Puncture & fuel leak

Regular readers of T&M may recall the fitting of a brandnew, cutter bar-style hedge trimmer to my neighbour’s MF 35X in the December ’21 issue, and also work carried out on a leaking crankshaft front oil seal at the same time.

After setting up the hedge cutter, which has its own hydraulic oil supply driven from a PTO pump, the tractor returned to work to deal with some hedges that were normally cut using a handheld hedge trimmer. The effort of cutting was reduced drastically and many of the hedges could be cut at a height that couldn’t be reached before!

Amongst the hedges there is a lot of Blackthorn, which is extremely punishing to tractor tyres, and despite constant clearing of the trimmings the tractor ended up with a puncture in the front nearside tyre.

After completion of the task, the tractor was put away in its usual shed. The tyre was still inflated and the unfortunate puncture wasn’t immediately noticed.