Hello All
I finally changed the belt today. K had given me the heads up on it and I didnt even know it had one and she mentioned it cost about $200 to get it changed, anyway found a Deutz dealer about 60 miles away and gave them a call. no problem they have the belt kit in stock for $102 . asked about a tool needed and was quoted $800 for that, So then I asked about them changing the belt for me and he says sure you have to talk to service department so I drive up there and talk to the guy and he tells me if I unload it there today he can have it done by tomorrow evening and he estimated 6 or 7 hours at $100 an hour + the belts. granted he was talking about adjusting the valves while its apart. Hmmm even told me it had a special tork hex screws on cover that I would need to buy a tool if I did it myself. I go back to parts buy both belts and valve cover gasket and headed home. Pulled covers off machine to see whats needed and it had 10mm hex head bolts on the plastic timming chain cover. Anyway hour and 15 minutes I had belts changed and back together running like a champ with no special tools. To be honest I have changed fan belts that were more complicated than this. I didnt tackle the valves because I didnt have the spec's with me but I know it wouldnt take more than 30 minutes tops.
I was a mechanic in my past life and I never did try to make mountains out of mole hills just to gouge the customer.
$100 an hour is bad enough, padding it by 3x just dont seem right
Tom
Man that's robbery, I R&R'd the timing belt, idler and fan belt on mine in about 45 minutes.
I had a fuel injector return line spring a leak on mine once in the middle of a working day, I drove to the Deutz shop and they quoted me $400 to replace the lines. I bought the kit from their parts counter and changed the hoses in their parking lot, right in front of the window. It took about half an hour.
JTMcC.
I had to replace the return lines twice on mine sofar, I just bought fuel hose from local parts house and it seem to hold up just as long as the Deutz hoses.
I guess the moral of the story is dont let Deutz dealers do the work for you cause your gonna get raped.
Tom
Yeah been hearing same thing a lot from Ditch Witch owners with Deutz. Someone could make some good money in aftermarket selling those special tools which sounds like may not need ?
Good to hear Tom. I too had called a Deutz dealer/mechanic and they told me I would have to drop off the machine and if I wanted it done quicker, pull off all the sheet metal and covers for them first. I figured hell, if i'm gonna do that I might as well tackle it my self. As you know from other posts I did and it worked out just fine after all. I did borrow all the special tools from Ditch Witch. A friend of mine works in the maintenace department and had all the special tools available. FYI Perry, OK is the world headquarters of Ditch Witch and I live 2 miles from there. Lucky huh? But it looks like money was saved all around.
rick
Rick
It would have been nice to have the tension gage. I just used a sharpe pen to mark the 3 gears to keep it in time.
You are lucky to have friends that work on them, I checked with a few mechanic friends but none had ever even messed with Deutz.
When you tensioned the belt was it pretty tight or just snug? Would be nice if a guy could figure out how many Lbs of pull to deflect the belt a certain distance then it would be easy enough to check rather than rent or buy a $800 tool.
I bought this welder new around 1997 , the belt being that old was still in good shape, I expected it to be weather cracked and frayed a bit. now the fan belt was a different story it was way over due.
Tom
With the belt tensioner on and adjusted, it did come out pretty tight. What I did was pre-tension the belt to spec. then take the timing pins out rotated the the crank shaft 4 full times and rechecked the belt tension with guage and it was tight after that. If it is loose in any way it could jump a belt tooth or two and get out of time. By the way, my friends did'nt help me at all, they told me it would be a learning experienced and sent me on my way. It was a learning experience after all. My machine was bought in 1998 and the timing belt looked really good too. preventative maintenance goes along way.
rick
That robbery I got the Deutz F4L1011F timing belt broke and bent all the push rod a Deutz dealer charge me around $850 parts and labor and they ajusted the valves in that price. And they did it on my truck while I waited took them about 41/2 to 5 Hrs.
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