Case-IH DX45 stuck in all-wheel drive

[mangum]

I'm afraid to put any more muscle on the control lever than I already have; it's been stuck for about 4 months. Anybody else ever had this problem and solved it without a service call?

[jinman]

If you have a FEL, use it to lift the front tires and then disengage MFWD. If you don't have a FEL, jack up the front of the tractor and take it out of MFWD. If you have a well-lubed lever and pivot points, you can engage and disengage MFWD by moving slowly forward and reverse while rotating the steering wheel from side to side. No matter what tires you have, the front axle will "wind up" the driveline and keep it under tension. The trick to engaging and disengaging MFWD is to relieve the tension.

[mangum]

Thanks from a Cowtown native for the advice from on up US 287!

[jinman]

Thanks from a Cowtown native for the advice from on up US 287!

Well, I'm a Denton native, and you are welcome.

I'm sure you could have binding of your MFWD lever linkage, but I can tell you that mine refuses to disengage sometimes and a quick lift with the FEL makes it easily disengage. Once it is disengaged, I can move it back and forth several times, engaging and disengaging, and it works easily until the next time I have it engaged for any length of time. Then, I have to lift the front tires to relieve the tension again. Ours is not the only brand of tractor that does this. Driveline windup is a pretty common problem.

[tractorman]

Some of the earlier models had a flimsy shift lever for the four wheel drive engage/disengage shifter. These would twist and make it very difficult to shift. Look straight down at your shift lever and see if it is coming out of the plastic guide/quadrant squarely.

[Jeepnford]

I replaced the PTO and FWD levers on my DX 35 that were twisted a little when I bought it. The new ones are much sturdier.