Unauthorized Manuals??

This question has to do with a modern tractor brand (which I won't name) and a web-based dealer/franchise of that brand (which I also won't name).

Yet. I won't name yet... because I want to see if my story is specific to one brand/dealer, or if this is the norm nowadays.

Anyway, I needed a shop manual for our four year old tractor, as I wanted to track down where some of the wiring goes.

I go online, and I find that I can get a pdf of the 600 page shop manual for 42 bucks.

Good deal.

I order the manual. When I get the file, I can't search it for words (which means that the file is essentially a bunch of images, not a written file). This isn't a big deal, as I have a .pdf OCR (optical character recognition) utility. I process the file, so that it looks through pixel by pixel and turns any set of pixels that looks like an english letter...into an english letter.

Great... now I can search the document. I can use <CTRL><f> and search any word that I want... and it will find it.

BUT... the entire chapter of wiring diagrams? No matter how much I zoom in, I can't read the names of the signals on the wires and other information.

I notice that every page has "buttons" on it, which look like what a dealer would see, when logged into the manufacturer's maintenance system.

So... are dealers just doing mass screen dumps of their service system, regardless of image quality and charging customers a nominal fee for a pdf file?

Is this authorized?

Because I sent an email to the dealer that I bought the file from, to highlight this issue and... crickets.

OK... so maybe you get what you pay for... and if I want readable electrical diagrams, I'll have to buy the hardcopy of the manual from the OEM.

But... what a waste of trees.

I suspect thats exactly what you bought, a bootleg manual. And I m sure its not authorized.

This post was edited by MJMJ on 09/13/2023 at 12:28 pm.

(quoted from post at 12:27:45 09/13/23) I suspect thats exactly what you bought, a bootleg manual. And I m sure its not authorized.

This post was edited by MJMJ on 09/13/2023 at 12:28 pm.

Click to expand...

Probably.

People gotta eat. Everything else in the manual is good. It's just frustrating to try to read the schematics.

I'm starting to think that an electric tractor would have a less complicated electrical schematic than a modern diesel.
;-)

Don't waste your time with some online junk consisting of a bunch on unreadable documents. Get the factory-authorized service manual, read it and you'll be as smart as a factory-trained tech.