John Deere 4300 complete rebuild

[Kernopelli]

Wow, talk about "rode hard and put up wet".
As others have stated, I'm looking forward to seeing the progress. I was impressed when you did the B21 resto....this is going to be akin to raising Lazarus from the dead..... I guess that would make you the tractor Messiah. COOOLLL!!

All jokes aside, how are you going to address the aluminum (What was JD thinking??) axle housing, repair or replace?

[arrow]

I've stated before I am always amazed and gladdened by gentlemen such as yourself. I am glad you are taking advantage of an obvious ability gift. Most people looking at this tractor would give it a pass so hard the grass would rustle. It does bring to light about faith in companies. This appears to be a cost cutting measure tractor. It is an attitude one does not want to associate with a company with a history and legacy that runs to the very foundations of this country. All it takes is a few bean counters and pencil pushers to rip this institute right from its moorings and we are left with what? Can you trust this company again? If you owned this company and felt a connection to its vast history, would you want its name sullied with junk? Its really sad as it is a marker of our time. Where is pride in craftsmanship these days? We pray on altars with lesser priorities and the term "value" becomes bastardized with its new meaning. A meaning that is rammed down our throats as if it deserves credence. Gosh these pics pmo. That is why a guy such as yourself Mr. Krug is so valuable in today's world.

[mjncad]

All jokes aside, how are you going to address the aluminum (What was JD thinking??) axle housing, repair or replace?

Considering aluminum costs more than steel and weight savings on a tractor seems less important than on other vehicles; it seems odd that deere would make the housings out of this metal.

[mjncad]

The hood armor is made by JD, but I can not find it in the parts book. There
are several "rental upgrade kits" that are not described, however. This
hood armor is awesome.....it must weigh at least 100 lb!

The new plastic is green all the way thru (ABS?) and not easily fixed when
broken. It replaced the earlier fiberglass hoods, which were aften smashed
but were easier to fix. I did a few on the 955s. The new plastics are
sourced from a plant in the US somewhere, according to the box the new
hood came it. I prefer sheet metal body parts, and I doubt the rental yard
will ever buy any tractor with plastic body panels again.

You'll find the hood armor parts on the JDparts web site under the 420, 430, & 460 loaders section.

The hoods and side panels are green all the way through while the fenders aren't. I believe they are all made of ABS; but I'm not sure.

[dfkrug]

Considering aluminum costs more than steel and weight savings on a tractor seems less important than on other vehicles; it seems odd that deere would make the housings out of this metal.

I am dumbfounded by this design/manufacturing decision, too. It seems to
me that you need to bring a magnet with you when you get a tractor this
size. I would like to know what other tractors in this class (30+hp, 3000+
lb naked) use all-steel or part Al. Maybe other TBN members will post
about their CUTs. In terms of evolution, does the 4310 use Al? What about
JD's current crop, the 3xxx's?

As for fixing this, don't tell anyone, but I am going to take the axle housing
to a welder who does TIG process. Each housing new from Deere is $640.

As for analyzing this tractor, I see some mistakes like this that leave you
scratching your head (cuz it is likely cheaper to use cast iron/steel), and
some other areas where I am pleased with how they made certain parts
or subassemblies. (I just pulled apart the front wheel hub and it uses bigger
bearings and other parts vs. a similar sized Kubota I repaired a few years
ago.)

[dfkrug]

You'll find the hood armor parts on the JDparts web site under the 420, 430, & 460 loaders section.

The hoods and side panels are green all the way through while the fenders aren't. I believe they are all made of ABS; but I'm not sure.

That hood armor weighs over 100 pounds!

I think you are correct, the plastics are ABS. The rear fenders are very
thick, and neither of them are broken. I am scared to price THEM out.

[dfkrug]

Thx for the support, guys. I just got my engine block back from the
machine shop, so it looks like I can rebuild it with .25mm O/S pistons.

As for the FEL cylinders....the rods are only 25mm (one inch) in diameter.
Needless to say, most of the units have had theirs bent. The photo shows
one of the other 4300s in service....you can see the bucket cylinders are
rust colored. They have been rebuilt by a hyd shop that does not bother
to repaint. There are only one or 2 of these cyls that have NOT been
rebuilt (of 7 or 8 tractors).

[dfkrug]

Now for the dissassembly. Removing the FEL was tough. Without any
hydraulics, these things are terribly unwieldy. I ended up taking it all
apart to remove it. I like the QA loader bkt. I never had one of those.
The FEL pivots are in pretty good shape....at least all the pins are 25mm
in dameter.....the FEL pins on my 955s were quite a bit wimpier (17mm).

As I start removing things and splitting the tractor, I noticed that most
bolts are 13, 15, and 18mm head sizes. I have never SEEN an 18mm
socket, as none of my many socket sets comes with one. Very unusual.

[Scooby074]

18MM is one of those "Special" metric sizes. Its used alot on Japanese products especially. My honda has a 18MM sparkplug. It never comes in common sets for whatever reason.

[JohnDeere4300]

I'm glad to see you bringing a 4300 back to life.

Keep us posted & the pictures.