, you need to disassemble the clutch shroud and use a 90 deg grease gun attachment on a hose and fiddle with the access to find just the right sweet spot to mate it up. Of course you have to get past the PTO shields but that's a given.
The thing is made in Italy. Maybe they have smaller FIAT grease guns or something. Land Pride's advice was to remove the drive shaft from the tractor to grease it. Gee, that would be fun on a cold winter day. Time to build a heated barn.
Anyway, this rant was far more fun than greasing the %&$ drive shaft...
Now, if I can just learn to operate the loader and chew gum at the same time.
Russ
I just discovered that I can grease the entire tractor in much less time than it takes to do the two universal joint nipples on the Land Pride PTO drive shaft for my RCR1884 bush hog. This is because the nipples face the ends which have a lot of structure around them.
Here's what beats the heck out of me. If they just put the two grease nipples on the inboard side of the universal spiders (facing each other), they would be simple and quick to get at. Only the yoke would be in the way as in a typical automotive application.
As it is, you need to disassemble the clutch shroud and use a 90 deg grease gun attachment on a hose and fiddle with the access to find just the right sweet spot to mate it up. Of course you have to get past the PTO shields but that's a given.
The thing is made in Italy. Maybe they have smaller FIAT grease guns or something. Land Pride's advice was to remove the drive shaft from the tractor to grease it. Gee, that would be fun on a cold winter day. Time to build a heated barn.
Anyway, this rant was far more fun than greasing the %&$ drive shaft...
Now, if I can just learn to operate the loader and chew gum at the same time.
Russ