Newly purchased John Deere 950 maintenance prior to use?

[anotherbrendan]

Thanks to everybody for the detailed replies!

I'm gonna follow what seems to be the universal advice and check torques (thanks zebrafive), grease everything, change the crank case oil + filter, the hydraulic fluid + filter, and the coolant, and check all other fluids/adjustments (front gear box oil, brakes & clutch adjustment, etc.). I'll forget about injectors until there's a case for looking at them.

For oil I'll do a quality 15W40, since in NH we are typically in those temperature ranges. I'll match the filter from Napa or TSC. I'm not the first person on TBN to wonder about this for my specific tractor [Had a link but can't use links yet since I'm new]!

For hydraulic fluid, the manual calls for JDM J20A or B, depending on weather. That seems to be a retired spec, but I did find Hy-Gard at the john deere website which says it meets service rating (whatever that means) for J21A: Is that what I should use? I found it at greenpartstore in 5-gallon tubs.
I did find some stuff at wally-world that says it meets the JD 20A/B/C AND HyGard J14B/C specs, but I hesitate to buy my tractor hydraulic fluid from walmart...

For coolant, I'm going to go with the JD stuff again - Cool-gard II Concentrate from greenpartstore, mixing 50/50 with distilled water. The 950 manual says to flush with clean water (fill, run to reach temp, drain before particles have time to settle) and then use a 'cooling system cleaner'. I'm not finding any 'John Deere Cooling System Cleaner' anywhere. Should I bother with this step or just flush, rinse, and refill? I see some people mention using distilled vinegar?


For technical manuals, I discovered John Deere still has them all available at the john deere techpubs website (though at $150 per printed technical manual they are quite proud of them!). I have to call them to find out what the 'cd' entails (I remember these - thin, round, shiny?). I'm hoping it means I can buy one cd and then print myself a shop copy and reprint it when it gets too greased to read...

 

[anotherbrendan]

Hello Brendan,
Like you, I am hesitant to check the injectors. When my John Deere tractor went over the 600 hour mark I asked the dealer if servicing the injectors was necessary. Basically the dealer replied: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". You might want to run your questions by the service manager at your local dealership.
Welcome to the forum. That tractor looks good!

Thanks for the input - it's good to hear the dealer's view, and I'm happy not to dig into the injectors without cause!

 

[anotherbrendan]

A bit more searching on this forum and I found threads answering some of my questions:

Coolant system: Folks talk about flushing with distilled water, then things like vinegar and a Prestone radiator flush, before refilling. It sounds like whether that is useful or needed depends on how bad the system is, so I'll see what the fluid and filter/screen look like when I drain.

I called John Deere techpubs, and they confirmed the cd's just come with PDF's on them, so I can get copies printed locally whenever I need to. I'm a bit surprised they still use cd's as opposed to emailing me a file, as most computers don't even come with disc drives anymore! I ordered the whole set (tech and operator's for tractor and both implements):



They cost more than I was expecting, but the manuals look pretty useful. Now I've got to wait a week or two on those manuals shipping and printing before I start digging too much into the little fixes needed!

 

[Rock knocker]

I'm hoping it means I can buy one cd and then print myself a shop copy and reprint it when it gets too greased to read...

At 1000 pages plus, your toner cartridge costs would probably exceed the books cost. :laughing:

 

[anotherbrendan]

At 1000 pages plus, your toner cartridge costs would probably exceed the books cost. :laughing:

You make a good point. I checked and it seems the backhoe and loader operator manuals are more in the ballpark of 100 pages (~$15 bucks for a printed bound copy at the local copy center), and I figured I'd be going through the operator's manuals more in the beginning, so those will get printed.

As for the technical manuals, which I assume are longer, but I forgot to ask, perhaps I read those on the laptop until I really feel the need for a printed version!

 

[RoyJackson]

You make a good point. I checked and it seems the backhoe and loader operator manuals are more in the ballpark of 100 pages (~$15 bucks for a printed bound copy at the local copy center), and I figured I'd be going through the operator's manuals more in the beginning, so those will get printed.

As for the technical manuals, which I assume are longer, but I forgot to ask, perhaps I read those on the laptop until I really feel the need for a printed version!

Before you consider printing out the entire manual (or manuals), you can just print out the pages you need for a job using Adobe Acrobat Reader or other .pdf viewer.
I had the CD for my first tractor (a 1991 Deere 670)...close to a thousand pages. Still have that CD too (somewhere). This was for all the x70 series tractors and the early 790s

 

[Rock knocker]

You probably don't need the technical manual for the loader.

 

[CurlyDave]

...Side note, a friend asked if the tires were 'loaded', which I looked up and learned meant a salt water solution (Calcium chloride?). How do I find out, aside from taking a tire off a seeing if it sloshes?? What do I do if I need to add air if they are loaded?

Please don't take a tire off if you think they might be loaded. They are very heavy, and unstable. You can easily be injured or killed if that much weight falls on you. Even unloaded, I am very careful removing rear tires.

To check for loading stop with the tire valve down and push in the Schrader valve. If fluid comes out they are loaded, clean it up because it is probably very corrosive. To check or add air, just stop with the Schrader valve up and add or check air pressure.

 

[anotherbrendan]

Please don't take a tire off if you think they might be loaded. They are very heavy, and unstable. You can easily be injured or killed if that much weight falls on you. Even unloaded, I am very careful removing rear tires.

To check for loading stop with the tire valve down and push in the Schrader valve. If fluid comes out they are loaded, clean it up because it is probably very corrosive. To check or add air, just stop with the Schrader valve up and add or check air pressure.

Thanks for the input on the loaded tires. I can appreciate that I do NOT want to try and take them off by myself. If I just had a tractor to hold the tractor wheels up.....

 

[Zebrafive]

When you have your CD(s) printed, ask for heavier paper than "home use" copier paper. My Print Shop recommended 60lb paper.