Brakes or Transmission

[RPW]

I'm not sure where the problem is or even if there is a problem but I have a 2008 5103. For about the last 6 months I have what I believe is a problem. When I depress the clutch the tractor stops as if I had the brakes on. In High range and High gear (C-range, 3rd-gear) the tractor doesn't seem to have much power. Now a couple of years ago I had a hole develop in the rubber boot on the gear shift and that winter we had a lot of rain so had issues with water. Replaced that but the bigger problem was self induced. I was topping of the hydraulic fluid and ended up grabbing the container of contaminated hydraulic oil that was waiting to go to the recyclers. It had a bunch of water in it. At the time I thought it wasn't much and talked to the dealer and he felt it wouldn't be a problem. Over the last winter had many problems with freezing and unable to move either the gear shift or range selector until the air temp got above freezing. So this spring I changed the filter and fluid and saw that there was more water in it than I thought. Shift an range selectors are still somewhat stiff but better. I will be changing fluid again before winter.

With all that could my problem be in the brakes or in the hydraulic section? I'm fairly new to tractors but somewhat machanically inclined.

 

[Tx Jim]

I think your tractors problem is weak brake piston pull off springs. My friend had a 5410 that he had to R&R rear axles to correct a problem just like yours. Try searching for that problem on the internet.

 

[RPW]

I'll check on that also but in looking at the service manual and also talking to the dealer's mechanic I'm more likely leaning toward a contaminated brake master cylinder. Once I can get some time I'm going to pull it apart and check.

Thanks.

 

[JD5210]

With the tractor off, gear and range in neutral. I would block the front tires and jack up the back and see, if either of the tires are locked up. If the brake valve is messed up, I would think both tires should be having problems turning. If it is inside the brakes as suggest, do not try this repair without the tech. manual. You might as well want to get the tech. manual to rebuild the brake valve.

 

[jd110]

While you have it jacked up, if one or both of the brakes are dragging, try loosening the bleed screws to see if they will free up. If the brake valve is not releasing properly, loosening the bleedscrews will release any pressure in the lines. Since you had a problem with water contamination, I would be more inclined to suspect either brake piston rusted, damaged lining on brake disk, or bad return springs as suggested by TxJim

 

[RPW]

All very good suggestions. I do have the service manual (one of the first accessories I bought) and will check things out. The idea of loosening the bleed screw I had totally spaced out. If it is contamination I was planning on using some sort of solvent to flush the lines out etc. Initially I was thinking of Brake Kleen but not sure if that would cause more damage or not. If this repair goes much beyond the master cylinder it'll probably have to go to the dealer $$$$ouch$$$$.

 

[CentralWARMK]

I have a 2000 5410 (only 1000 hours) also with the same problem. Acts like brakes are dragging, but still not sure thats the problem. I cant even go down the road in high gear, as the engine wont pull it. and it seems to come and go. I will be interested to see what you find out.

 

[jeffster]

Not sure if we have the same mechanicals but my 3520 had a similar issue. It started after doing some tilling. Symptoms were exactly as you described. I got under the tractor and on the right side (facing forward) I could see that the brake rod was not retracting back as far as it should from the housing. I was able to give the bracket a couple soft whacks with a rubber mallet and that moved it back and it was back to normal. However, the next time I applied brakes it was the same deal (would almost completely stall out). So I had to spray it out and lubricate it and work it back and forth a bunch of times (helps to have someone on the tractor working the brake pedal). Hasn't been a problem since and cost nothing to fix, so my favorite type of repair. Hope this helps.

 

[RPW]

On many of JD's machines they use two different methods of brakes. Mechanical and hydraulic. My 5103 is hydraulic but a 5403 is mechanical. Go figure. In talking to the JD mechanic they had just worked on one that had mechanical and just adjusting the rods per the service manual was all it took. On mine it pure hydraulic similar to a car or truck. This weekend (I hope) I plan on doing some more investigation on whether there is water in the brake lines and/or brakes and I suspect there will be. On a hydraulic system there is a supply hose from the hydraulic pump which acts like the resivoir on a vehicle plus a return hose back to the tank. Two master cylinders (one for each side) supplies fluid to the brakes. The bleeding process is identical to a vehicle. Jeffster I think your problem is as TX Jim mentioned but you'll need to get the service manual/CD to verify. BTW CD is about half the cost of the printed manual. CentralWARMK, easy way to see if your having the same issue is to place your tractor in neutral and range selector in neutral. If you can roll your machine by hand on level hard ground then your brakes are not locked up. Even my tractor wasn't hard to move before this. Unfortunately this is taking a back seat because I'm trying to finish up on my barn build and I'm at least a month behind schedule because during th month of June we had high winds which prohibited us from raising the uprights. I'm now to the point of installing the wall panels and roof so hopefully by the end of July will be done. I'm doing this build pretty much by myself with only sporatic help from family etc. Partially as a cost cutting measure and to be able to say "I did that". When done I'll post pictures in the General forum section under projects.

 

[tjnoonanndt]

hi if your 5103 is hydraulic brakes is bad news for ya. water is the biggest enemy of jd back ends and it will not let pistons release openin bleed screws will help a bit. but the padding on the brake discs are stuck on with glue rather than riveted and when tractor gets hot it lifts the glue of padding and clog up brakin system. i not fimilar with that model but check suction screen if one for brake contamination. best of luck