John Deere 4300 complete rebuild

[arrabil]

In your case, I will bet that the boot is full of semi-hardened grease that
keeps the shaft from fully seating in the tapered hole. I would remove the
boot and clean it up. Note the boot has steel upper and lower washers
embedded in the rubber.

I removed the boot. Easy to remove, very difficult to put back on. I DON'T recommend removing it to anyone. So not only is the original tie-rod expensive, its totally non-reusuable in its design. Grrr.

The one side just needed to be cleaned up so the taper would grab like its supposed to. Thankfully I did that side second and didn't need to remove the boot. Just some brake cleaner on the taper shaft and the hole.

The first side is actually a cross-threaded nut. Same side as the axle leak it had before I bought it. Guessing somebody took an air wrench to it at some point during reassembly. Gonna try fixing that or I may have to purchase the same tie-rod and drill and tap it.....

Note that greasing it is a manual effort that requires one to remove
the snap ring and pull back the boot

Maybe its designed to be greased with a needle?

The steering seems to have no detented center position

Off by a little doesn't seem to matter but off by three or four inches and you'll lose full motion in one direction. I would straighten the wheel by eye before setting toe-in. You won't correct a "way off" condition naturally though.

[dfkrug]

Off by a little doesn't seem to matter but off by three or four inches and you'll lose full motion in one direction. I would straighten the wheel by eye before setting toe-in. You won't correct a "way off" condition naturally though.

Yeah, you are not going to correct a way-off condition, no question.

The Moog tie rod end mod went very smoothly. Most folks won't have
a 1/2-20NF tap, but Sears will have one, most likely. When I did mine,
I drilled/tapped only about 1.5" deep...I should have gone 2 inches. Hence
my left side linkage is shorter than my right by a bit. Turns out, that is
no problem.

[dfkrug]

Well, I have been doing my burn-in testing, and I have just installed a new
deluxe seat. That effort required that I re-do the seat mount for the
backhoe.

The tractor is louder than my Kioti. I see why JD has optional padding
for the side panels that I do not see on the as-delivered tractors. It
might help some with the noise.

Everything seems to be working well now. I have just installed a
firewire card in my computer so I can post some action videos from
a DV camera. I will link the YouTube vids when they are posted.

I have been experimenting with gluing the JD green resin plastics with
a 2-part adhesive I found. More later on that.

I am also starting to think about selling this tractor.

[SandyTX]

Wow looks great ! Pretty amazing at the outcome after looking at the first pictures. Someone will get a nice tractor if you sell it.

[arrabil]

I compared the Prairie Dog backhoe in that picture to the 8B I recently purchased. Its an interesting contrast in design. Yours is very closely mounted to the tires but it sticks out further (a foot maybe based on the pic) after the operator station. The 8B is the opposite, it can't be that closely mounted to the tires but it sticks out less after the station.

Seems that would make the Prairie dog better because it digs further out, but the deere distributes the load over more distance which isn't a bad thing either.

Just an observation. What matters most is likely the center of mass point which I can't figure out from the pictures and is possibly exactly the same.

[mjncad]

The tractor is louder than my Kioti. I see why JD has optional padding
for the side panels that I do not see on the as-delivered tractors. It
might help some with the noise.

I am also starting to think about selling this tractor.

I didn't know JD had an optional sound deadening kit. Those things could use it. Do you have a part/kit number?

After you sell the 4300, what is your next basket case you'll be resurrecting from the grave?

You did one heck of a job on that 4300.

[4shorts]

Just absolutely fabulous! Tip my lid to you sir on an outstanding job.

[dfkrug]

Thx for all the kudos, guys. Although this project is essentially done,
I do have another 4300 here, partially dismantled. (It is interesting how
many differences there are on a one year newer tractor.) I don't know when
I will give that unit serious attention as I am busy with several other
projects. It's FEL is really loose and needs serious attention....I may add
that repair to this thread, and I want to try yet another backhoe subframe
design (my last!) for it. I may add that to my ongoing subframe thread.

I didn't know JD had an optional sound deadening kit. Those things could use it. Do you have a part/kit number?

I know it has been a long time since I posted about the new body panels,
but here is the photo I posted. There are a bunch of foam pads that are
in the parts book, and I ordered most of them. One is the "foam pad" in
this photo. I have not seen that pad on any other 4300, which leads me
to believe it was added later for noise redux. These pads can be north
of $20 each, so I am not sure I would buy them again. You can buy and
glue padding on yourself. Note that if you buy all the parts to the side
panels, they go over $250 each.

[arrabil]

You can buy and glue padding on yourself.

Indeed! I bought a $100 worth of pads when I got my tractor and I just finished RTVing half them to the tractor after they have come off or half come off.

If you do buy your own, make sure you purchase fire retardant foam.

[dfkrug]

I compared the Prairie Dog backhoe in that picture to the 8B I recently purchased. Its an interesting contrast in design. Yours is very closely mounted to the tires but it sticks out further (a foot maybe based on the pic) after the operator station. The 8B is the opposite, it can't be that closely mounted to the tires but it sticks out less after the station.

In terms of how close to the tires you can mount the 8B, are you limited
by the tire spacing or just by the factory subframe that mounts it farther
out? If the latter, you may be able to make a better subframe yourself.