JD #4310 making me crazy

[Lenny the Loader]

I bought my JD 4310 a couple of years ago, and have had nothing but praise for it, until last weekend. I have to wonder what kind of engineers Deere has to put a venting 'wet' battery in front of the rad. and trans cooler just to suck acid fumes through these expensive pieces?? I bought a new Optima 'Dry Cell' battery and replaced the original battery as it was dead and wouldn't hold a charge. Well I put in the new battery and go to start the tractor, NOTHING??? I got out the trusty circuit tester and found that my positive battery connection was not letting any power through to the starter. Stripped the insulation back and yuck!!! Talk about corrosion??? I cut it off and replaced it, jumped on the tractor and away she went. Hopefully I caught it in time and I've saved the rad.??? My only other beef with this machine is that the loader drops steadily??? Is there an adjustment for this problem?

 

[ovrszd]

Welcome to TBN.

Very common for tractor batteries to be located in front of the radiator on smaller tractors. Hopefully you corrected the problem with a dry cell replacement.

No adjustment on the loader that I know of for that problem. If it's not externally leaking fluid it's probably the valve. What's the age and hours of your tractor?

 

[TBN Support]

:welcome:

:tractor: Im going to move this thread on over to our John Deere section.

 

[Zebrafive]

The loader dropping could be the valve leaking OR the cylinder(s) leaking internally. Try disconnecting the hoses for the lift cylinders with the loader raised. If it drops, the cylinders are leaking internally, if not it's the valve leaking. John Deere has "acceptable" rates of drop. See a dealer to find out for your specific loader.

 

[RyeThomas]

I’m not sure what’s making you crazy? It’s a 14 year old machine, the battery is a maintenance item, they are all known to leak and when they do the acid eats the tray/cables/ whatever else it gets on. You fixed the problem. The leak down as stated can be from a few things, check it out and get it fixed. Again this is a wear/maintenance item.
You never stated how many hours on the machine, no machine last forever without some work and maintenance. Your issues are pretty much simple fixes, not like your trans is giving you fits or the engine threw a rod. If these simple issues are driving you crazy I suggest you lease new machines only.

Not trying to be a jerk just being honest.

 

[Lenny the Loader]

[The tractor is a 2004 with 837.4 hours on it.

it is common for tractor batteries to be located in front of the radiator on smaller tractors. Hopefully you corrected the problem with a dry cell replacement.

No adjustment on the loader that I know of for that problem. If it's not externally leaking fluid it's probably the valve. What's the age and hours of your tractor?[/QUOTE]

 

[Lenny the Loader]

Hi: Thanks for replying to my issues. The tractor is a 2004 4310 with only 837 hours on it.
Wayne

 

[joecdeere]

If I remember correctly, those SCV (loader) valves had some load check issues

 

[Lenny the Loader]

Thanks, I was just looking at ordering kits for all the cylinders, probably do the booms then if needed the buckets as well???

 

[ovrszd]

Thanks, I was just looking at ordering kits for all the cylinders, probably do the booms then if needed the buckets as well???

This subject gets very deep. And opinionated.

If you lift the bucket off the ground and then uncouple all four hoses the boom cylinders can only retract if there is an external leak. Seepage at the couplers or out of the rod seals. The internal gland seals aren't doing anything to prevent drop in this scenario because there's no room inside the cylinder for more ram. You can't compress liquid.

In this scenario you might see bucket curl toward dump. This action extends the ram and can possibly allow this to happen by creating a vacuum behind the ram gland.

There's a way to use the tractor's hydraulic pressure to test the cylinder ram gland seals. With the tractor hydraulics warm and running lift the boom to max height and hold the valve lever in the "raise" position for 30 seconds or more. This will put the tractor system into "relief". It will put constant pressure against the cylinder seals. After you've ran it for at least 30 seconds in this situation feel the two hoses going to your boom cylinders. If there's any difference in the temperature that means the cylinders are leaking past the seals. The warm hose is coming out of your tractor pushing fluid toward the leaking cylinder. The cool hose is returning the leakage, which has cooled, back to the valve.

If I did this test and didn't feel any difference, I'd do it again and go a minute this time. If I still didn't feel any difference I'd quit looking at my cylinders as the source of the leak.

All of this is based on my assumption that you have no external leakage anywhere in your system including the cylinder ram seals?