4000/4310/4410 rear wheel bolts - please respond

[Geoff]

hazmat, your description of the salad tong may be part of the solution to this problem. The wheels I have have a large, flat center portion that looks like it might flex slightly under load. Referring to pages 83 and 84 of my owners manual, it is obvious that more than one style rear wheel is used. I observed a 4310 that had R3 turf tires -- the wheels were different (looked stronger) and the lug bolts were tapered head style.

 

[Geoff]

Thank you, MLB! Each piece of information helps solve ths mystery. For instance, the standard R4 wheels on the 4410 I just got are center webbed; I measured myself (I really wanted to reverse to widen the track). So we are dealing with different lots of wheels...
As I posted in another reply, both from pages 83 and 84 of the owners manual and from my observation, different tires get different STYLE (not just size) wheels. A 4310 I saw with R3 tires had what looked like a stronger wheel design than the one on my R4's, and used tapered lug bolts....

 

[Muhammad]

<font color=blue>Who's the gentleman leaning against the tractor? JMIII????</font color=blue>

Ha! No, John wouldn't allow any photos. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif That's Jim from Firebird Fiberglass... he was showing us the canopy on the 4410.

 

[Nuru]

Re: 4000/4310/4410 rear wheel bolts - please respo

Gee, and I was just about to ask, Thanks FC!

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I have the tapered bolts on my JD 4400,I never had a problem with my R-4 tires and never had a problem with my R-1 until I started a large excavating project with my JD 4400,using the back blade a lot.The tractor went to the dealer for a loader to be installed and the wheel bolt problem addressed,they put new R-1 wheel centers and axles on and the new wheel centers and axles and tapered bolts started coming loose again at 12 hours and the wheel bolts started to loosen numerous times on the left side in 10 more hours,as often as 1/2 apart.
The dealer is mystified to why and John Deere does not know why,but they know they have a problem,who would be liable if a wheel came off on the hillside and caused my tractor to upset?
THIS IS MORE THAN A TORQUE PROBLEM IT IS A MAJOR DESIGN FLAW THAT NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED BY JOHN DEERE ENGINEERING.Anyone that thinks it is just a matter of torque well I have some swamp land in Florida that would make some excellent building sites for some houses,if you are interested in buying let me know.

 

[Geoff]

Thank you, Farm Boy! You have just blown my pet theory as to why this is happening into the weeds!! AND helped us all get closer to an explanation of why this is happening.

Fisrt, let me say I have bailed on my 4410. It is back on my dealers lot. This was not the only issue I had with it, but it was certainly a concern that I was buying into a potential product liability issue.

I thought the problem was related to the use of flat head lug bolts with flat washers under the heads on wheels that were designed to be bolted on with tapered headed bolts. Your post clearly shows the problem exists on wheels using the tapered headed bolts, which should have more "stiction" to resist initial withdrawal rotation than flat headed bolts with flat washers under their heads.

Deere's statements in the owners manual that wheel bolts be checked every 10 hours indicate to me that they are aware of the problem. Other bolts are not mentioned. Needess to say, compact tractors typically go years wthout the wheel bolts being checked. I can't imagine anyone running a rental yard could possibly buy one of these until this issue is cleared up.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I have looked at Kubotas tractors and I am going to try to fix my wheels the way Kubota has theres fixed/designed.
It looks like a lot better idea then John Deeres.

 

[Woody1]

I have a JD 755 and i dont even worry about my bolts. They stay stuck as they sposed too!

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Different design etc on your tractor.....You should not have to worry about them coming loose,this John Deere suggestion these 4000 series should be checked as often as they should,would not be necessary if the problem was fixed right or John Deere new what to fix.

 

[MJB]

Here is a shot of one of the new rear wheels on my 4300. You can see the twelve lug holes and the convoluted area around the lugs. My old rims were flat around the lugs like you described.