HARD Shifting Stalled TC35 into Neutral

[wihakowiSteve]

This is reallyof concern to me especially after JINMAN's post below.

Occasionally, My TC35 stalls out or I "unthinkingly" turn it off when it has pressure on the tranny - lately mostly from moving snow into a bank, not having enough rpms and having the tractor stall when it is headed uphill bearing down on the tranny. When this happens, of course, I need to shift back into Neutral in order to re-start. Herein lies my concern -

I really have to torque on the range shifter in order to get it back into neutral (as in banging it with my hand) and am concerned about the strength of the connections the lever makes in its path to doing whatever it has to do to shift the tranny into neutral.

The stiffness definitely doesn't feel like a lube problem but more like the transmission is indeed "stuck" in whatever gear it was operating in before the stall/shutdown and I am having to literally shift it out of that gear under load!? Feels kinda like trying to shift a manual transmission out of gear without using the clutch.

JINMAN's thread above really got me to worrying about the possibility that I could pretty easily bust a bunch of welds on whatever pieces make up the assembly or, worse yet, bust something inside the tranny or other case. Is this just the nature of HYDRO trannies, that they have to be shifted into"N" on a level surface with no load on them?
OR
Is it, indeed, some sort of a problem with my transmission that it won't shift easily out of gear into Neutral? There are times when one has to "Park" on a slope and I am never quite comfy leaving any vehicle in neutral and relying solely on the parking brakes. Leaving it in gear as added protection leads to this uncomfortable routine of getting it back into "N" again. What do folks think? Anybody else out there experience this?
-- thanks, Steve

 

[jinman]

Steve, I don't think you should be having trouble shifting into neutral, but try this method. When your tractor stalls, and you cannot shift into neutral, push on the reverse pedal and see if this relieves the pressure. The operation of the transmission is based on fluid pressure which should be relieved by depressing the opposite direction pedal. If this doesn't work, I'd talk to my dealer about the problem because you might have something binding. Does it take an undue amount of effort to shift normally?

Also, when I first got my tractor, I stalled the engine several times. It was because I was using the HST pedal like an accelerator pedal. It's not the same. When you press down on the HST pedal, it's like shifting to a higher gear. If you want the most force, just press lightly on the pedal and wait for the torque to build. Of course, if you turn off the engine with the tractor in gear, there is nothing you can do but shift to neutral. I'd try the pedals in both directions before shifting to neutral. If that doesn't work there might be something wrong. I normally leave my tractor in gear when I stop working as a kind of extra safety, and I have never had a problem shifting to neutral before starting. /w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

won't a hydro tranny still roll with no pressure pump ( engine )opearting when gravity takes over ? my brother-in-law watched his JD hydro roll down a slope after he shut it down in gear. he didn't set the brake. he does now !!

if the hill is steep enough, gravity can cause the tractor to roll by causing the fluid to flow and relaease the pressure that would hold the tractor.

anyone know if i've been taught properly ??

 

[djradz]

not to ...,
My TC 40D seems to do just as you say when the engine's off. Without the brake set and on a hill, it will slowly creep. Is there something wrong?

 

[wihakowiSteve]

Thanks for the input. Next time I'm out playing, er working, I'll try the reverse pedal thing. It always seems to shift smoothly when sitting level. Maybe it does have something to do with how long it has been sitting in a given position and allowed the fluid to "depressurize".
Mine does seem to hold pretty well on a slope with the engine off, but admittedly, I don't make it habit to leave it without the brake also set. Seems to creep very slowly at worst (with being in gear only w/o brake).

One last warning of an occurence that has happened to me. When starting the tractor it obviously has to be in neutral. When starting while headed up or down a slope one obviously has the brake on while starting (parking or foot). After the tractor is started, if you releases the brake BEFORE shifting, one has a surprise coming. Particularly when headed uphill, I have several times had my breath taken away by the sudden backward motion as the tractor takes off! Your only defense at that point is to use the brake again since it ain't such a great time to shift! Guess I'm just not much of a speed nut, since I don't enjoy going fast much at all, but going fast, backward, in neutral, on a tractor with an implement behind it makes me queezy! Hold that brake on until you put her into gear!!

 

[Anonymous Poster]

no...i don't think anything is wrong. the hydros all use fluid pressure to do the work. compare this to a gear tranny that uses direct contact throught the clucth to a gear drive. the clutch has enough mechanical grab to hold the tranny in gear regardless of the engine operational status. metal gear to metal gear won't creep.

fluid on the other hand can be influenced by the tractor rolling down a hill.

just a quirk of hydros.

 

[jinman]

You are definitely correct that the tractor will roll if downhill and no parking brake is applied. If any tractor is in neutral with the brakes released, LOOK OUT! They all roll. Our tractors don't have park like on a car. The reason I leave my tractor in gear if I shut it down is that often I leave the key in the ignition and if one of my grandkids were to climb up there and turn the key behind my back, the tractor would not start. It's probably "lame" reasoning, but you can see my safety reasons for leaving the tractor in gear have nothing to do with the tractor rolling. I should have made this clear when I first said it./w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif