Tach and hour meter stopped working on L2501

[Runs With Scissors]

Hey all, my hour meter and my tach stopped working this weekend at 126.3 hours.

From doing a search, I found that the most likely suspect is the drive cable on the right side of the engine.

Is there anything else that I could/should look at?

I'm gonna call the dealer today and see if it is still under warranty. I think it should be since I took delivery in early 2022.

Also, even though I doubt it.........Can the hour meter be "reset" to show the "approximate" true time? I probably put 5 or 6 hours on it after I noticed the tach not working.

 

[mcfarmall]

Jack up the rear wheels, put it in drive and set the throttle up high, just like Cameron did on Ferris Bueller's Day Off!

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Jack up the rear wheels, put it in drive and set the throttle up high, just like Cameron did on Ferris Bueller's Day Off!

Classic movie....

 

[Kubota Newbie]

The hour meter would have to be disassembled ,or, rolled ahead with a chunk of the old cable and a drill. For 5-6 hours..... Probably not really worth the trouble.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

The hour meter would have to be disassembled ,or, rolled ahead with a chunk of the old cable and a drill. For 5-6 hours..... Probably not really worth the trouble.

I concur.

Well, mystery solved. Its the cable.

I had to remove the right engine shroud to access the motor side of the cable.

Pulling 2 , 12mm bolts, the shroud pops right off, leaving good access to the connection point. (Aft one pictured here)

Then roll up boot, and unscrewed the attach point.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Here she is.

I'll call the dealer today and see if its covered.

 

[TheOldHokie]

Here she is.

View attachment 107443

I'll call the dealer today and see if its covered.

I hope 126 hours is not representative of MTBF on those cables. Thats an order of magnitude less than I would expect. At least its easy to replace

Dan

 

[Roadworthy]

Thanks for sharing the pictures of the fix. I thought all newer tractors use electronics for the hour meter. It's good to see some still use the old cable system.

 

[Yooper]

Am I seeing this right? Its a mechanical meter with a drive cable?

 

[mikester]

If it's the long coil spring drive you will probably find they don't last. I stopped replacing it after my second one failed in the exact same spot.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

I hope 126 hours is not representative of MTBF on those cables. Thats an order of magnitude less than I would expect. At least its easy to replace

Dan

I think this is more of an anomaly Dan. I could not find many threads on my search.

Am I seeing this right? Its a mechanical meter with a drive cable?

Yes sir.

If it's the long coil spring drive you will probably find they don't last. I stopped replacing it after my second one failed in the exact same spot.

Hmmm....I hope it's not problematic.

I just dropped it at the dealer, and the service guy seemed surprised that it went out.

Thanks for sharing the pictures of the fix. I thought all newer tractors use electronics for the hour meter.

Thats exactly what I thought when it went out. I figured for sure the connection came undone when I went over some bumps.



Paul

 

[Kubota Newbie]

Lube the new one prior to installing. If it has a plastic liner - silicone grease, if metal a medium weight sticky oil like chain saw bar oil.
Usually corrosion or routing around sharp corners that gets those.

 

[number two]

It'a just a speedometer cable-like from the older cars.
I've heard of several failures on the L2501's.
I like them since they accumulate hours based on actual revolutions vs.
key-on-time,but I'm a dinosaur!
Good Luck!

 

[Trustable]

I wouldn’t worry about bringing the hour meter up to speed. The hour meter only counts correctly at 2k rpm due to brining linked via mechanical cable so it will be off anyway. I put an electric analog hour meter after using tractor for 4 hours. I can actually hear it ticking if I put my ear by it. I have it hooked up so it counts anytime key is in full on position. Right now my tractor says about 30 hours but the meter I put on has about 37 plus the hours I had before putting it on. I typically don’t run 2k unless I need the power so I’m sure that is why it’s so far off.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

......or routing around sharp corners that gets those.

I think this is the problem.

I will take a pic when I get it back from the dealer, however, when I traced it back, it was zip-tied in a bundle of wires which caused it to make what "I considered" too sharp of a turn.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Ok, just picked up the General Lee.

They installed a new cable and zip tied it in the sam spot. Here are some before pics.

Took shroud off for clearer shot.

Tried to capture "unacceptable" angle from different views.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Here are some views of the "after cutting" zip tie.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

That did not work out well....Lets try some side by side "before and after" shots taken from approx the same angle.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

 

[Runs With Scissors]

With shroud on before.

Shroud on "after"