XTIII As I was finishing

Captain Dana, sorry to hear of that kind of troubles. and on a two year old radiator to boot. Glad it wasn't the engine that blew. Never had a fan go through any of mine, but neighbor had a fan on his 5000 ford that ate his radiator

Allisbred! 8000 total first cutting in 8 days of baling with a NH 315 on the XT and 311 on a 185, we started cutting around June 6 and finished up yesterday. I flew 10 of those days and mowed, tedded, raked on 11 days, had a few rain days and baled on 8 days. 43 pound small squares of quality mixed grass hay. Ian and I totaled 150 field hours on the tachs for mowing, tedding, raking, hauling, etc., and burned 230 gals of diesel which figures out real close to 50 bales per tractor hour. I will call Sandy Lake @8 am. I suppose the failed blade could have been bent at some time, maybe by trying to turn the crank to set the timing or ???? Thanks!    Dana

Oh man it could have been WAAAY worse. But here's the thing.....how to inspect all of my other 10 tractors? I use 6 a lot in my haying ops. As y'all know the blades are covered with millions of dead insects which would make it about impossible to see any faults using a light and mirror. C'mon guys how can we inspect them? Wiggle each blade to see if they all feel equal? Dr. Allis what's your take on inspection before failure? Thanks! Dana

Best test I could think of would be using liquid penetrant sold through grainier (Magna-flux)-- I use this at work to check surface discontinuities. I can walk you through a process for accurate results if needed. Think I would just do a visual inspection if there is concern. There are several factors that can cause material failures.

Thanks for the replies guys! I enjoy running 45 year old balers and a fleet of 11 Allis' all but one older than 48 years old! And the fact they have been paid for almost forever and make us a lot of Money and give us more than money in pride of ownership and enjoyment. I made a comment earlier yesterday that we had only spent 120 bucks in parts this season before the XT mishap. So now we add another 700 some bucks. Who cares? Compared to monthly payments that's nothing! It's just the way I choose to run my business and keep raking in the dough with my old Allis Chalmers.😊 They get spray waxed every day before hitting the fields: I have always said if I'm going to work this hard out in these meadows when it's hot and dirty...I'm going to look good doing it. Lol. Anyhow I think I need to magniflux (sp ?) and check the other fans. We kick all of the 43 pound bales into kicker wagons usually 135 bales on a load. Thanks again! Dana

I had the same thing happen on my gas XT. Skint things up a little but didn’t hurt the radiator


Edited by SteveMaskey(MO) - 02 Jul 2018 at 8:41pm

If you decide to inspect your blades with more than a visual, the materials needed will be; Magnaflux SKC-S cleaner (2 cans), Magnaflux SKL-SP1 penetrant (1 can), Magnaflux SKD-S2 developer (1 can), 1 small 1" foam brush, 1 roll of lint free towels. I would look at the broken fan and see if there was any evidence of the crack (dirt or discolor at the crack beginning possibly) and only inspect the remaining fans in that area. You can buy everything through Grainger or Fastenal. Another option could be a Magnetic Particle exam (better)if it is carbon steel and someone near by has a "yoke" for you to use as it will detect cracks below the surface. In any event, if you decide to persue these inspections, please call me and I will go over the correct procedure. Best of luck, Kevin 410 713 0547

Thanks y’all again! I looked quickly out in the field and believe this blade had been cracked before this mishap, when I get back home to fix it I’ll post pics but I’m pretty sure it was cracked.
Ya know every day before any of the fleet leaves the stable we always do the walk around checking fluids, coolant and fan belt tension and I’ll usually wiggle on a blade just to check the water pump bearing, guess I just never happened to grab this blade. I’ll never complain because I love keeping up with the maintenance and these tractors are so reliable is a rarity to have issues. Thanks!!

Captain, considering your profession I would say your equipment gets much better than average maintenance. Log books containing inspection, service, maintenance and historical records are a great idea. One fan blade failure on your 48+ year old fleet is not bad, just sorry that it decided to get a 2 year old radiator in the process. Any restriction to the air flow through the radiator (card board, trash, etc.) will put extra stress on the fan blades and make a crack more likely. Putting up 1,000 bales per day is awesome, I had to have a real good day to get 500 bales through a NH268 pulled by Dad's WD. I agree with you on paying a small amount for repairs rather than big $$$ to be using new equipment that is very likely not as reliable and costs more to repair.