L3940 HST Pedal not returning to neutral

[Small farm guy]

Need a little help diagnosing what is wrong with my l3940. I was bush hogging for a few hours and I was headed back to the barn when I noticed something was a little wacky with the throttle. I normally have it set so the rpms vary with the throtttle pedal. That way it drops to idle when sitting. (Not while bush hogging, I set it with the throttle to 540 on the pto)

Anyway I noticed that it was sluggish on the power, but the engine would rev to about 1500 rpms. When I went to put it in the barn (it was starting to rain hard) I let off the pedal and she kept going. Never had that happen before. Then I couldn't restart it. I got the manual out and figured out that the foot pedal was not in the neutral position. She fired up then. Pedal still has no feedback to it. it normally springs back to neutral. Anybody have a clue? I checked hydraulic fluid, it was a tad low but not too bad.

Thanks,

Joel

 

[art]

Check for loose wires on or in your foot petal area.

 

[Egon]

Crawl underneath and look over the pedal connections making sure everything is in the right place.

Does yours center on a V notch?

 

[Small farm guy]

Thanks for the encouragement! I just got home from work and rolled her out in the sun. Got on my back and worked the pedal while looking at it. I think the throttle cable was sticking but couldn't see where exactly. After wiggling the pedal back and forth a dozen times the pedal was back to normal. Not sure if I dislodged something or not. The bottom side IS very dirty from bushhogging yesterday. Bits of sticks and mud everywhere. Might be time to pressure wash the Bota. Only thing that bothers me is I am a mechanical engineer and I don't like machinery that just cures itself! I need to KNOW what happened! lol

Thanks,

Joel

 

[Village Idiot]

On a 4240 I once got a stick to wedge exactly in the right spot to bend the linkage that the pedal connects to (the part that goes down from the "reverse" side of the lever). I was working on making an access road to a woodlot and I was driving over some (well, a whole bunch really) of cut up hemlock tops in order to mat them down before I brought in the road base. Anyway, when the little linkage bent it moved the threaded rod enough so that a hex nut was able to catch on the metal floorboards (where the linkage pokes through. This meant "neutral" (no foot pressure) was a slow reverse, and at "full forward" it would only go forward at about 1/2 speed. When I shut it off and tried to turn it back on, it also wouldn't start. After I pulled the stick out and used a screwdriver to bend the linkage back the thing has worked like a dream. (this all happened with about 15 hours on the machine)

My guess is you probably just got the whole thing jammed up with mud/muck goo that you have worked out with moving the pedal, but if it were me (since it's already happened once) I would also quickly check to make sure the linkage is free to move through the sheet metal "floor board".

J

Jeez that's a confusing reply huh?

 

[Small farm guy]

On a 4240 I once got a stick to wedge exactly in the right spot to bend the linkage that the pedal connects to (the part that goes down from the "reverse" side of the lever). I was working on making an access road to a woodlot and I was driving over some (well, a whole bunch really) of cut up hemlock tops in order to mat them down before I brought in the road base. Anyway, when the little linkage bent it moved the threaded rod enough so that a hex nut was able to catch on the metal floorboards (where the linkage pokes through. This meant "neutral" (no foot pressure) was a slow reverse, and at "full forward" it would only go forward at about 1/2 speed. When I shut it off and tried to turn it back on, it also wouldn't start. After I pulled the stick out and used a screwdriver to bend the linkage back the thing has worked like a dream. (this all happened with about 15 hours on the machine)

My guess is you probably just got the whole thing jammed up with mud/muck goo that you have worked out with moving the pedal, but if it were me (since it's already happened once) I would also quickly check to make sure the linkage is free to move through the sheet metal "floor board".

J

Jeez that's a confusing reply huh?

Yeah, same symptoms. Pedal was squishy if that makes sense. No resistance going in either forward or reverse, and not springing back to neutral. I lubed everything under there after I worked the pedal and got it to feeling right again. No aparent damage to the tractor and all is working as normal again!