John Deere 4300 complete rebuild

[JohnDeere4300]

It's a John Deere Christmas! At least until the Discover card bill comes due.

This is my first batch of parts, though I have already bought lots of hoses
from other sources already. I elected to have the parts truck-shipped, so
I don't have to be as concerned about damage to my hood and other panels.
Worked out fine, and the cost was reasonable. It took over an hour just
to match all the part numbers up to my packing list.

As for the tires, they are blems, but easily worth the $63 cost each. 2
thumbs up for Nebraska Tire.

That's a lot of parts.... I can't imagine what a dealer would charge to do this work.

I've been following along with your thread, and I've learned a lot.

Its hard to believe that the engine was damaged from a broken air hose, and they sure put it in a bad place.... I need to check mine out.

What do you think JD should have done about this 'air hose' ?

Great thread & thanks for sharing!

 

[dfkrug]

Did you have to reverse the drill direction or do you keep in one direction, I know when lapping valves with the suction cup, you rotate the stick back and fourth, I first heard of using a drill about 6 years ago when I had to lap valves in a gas engine, I had already put it together so I did not get to try this new way of lapping the valves,the engine did not run too good, it would never pass an emission test, so I scrapped it, this was in a Ford mini van, I do own an ISEKI tractor, but so far the engine runs great, this using an electric drill is very good information,so I'll keep this in mind for the next time I need to lap the valves, thanks and do take care......Ampa

I go fwd and reverse with the drill, and I do NOT use a 120V high speed
drill. It is important not to overdo it!

It is common for folks never to adjust the valves on their cars until it is
too late. One of the failure modes is for a valve not to close all the way,
then it does not seat properly (when fixed) if that is allowed to go on
for very long. I had a free car given to me like that. Got it to run well,
but it would not pass smog, as you describe. Burnt exhaust valve.

 

[dfkrug]

Its hard to believe that the engine was damaged from a broken air hose, and they sure put it in a bad place.... I need to check mine out.

What do you think JD should have done about this 'air hose' ?

I think all you guys with this hose design should check to see if yours
is compromised.

The hose is pinched against the valve cover and the fuel overflow drain
hose. The drain hose is not very flexible, and it can get pretty dirty in
there (gritty). To increase the danger, this hose has no fabric reinforcement
inside it, like a water hose. It is very hard to check on this hose, due to
that blasted fuel tank. You may consider disconnecting the drain hose and
tossing it.

Wayne, you can't really air test it as there will always be an intake valve
that is open.

 

[mjncad]

OK, now for the cylinder head.

I had it hot-tanked at the machine shop, but the EPA-approved citrus-
based cleaner only did a fair job. I had to do some more cleaning to get
off some of the black gunk that built up in the exhaust ports. That's
what you get with incomplete combustion due to low compression.

Ah more of that Gummint meddling to make sure we are protected from ourselves. I'm glad you got the head cleaned up and it looks good!

 

[Wayne_H]

DKRUG:

What if I start it up and put my hand over the air intake on the filter side? Should know it is sucking in where its not supposed to? Sound reasonable?

Wayne

I think all you guys with this hose design should check to see if yours
is compromised.

The hose is pinched against the valve cover and the fuel overflow drain
hose. The drain hose is not very flexible, and it can get pretty dirty in
there (gritty). To increase the danger, this hose has no fabric reinforcement
inside it, like a water hose. It is very hard to check on this hose, due to
that blasted fuel tank. You may consider disconnecting the drain hose and
tossing it.

Wayne, you can't really air test it as there will always be an intake valve
that is open.

 

[dfkrug]

I'm glad you got the head cleaned up and it looks good!

Remember the old days, when you could buy engine degreaser, and it worked?
My favorite brand had a name I just loved: Gunk. Nowadays, it is a pressure
washer and/or soap and a stiff brush. You can't really use a PW on anything
less than 50 or so lb. Very easily, anyway.

 

[dfkrug]

What if I start it up and put my hand over the air intake on the filter side? Should know it is sucking in where its not supposed to? Sound reasonable?

I don't think you could tell if you had a small leak that way. The running
engine is very noisy, and you will also get sucking sounds from the
filter housing as you should. Of course, if the hole is as bad as mine was,
the engine will still run with a totally plugged air intake. You can try that.
The suction should be VERY strong, and the engine (at idle) should die fast.

 

[JohnDeere4300]

Remember the old days, when you could buy engine degreaser, and it worked?
My favorite brand had a name I just loved: Gunk. Nowadays, it is a pressure
washer and/or soap and a stiff brush. You can't really use a PW on anything
less than 50 or so lb. Very easily, anyway.

I remember using 'Gunk' and it worked great.

The dollar general store sells a engine degreaser but i haven't used it and can't remember the name of it.

I use "Purple Power" a lot and it works OK for a degreaser.

 

[Wayne_H]

I don't think you could tell if you had a small leak that way. The running
engine is very noisy, and you will also get sucking sounds from the
filter housing as you should. Of course, if the hole is as bad as mine was,
the engine will still run with a totally plugged air intake. You can try that.
The suction should be VERY strong, and the engine (at idle) should die fast.

Yea, that seems to be a good test. I just ran out and did it. At idle it did not stall, but the visual sensor for a clogged filter activated right away and the engine was clearly unhappy with lots of sucking noises at the housing. At high idle it collapses the rubber intake hose that goes to the top of the radiator. I'll assume mine is ok for now.

Can I assume the filter on your machine was clogged to heck also, and how big was this cut/tear anyway?

Thanks again for sharing this with us!

Wayne

 

[dfkrug]

Yea, that seems to be a good test. I just ran out and did it. At idle it did not stall, but the visual sensor for a clogged filter activated right away and the engine was clearly unhappy with lots of sucking noises at the housing. At high idle it collapses the rubber intake hose that goes to the top of the radiator. I'll assume mine is ok for now.

Can I assume the filter on your machine was clogged to heck also, and how big was this cut/tear anyway?

The filter situation on my tractor was OK, both outer and inner. I tossed
them anyway, and I bought a new outer filter bowl with new clips and
drain valve. At least JD fixed one of the big problems with the JD955:
difficult air filter maintenance. Bad filter maintenance is what killed the
engines on 3 of the 4 955s I owned. The 4x00 and 4x10 tractors have
very accessible filters, and I believe the rental yard properly maintained
them.

One thing: the vacuum guage (filter minder) on my unit has been removed
and plugged off. I do not plan to replace it. If you still have your filter
minder, and it never indicates any vacuum, you may have a leaky hose!