[AT] Deere 4020 oil leak

[Greg Hass]

I will agree that doing things on the cheap usually doesn't pay.  I 
haven't had a leaky radiator in several years (knock on wood). However, 
if I do I don't know what I would do. For 30 years we had a local guy 
that fixed them; I also knew him socially, and when they were done they 
were better than new. He took great pride in his work and said that 
after a while you got to know the weak spots in radiators and if you had 
a leak and he fixed it he would reinforce the weak spots ( on one he 
said the corners were weak and shaking in the field would in time crack 
the corner tubes so he soldered in corner braces; on my combine the side 
brace broke the solder and the weight of the spinning chaff drum crushed 
the tubes and had to be recored  but when he did it he added extra 
corner supports).  He wasn't cheap but the work was done correctly and 
he stood behind his work. Unfortunately, he died in his 50's and before 
he died sold the business to someone else and reports have not been 
good. First off, they fired the only guy, other than the previous owner, 
who knew what he was doing. About that time my brother had bought a JD 
7910 from a guy here in Michigan. He was a machinery jockey, a decent 
sort of guy, and told my brother it was a Florida tractor. When my 
brother started to use it the temperatures were in the 50's but the 
water temperature would always run right on the edge of the red but 
would go down if let idle. To the JD dealer it went where they said the 
clutch fan was bad. A couple of thousand dollars later, even though the 
dealer said it was fixed, still on the edge of red. We wondered what it 
would do in 80 degree weather. Next, thermostats were changed, no 
difference. Looking in the radiator, the cores looks somewhat plugged; 
we later surmised that when low on water, workers took it out of 
irrigation ditches plugging some of the tubes. He took the radiator out 
and took it to the radiator shop with the new owner. He gave him a price 
to recore it and my brother left. That night he got to thinking the 
price sounded high so in the morning he went to the JD dealer and found 
he could buy a brand new JD radiator for $200 less than fixing the old 
one. He went back to the fix-it shop and said he had changed his mind. 
They said they had already unsoldered the tanks. My brother said he 
would pay for that and they charged him $175 for that work. Needless to 
say we have never went back and people we have told the story to have 
said they would never go to a guy like that. Now the temperature gauge 
on that tractor stays just a little above the middle of the green no 
matter the outside temp. This post has been somewhat of a ramble, but I 
guess I'm saying new is not always the most expensive and if you have a 
good repair shop, appreciate it.
            Greg Hass