Satoh s630d Bull will not move after adding trans fluid

[davblan]

I went this evening with my good buddy to pick up the Satoh bull with Front end loader he just bought for $1500 dollars. A heck of a deal I thought for a nice tractor. The only problem, and reason for the great price is the tractor will not move except a very little bit forward (about a foot or two). The seller said everything was fine until a friend borrowed it, and did him a favor and filled it up w/tranny fluid. When he returned it, seller said it worked, but quickly started having trouble. He said you had to rev the heck out of it to get it to move. Now, it hardly moves at all. When we got it home to my buds house, we noticed that the transmission case was almost full to the top with oil. We took out the plug/bolt just above the filter screen, that I have read here on the forum is the fill level hole, and drained 31/2 gal of excess oil. Like I said, if you put it in gear and let out the clutch it sometimes moves a little, maybe a foot or two, but then stops. There are no strange or suspicious noises coming from the trans. area. The FEL, three point, and PTO all work fine, and the engine runs like a champ. Any idea what might be wrong? We have not removed the filter screen yet. The only thing we have done is to drain off the oil. Thanks in advance. Dave B.

 

[Kernopelli]

I went this evening with my good buddy to pick up the Satoh bull with Front end loader he just bought for $1500 dollars. A heck of a deal I thought for a nice tractor. The only problem, and reason for the great price is the tractor will not move except a very little bit forward (about a foot or two). The seller said everything was fine until a friend borrowed it, and did him a favor and filled it up w/tranny fluid. When he returned it, seller said it worked, but quickly started having trouble. He said you had to rev the heck out of it to get it to move. Now, it hardly moves at all. When we got it home to my buds house, we noticed that the transmission case was almost full to the top with oil. We took out the plug/bolt just above the filter screen, that I have read here on the forum is the fill level hole, and drained 31/2 gal of excess oil. Like I said, if you put it in gear and let out the clutch it sometimes moves a little, maybe a foot or two, but then stops. There are no strange or suspicious noises coming from the trans. area. The FEL, three point, and PTO all work fine, and the engine runs like a champ. Any idea what might be wrong? We have not removed the filter screen yet. The only thing we have done is to drain off the oil. Thanks in advance. Dave B.

It sounds like a slipping clutch to me. I would guess this guys friend was using the loader and generally abusing the tractor and fried the clutch. He probably overfilled the trans because he thought that would fix the symptoms he was experiencing. I would first try putting it in low range and see if it will pull a little better, usually when a clutch is slipping the lower gear ratio will allow it to pull a little better. See if this is the case. You can also try adjusting the clutch at the pedal and see if you get better actuation. I don't think that too much trans fluid is the culprit here. I suspect the tractor will need split and a new clutch put in. Given the price, it is more than worth doing (it's not too expensive). Let us know what happens.

 

[davblan]

Thanks Darryl,

Adjusting the clutch, we will try that. That is one thing I was thinking of doing as the clutch pedal seems not quite right. It feels like it is not even there, and what little bit of "feel" there is comes very close to the bottom of the pedals travel. We plan on replacing all the fluids and filters as a matter of course, and doing a general clean up, so hopefully for my pal, we will get it running right. He has admired my Yanmar 2210bd for it's size, build quality, and working ability, so when he came on this tractor he asked me for my opinion. I admit I am not an expert of Japanese tractors. But this Satoh looks to be as solid and well built as my Yanmar, which has given me years of trouble free service. So, $1500 bucks for tractor and loader seemed like a steal, even with the problem it has.

I still welcome other opinions on this problem, and advice on this tractor in general that I can pass on to Richard. His Internet access is so slow it's hard for him to get anything done, so I am sort of his proxy connection.

Dave

 

[lens12]

I'd vote for slipping clutch & probably will require a tractor split. Good buy!