repairing & replacing body panels and fuel door on my JD 4300

[dfkrug]

This is another chapter in my refurbishment of a 2001 John Deere 4300,
started here:
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/parts-repairs/247806-2001-john-deere-4300-hst.html

Now I am ready to tackle the body. It needs a new hood and fuel door,
which are missing, and I need to repair some of the panels which have
cracked. Unfortunately, the front grille has no salvageable parts. I have
several broken side panels to choose from....I can mix and match, and
remove/repaint their metal screens. The plastic panel above the
fuse panel is cheap, so I bought one of them. I probably put about
$500-600 in body parts.

In ordering all my new parts, my previous supplier, Arends Brothers, will
only sell the hood with the fuel door installed. Since I already have a
fuel door, I went to Bombergers for my parts this time. Both have been
very good JD parts suppliers.

JD says there are 2 types of fuel doors now, but I sure can't tell the difference.
The parts they sell to install the doors in the hood are, at best, confusing.
I still have the new parts from the last 4300, never installed. I gave up
on them and made my own hinge.

Instead, I got my own hinge shaft material (a long bolt), and customized
a spring from my hardware collection. The hood needs to be drilled first,
cuz it comes with no holes. A Dremel-type tool works best here. Next, I
dug up a small spring of the type pictured, and used a torch to heat the last
winding of one end. This allowed me to straighten it out to provide the
right configuration for the door. The small file in the photo is used to tune
the hole to just the right size. Works great.

 

[dfkrug]

Some numbskull renter decided to chain the tractor to his trailer, running
the chains between the rear fender and the ROPS. These rear fenders are
pretty tough, but that was too much. The upper bolt and washer were pulled
right through, and another mounting point was damaged.


So I fabricated a giant fender washer, made from 2 layers of 1/8" steel plate,
bent to conform to the inner wall of the fender. I used some 1/4" steel bar
instead of the other washer. The fender is now more securely mounted than
when it was new.

 

[dfkrug]

Last year, I experimented with glued repairs of the green resin body panels.
I used a 2-part adhesive intended for plastics. It worked pretty well. I
backed up the broken piece with a chunk of plastic cut out of a scrap
JD panel.


This resin may fade with age, and get somewhat brittle, but it IS glueable.
Polyethylene plastics, as used on ATVs, are not repairable this way.

I decided to repair and reuse one of the 2 cowl panels, since they cost over
$100 new. Fixing the broken off mounting tab required cutting/bending some
galvanized sheet metal. That repair is invisible with the hood closed.

In the finished pix, you can see which panel is new, but the camera flash is
harsh. It is not so obvious in sunlight. The bright green of the new hood,
right cowl panel, and lower bezel sure looks nice. I did some hand polishing
of the old cowl panel, but you can still see where an old sticker was placed.
Automotive polish works well, but don't use a power buffing wheel. The
heat generated damages the resin. BTDT.


The hood stickers were applied when the weather warmed up. They are
over $20 each, now, but they give the hood/cowl a finished look. I
would not have wasted my money if I were not going to sell this tractor.

 

[dfkrug]

I like the bigger grille guard that came welded to the hood armor, so
I cut the welds and removed it.


Touched up and installed, it looks nice in front of my all-new grille
and headlights.
]

 

[RoyJackson]

Great thread, df!!

 

[dfkrug]

Thanks, Roy. Have you "customized" your body panels with rocks, branches,
or logs yet?

If you are careful, you can avoid damage to these fragile panels, but I would
certainly not put a tractor like this into rental service.

 

[RoyJackson]

Thanks, Roy. Have you "customized" your body panels with rocks, branches,
or logs yet?

So far, the only thing I've got is a hairline crack extending about 6" forward from the fuel door receptacle. I stopped drilled it (3/32 or 7/8th bit) and haven't seen any other problems. My 4400 had 804 hours (almost all lawn mowing, so I was told by my salesman I've known over 10 years) when I bought it. A couple abrasions on the fenders...minor stuff.
I guess Deere got enough complaints to bring out the over-armor kit. IIRC, that was primarily for rental machines, wasn't it?

 

[dfkrug]

I guess Deere got enough complaints to bring out the over-armor kit. IIRC, that was
primarily for rental machines, wasn't it?

There is a rental service option that includes the hood armor and the under-floor armor
to protect the FEL pipes (but not the hyd return pipe!). Both are after-thoughts, but
they work OK for what was intended. The hood armor is very heavy, but it hinges
out of the way with the larger grille guard. It rests on the FEL side braces and can
rattle. This tractor's FEL side braces have been worn an eighth inch deep from the
hood armor resting on it.

I retrofitted the hood armor back onto my earlier 4300, as the owner wanted it.

JD had many retrofits on this series of tractors, to deal with "issues" that came
up, no doubt. In addition to the above, there is a clamp for the FEL release
mechanism, which can come loose, there is a full-length subframe to reinforce
tractors that use the JD hoe and its very small subframe. Updated front axles,
rear axle housings, HST drive linkage, etc, etc.

 

[RoyJackson]

There is a rental service option that includes the hood armor and the under-floor armor
to protect the FEL pipes (but not the hyd return pipe!). Both are after-thoughts, but
they work OK for what was intended. The hood armor is very heavy, but it hinges
out of the way with the larger grille guard. It rests on the FEL side braces and can
rattle. This tractor's FEL side braces have been worn an eighth inch deep from the
hood armor resting on it.

I retrofitted the hood armor back onto my earlier 4300, as the owner wanted it.

JD had many retrofits on this series of tractors, to deal with "issues" that came
up, no doubt. In addition to the above, there is a clamp for the FEL release
mechanism, which can come loose, there is a full-length subframe to reinforce
tractors that use the JD hoe and its very small subframe. Updated front axles,
rear axle housings, HST drive linkage, etc, etc.

I knew about the armor and the front axles...also, if you recall (and I think it was mentioned on one of your other threads) the instrument panel fogging.
I'm guessing this was Deere's first home built CUT, although I thought the x55 series were Deere built too.
My 4400 is of the 2000 model year and was in very good condition when I bought it. Other then the left FEL post being a bit rattlely and those QDs being frozen (that was a pain!), can't really say I have any complaints. Of course, I can't say I run it too hard. My work is mostly mowing, snow pushing and occasional chipping. I haven't had to brushcut in a few years since the power company finally started doing their job.
As far as rental use, I doubt any CUT would hold up too much better...maybe different problems though. I know the place I rented a landscape rake from had a ragged out 4300 with more then 5000 hours. It seemed to run good, but it had definitely been rode hard and put away wet.