mmranch
Gold Member
I am approaching the 'point of no return' on my tractor split (the point at which the tractor can't move under it's own power because disconnections have been made and fluids have been drained, etc.). The split is being on done on my TYM T603 tractor (with 2780 hrs) to replace leaking seals on the input shaft of the transmission. I am glad that it appears I do not have to remove the cab to do this repair!
But other things are also weighing on my mind. First, some background.
My feeling is that most other users may use their tractors under different circumstances. This tractor spends it's life living and working at 9500 ft elevation on the side of a mountain mostly plowing massive snow in winter and logging/digging/choreing in summer. It is used in 4WD almost all the time. The terrain is very steep and everything must be done very, very carefully. (And I work alone so I try to be very very careful at all times). The driveway is a half mile long and an elevation gain of 150 feet. So basically, very steep conditions for the tractor to operate.
In the last couple of years, a couple of problems have emerged relating to 4WD and Creeper. I use 4WD all the time but have rarely used Creeper (Creeper does come in very handy when working close to the house, as one false move and you punch a hole in the house... not good. The extra slowness of Creeper helps a lot). Most of the time, Creeper is disengaged by the handle being pushed all the way down. So Creeper is rarely engaged.
4WD... as I am going downhill on the driveway in 4WD, sometimes as I'm moving, I will hear/feel a 'cachunk' and feel the difference in the machine and look down and the 4WD handle has gone from the pulled up position (engaged) to the pushed down position (disengaged). If I am moving relatively fast and try to pull up on the handle to reengage the 4WD, it won't engage at that speed and I need to be going slower or in reverse to get back into 4WD (I don't recall the tractor disengaging 4WD when going uphill as much). Sometimes if I'm working and suddenly I can't get the tractor to move out of a situation that I know it should be able to do, I look down and the 4WD has disengaged. I reengage and the tractor works fine. So that's been the issue with 4WD.
With Creeper... as I said I rarely use it and the handle is pushed down in the disengaged position all the time. But I have had circumstances where I'm going downhill in 4WD and there might be a 'cachunk' or 'bang' sound... (I wear hearing protection most of the time so it's a bit hard to tell) and suddenly the tractor is in a runaway condition like it's been put in neutral. I stop the machine and check and the Creeper handle has moved up slightly into some neutral position (even though the rest of the controls are in gear). I push the handle all the way back down and the tractor is in gear again and working fine and this problem may not happen again for 6 months. So that's been the issue with Creeper. (Part of this is probably my own fault as the Creeper handle itself seemed to develop a problem awhile back and I've done nothing to fix it as I hardly ever use Creeper. The handle grommet came out of the floor and there's a little cotter pin in the rod and the handle seems perhaps to pull up too high... I need to investigate all this).
My question is, have others had similar problems with 4WD disengaging while engaged? Or with Creeper going into some neutral position that puts the tractor in a runaway condition? If so, what were the causes and fixes of these problems?
My feeling is I want to not remove the cab, split the tractor and repair leaking seals and get back to work. But I'd like to hear opinions of these problems and their fixes.
Thanks very much for any ideas!
But other things are also weighing on my mind. First, some background.
My feeling is that most other users may use their tractors under different circumstances. This tractor spends it's life living and working at 9500 ft elevation on the side of a mountain mostly plowing massive snow in winter and logging/digging/choreing in summer. It is used in 4WD almost all the time. The terrain is very steep and everything must be done very, very carefully. (And I work alone so I try to be very very careful at all times). The driveway is a half mile long and an elevation gain of 150 feet. So basically, very steep conditions for the tractor to operate.
In the last couple of years, a couple of problems have emerged relating to 4WD and Creeper. I use 4WD all the time but have rarely used Creeper (Creeper does come in very handy when working close to the house, as one false move and you punch a hole in the house... not good. The extra slowness of Creeper helps a lot). Most of the time, Creeper is disengaged by the handle being pushed all the way down. So Creeper is rarely engaged.
4WD... as I am going downhill on the driveway in 4WD, sometimes as I'm moving, I will hear/feel a 'cachunk' and feel the difference in the machine and look down and the 4WD handle has gone from the pulled up position (engaged) to the pushed down position (disengaged). If I am moving relatively fast and try to pull up on the handle to reengage the 4WD, it won't engage at that speed and I need to be going slower or in reverse to get back into 4WD (I don't recall the tractor disengaging 4WD when going uphill as much). Sometimes if I'm working and suddenly I can't get the tractor to move out of a situation that I know it should be able to do, I look down and the 4WD has disengaged. I reengage and the tractor works fine. So that's been the issue with 4WD.
With Creeper... as I said I rarely use it and the handle is pushed down in the disengaged position all the time. But I have had circumstances where I'm going downhill in 4WD and there might be a 'cachunk' or 'bang' sound... (I wear hearing protection most of the time so it's a bit hard to tell) and suddenly the tractor is in a runaway condition like it's been put in neutral. I stop the machine and check and the Creeper handle has moved up slightly into some neutral position (even though the rest of the controls are in gear). I push the handle all the way back down and the tractor is in gear again and working fine and this problem may not happen again for 6 months. So that's been the issue with Creeper. (Part of this is probably my own fault as the Creeper handle itself seemed to develop a problem awhile back and I've done nothing to fix it as I hardly ever use Creeper. The handle grommet came out of the floor and there's a little cotter pin in the rod and the handle seems perhaps to pull up too high... I need to investigate all this).
My question is, have others had similar problems with 4WD disengaging while engaged? Or with Creeper going into some neutral position that puts the tractor in a runaway condition? If so, what were the causes and fixes of these problems?
My feeling is I want to not remove the cab, split the tractor and repair leaking seals and get back to work. But I'd like to hear opinions of these problems and their fixes.
Thanks very much for any ideas!
