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I'm the real world it isn't Likely to go wrong.
The early change will be to get any metal shavings out the system that are caused when it's all new and has low tolerances.
That's what I've been told by my mower man and he's been on them for 20+ years.
Hi John
its changed at 50 hours first time because the oil is contaminated with metal parts from gears etc bedding in, this is exactly the same as your engine on any mower or bit of equipment where you change the oil out at a very early interval after everything has meshed together right.
if this is not done those bits of material will start to cause wear on the unit (engine or transmission) and drastically shorten the life of the machine.
as Richard said below if this was uk and the 50 hour service was ignored and the unit failed I would not be covering the warranty as it is seen as user / operator abuse which has caused a completely avoidable failure on the machine and this will go for engine manufacturers etc etc etc,
if you are struggling over in france let me know and I will see if I can get someone from head office to put a quiet word in your dealers ear because no dealer should be preventing basic service work from being done but as you say it could just be a cross in good old communication that has confused things
Thanks for the Info I will call into the dealership armed with the manual etc and have a chat , Once again Thank You
Probably doesn't help your dilema but I wonder why the oil should be changed at 50 hours as these units have a hydro filter.
It really is worth doing as if you keep the oil fresh and clean the rest of the mower will have disintegrated before the hydro system is broken. Unless you are really unlucky that is
Wouldn't be able to comment further without knowing the micron rating of the filter, but really the filter is there to catch the crud before it enters the pump, anything smaller that can pass through the filter is deemed to not wear the components.
I'd say if anything, the filter change is required to ensure it doesn't become partially blocked wth all of run in crud, rather than the oil be contaminated and causing wear.
Be interesing to know the outcome and reasoning.
I'm fairly sure they know what they are talking about.
It's the same story with the agri stuff we have on the farm if you keep the oils and filters right throughout the machine you don't tend to get many problems.
All that said I tend to agree that a filter change would probably be good enough.
the filter is not required to be changed in this unit because it has a magnetised section which pulls out the contamination going into the pump and is sited higher in the unit.
the oil change is done to clean the section of oil in the lubrication side of the unit keeping the gears lubricated and sump where all the larger bits sink down too, this is the area which collects the worn parts from the gear meshing and if left would start to mix into the higher pump oil level and will cause a failure.
as I said in my first reply this is nothing special, you require this exact same procedure on any oil lubricated system, this will not differ with engines / hydrostatic transmissions / mechanical transmissions / oil pumps or any other component required to interact with another of the same density with frictional contact.
if this is not done and the unit fails (very likely ) this will not be covered under warranties from the company's and is no way a ploy to squirm out of paying them, its the most basic of maintenance which has to be done on all new tools / machines, and its not down to company's to pay for user damage, if your dealer is trying to say you don't need this then inform the manufacture because the dealer should be following the guidelines.
while im on the maintenance side of things and we are now officialy over half way through the year I would be changing the oil on your engines, Big or Small
1 oil change on an engine per year is in-fact not enough if the machine is your main workhorse, always check the oil and the second its turning dark / black change it, this colour change means the oil is now as good as water and has lost / losing it's lubrication properties and beginning to cook you will also have metal particles which will be damaging the engine / unit.
Honestly all I have a 1996 ancient MKE here at etesia that up until a competition we ran was still being used as an every day work horse, it was fitted with the first and small fc420 single cylinder engine and the operator changed the oil every 3 months as standard,
this engine still runs like it was only made yesterday with the very old ballpump transmission still pulling like a tank, to be honest it runs better than some machines I have seen which are a year or 2 old, only difference is this was oil changed every 3 moths and the new ones once a year.
it really pays to look after kit because a breakdown can mean the difference between completing a job or not and when the fail is down to some basic maintenance which takes 15min to do, that's a bad situation which is completely avoidable.
Good points, Neal.
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