[AT] refusing to replace old equipment - N-Complete

[Stephen Offiler]

A radiator clogged with weed seed is far from unique and I am more
than a bit surprised Tom was so stumped that he was ready to drop in a
whole new engine.  Kudos for standing behind his work, certainly; but
not for troubleshooting skills.

Steve O.


On Wed, Dec 17, 2008 at 10:33 PM, Keith Kinney
<kkinney at herculesengines.com> wrote:
> About 35-40 years ago my Grandpa replaced our Ford 8N with a 1956 Ford
> 600.  The 600 has been our main tractor around the place, 22 acres,
> ever since.  7 or 8 years ago it was getting to the point where it was
> just worn out. We'd rebuilt the engine 20 or so years prior but it was
> time again plus everything else was tried on the tractor.  Mom wanted
> dad to invest in a new tractor that would be reliable but he didn't
> want to spend the $20-$25,000 for a new, similar sized, compact
> tractor.  I had heard about N-Complete and suggested for less than
> half of new he could have the 600 "re-newed" and we'd still have
> Grandpa's tractor.  He thought about it a while and finally had it done.
>
> It came back looking like new.  Everything went great until he tried
> bush hogging with it.  After about a 1/2 hour of cutting it would over
> heat.  Actually the first time it over heated and after he let it sit
> a few hours to cool down the engine was locked up.  What we discovered
> is the gas cap didn't have a vent and the fuel boiled and pressurized
> the tank filling a cylinder or two with fuel.  Tom immediately sent us
> a new fuel cap and carburetor.  But, it still continued to over heat.
> We took it back to them, a 5 hour drive each way for us, but they
> claimed they couldn't duplicate the problem and try it again.  After a
> second trip and still no duplication of the problem Tom came to our
> place and watched what we did.  He saw first hand that it would over
> heat after bush hogging for 1/2 our or so and it wasn't something we
> were doing wrong.  He tried several things but still had the problem.
>
> So he said if we'd bring it back one more time he would put a newly
> remanufactured engine into the tractor as he couldn't think of
> anything else to try.  Bear in mind this has been going on for a few
> years by now.  We took it back to Tom.  This time he finally found the
> problem.  The new radiator he put in when he originally rebuilt the
> tractor did not have proper distance between the fins.  It was an
> automotive radiator core not a farm radiator???  The problem was the
> radiator was clogging up with weed seeds and overheating.  Anyway, he
> went ahead and put a new engine in the tractor, replaced the radiator,
> and put a screen in front of the radiator to keep the weed seed out.
> We haven't had any overheating problems with it since.
>
> We did go through a lot of inconvenience with the whole process but I
> will have to commend Tom and N-complete for standing behind their
> work.  I'd certainly have no problem having them rebuild another one
> for us or purchase one of their rebuilt tractors.
>
> Here's some pictures of some of our tractors including the 600:
> http://www.herculesengines.com/tractors/
>
> Keith
> www.herculesengines.com