Animals doing damage to tractors and vehicles?

JOCCO · Dec 18, 2023

Has any of you had to seal with this? I had mice build a nest in the exhaust and manifold of a diesel. What a job to clean out thought I lost the engine. Neighbor had squirrels chew his wire harness on a car it is driving the dealer nuts and going to cost lots to fix. Been a few other things not to mention damage to buildings etc.

Butch(OH) · Dec 18, 2023

I give the mice plenty of those green blocks to chew on and haven't had much troubles since. However there is a sign at our Rural k
King that says the EPA is wanting to take that poison away from us.

Traditional Farmer · Dec 18, 2023

Leave a tractor in a cow pasture for a couple months

JimB2 · Dec 18, 2023

My BIL's GMC truck the squirrels filled the air intake with nuts and chewed the ABS brake wiring, $800.00.
MY SIL's Nissan Note, mice or squirrels chewed one of the main cables to the ECM and it was throwing all sorts of codes and the Dealer said it would be about $2000.00 for new harness and installation, so she traded it for a new Nissan.

jddrawbar · Dec 18, 2023

Or, goat pasture!

Steve in VA · Dec 18, 2023

Squirrels ate fuel cap off log splitter and sawmill. Pack rats love the D3.

rrlund · Dec 18, 2023

I've had cattle shear off valve stems and pull out wires. They pulled a wire and shorted out the solenoid on a starter one time. They pulled the spark plug wires on a tractor and tipped the distributor cap just enough for the pin in the center on a Mallory distributor to fall out and the tractor wouldn't start. That took a minute to figure out. I've got an electric fuel shut off on one loader tractor. They pulled the ground wire on that. The tractor started, then died as soon as it ran all the gas out of the carburetor. Another one that was hard to track down.

Geo-TH,In · Dec 18, 2023

I buy mouse bait by the 4# bucket and leave old antifreeze for the mice to drink. I don't allow pets to eat and drink what I leave for the mice.

mdm1 · Dec 18, 2023

Quite a number of years ago I had mice build a nest in the clutch of a pickup. Had the clutch replaced and called my insurance company just out of curiosity and asked if my comp would cover it. They asked if I had a bill and they paid me for it!!

Hemmjo · Dec 18, 2023

I had something eat the ABS wheel speed sensor cable on my truck. WE have lots of squirrels around.

Spent a whole day setting survey grade stakes in a field for a job, came back the nest day the cows had knocked over.

Mice build nests in the housing off air cooled engines. Once the nest got into the governor vane of a lawn tractor, blew the motor up.

Squirrel got into my parents basement, chewed a bunch of the exposed romex house wiring.

ADB-Ia · Dec 18, 2023

I had two bulls fighting - one rammed the other into the front of my pickup. Smashed the grill and buckled the hood. They spun around and the other one smashed into the fender. They slid the front of the pickup over a couple feet. I had a front row seat behind the steering wheel to watch the fight. The insurance man asked me to repeat the story when I turned in the claim. I was just glad I had that much steel between the bulls and myself.

Stephen Newell · Dec 18, 2023

I think everyone has problems with critters, especially in a rural area. In my shop up on a ledge I had some romex wire about 15' long and somehow something chewed all the insulation off. Not only the outer sheathing but insulation off both the hot and neutral wires. When I found it there were three bare wires laying there still in working order. I still can't understand how the wires didn't touch each other. I have armadillos digging tunnels under the floor of my shop, squirrels chewing holes to get into my attic. If a vehicle sits in one spot you can count on the wiring and vacuum lines being chewed into. Then part of my shop isn't enclosed, I often get raccoons in there knocking things off my work bench and scattering screws all over the place. I have a drywall screw in my tractor tire now I bet is from raccoons. I also have to put rubber snakes on my light fixtures to prevent birds from building nests on them. They especially like to make their nests right above the ballasts, I guess for the heat.

Butch(OH) · Dec 18, 2023

We have 2 Elkhounds and squirrels are like Elkhound cocaine. Score is Elkhounds several hundred to Squirrels 3 or 4, LOL. I have watched them hunker down by the chicken house for hours and wait. They know exactly how far tbe squirrels have to be from cover in order to catch them, they seldom error.

olddavid · Dec 18, 2023

Squirrels or mice: 2004 Alero-evaporative emission wire chewed in two, knock sensor wire chewed in two, transmission speed sensor chewed in two (wouldn't shift out of first). 2000 Acura Integra-one fuel injector wire chewed in two and another one most of the way. 2015 Honda CRV-chewed the washer fluid hose in two. Mobile home-a mouse trying to enlarge a hole with Romex running through it chew through the neutral interrupting power to several outlets. I know it was a mouse cause it got him.

Texasmark · Dec 18, 2023

That's exactly what I have been using for years. Put it out and when it disappears put out more......when it stops disappearing you have succeeded in your quest. I used to put it on the ground but something eats it that it apparently doesn't effect. Have a family or so of Raccoons run the perimeter of my pond and I suspect they are the culprits.

So I built a little box about 1x2' with a hallway on both ends......long enough so that a coon couldn't reach in and get to a bait. Ran a wire through the living area and loaded the bait chunks on the wire through their center hole. Once doing that I was able to get rid of the mice-rats that had been eating the baits that I originally installed in the box. The coons don't bother any wiring or such.

jon f mn · Dec 18, 2023

Something had started a nest in the intake manifold on my 1030 that I worked on this week. I didn't see it in there, but was blowing it out to clear any dust when a bunch of insulation came out. Took quite a while to make sure that was clean. A while back I had a tractor sit with the engine mostly assembled for a couple years. Mice got in through the water pump and filled the water jacket in the block and one head full of a mixture of insulation and dog food. I spent hours cleaning that out, but a couple years later when I pulled the pan for something there was still dog food in there.

BarryfromIA · Dec 18, 2023

Feeding the cats in the morning was cheaper than fixing things damaged by rodents and more interesting.

Bob Bancroft · Dec 18, 2023

Had a crazed red squirrel show up here once. I used to keep my big tractor in an old barn next to the house. I noticed the few paper shop towels I kept in the cab were missing. (Window was left open) I started looking around, and it's good that I did. I found a fresh nest at the back of the engine, near the exhaust.

old · Dec 18, 2023

Years ago I had a horse that would pull all the spark plug wires off of a tractor if I left it parked in the pasture. It was a pain in the back side at time

Mike(NEOhio) · Dec 18, 2023

Wife came home one day and said she smelled something hot from the car, like burnt toast. The critters filled the air filter with dog food nuggets and some rolled down the pre-heat tube on to the manifold. Another time white smoke and the same smell from the tailpipe. Had it on a lift to figure it out when a toasted acorn popped out.

Animals doing damage to tractors and vehicles?

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