2310 Shudder

[irvingj]

My warranty's just about up... My 2310 has developed a vibration, like a shudder, when the HST is engaged under load. It still goes, no problem with power, just wondering if anyone else has had this symptom, and what, if anything, it turned out to be --or maybe it's normal and I shouldn't be concerned about it. It didn't do this for the first 1.5 yrs, as I remember, but seemed to begin at around 90 hrs. Now has 136 hrs.

Makes no difference 2WD or 4WD, front-mount (mid-PTO) blower operating or not, forward or reverse; higher RPM and high load --like going uphill-- seem to make it more pronounced. Vibration is around 3-5 cycles/second, and ceases when load drops or engine is at idle or HST in neutral. Does not recur at all in neutral, regardless of RPM. Sort of like a pulsing.

If it were a conventional transmission, I'd say it almost feels as if the ring gear on the pumkin had a chip in a tooth.... Any ideas/experience?

 

[MFRED]

I assume the proper fluid levels have been verified. Is the cooling fan missing fins, out of balance? There's nothing wrapped around the axle shaft? Input shaft U-joints are tight? I would check the easy stuff then bring it in, that's what the warranty is for. You just don't want to miss something easy.

 

[massey driver]

My warranty's just about up... My 2310 has developed a vibration, like a shudder, when the HST is engaged under load. It still goes, no problem with power, just wondering if anyone else has had this symptom, and what, if anything, it turned out to be --or maybe it's normal and I shouldn't be concerned about it. It didn't do this for the first 1.5 yrs, as I remember, but seemed to begin at around 90 hrs. Now has 136 hrs.

Makes no difference 2WD or 4WD, front-mount (mid-PTO) blower operating or not, forward or reverse; higher RPM and high load --like going uphill-- seem to make it more pronounced. Vibration is around 3-5 cycles/second, and ceases when load drops or engine is at idle or HST in neutral. Does not recur at all in neutral, regardless of RPM. Sort of like a pulsing.

If it were a conventional transmission, I'd say it almost feels as if the ring gear on the pumkin had a chip in a tooth.... Any ideas/experience?

Hey there irvingj just a thing you can try.Not sure if this is what your problem could be.On mine I took the drive shaft right off it's held on at the hydro trans with a pinch bolt that has to be completely removed before you can slide it forward.Anyway it also fit's into a splined yoke at the motor.What I found with mine is that the splines on the shaft were rusted up in that area,so I put grease onto them .I also at the same time did the u-joints took them apart and greased them as well.One of them was dry.So not sure if it was due to the splines on that shaft or the u-joint.At the same time I did the 4x4 shaft as well.Mine was bougth used so no warranty.Too bad they didn't have greaseable yoke's and joints.Oh yeah the yoke out from the motor take's a bit of playing around with and I did that when I had the floor pan off where the 4x4 shaft can be done from below.I'also had the floor pan off for the other reason of that who ever owned it before had never cleaned out the air flow screen thats under the floor pan and it was filled with old grass,dirt,dust what have you.Could be why the shaft and yoke had gotten like what they did.Larry.

 

[irvingj]

Many thanks for the suggestions-- all sound good! Fan is still intact, fluid levels OK-- I checked them when I first noticed the shudder. The driveshaft idea sounds promising.

However, it looks like I won't get to play with it-- Rick called (Northwood's new place in Claremont, about 35 miles away) and said they'd pick it up today, take it down to the shop, and check it out. Under warranty. No charge for the transport.

In fact, it was Rick who called me last week to ask if there was anything of concern that should be checked, as the warranty was just about to expire.

That's what I call service!

I'll post results when we find out; I'm just hoping it won't be something simple I should have been able to pick up! WBB in NH

 

[irvingj]

Tractor was brought back yesterday... apparently all was normal, according to the techs at Northwood; the shudder was nothing to be concerned about. Looks like a clean bill of health for the next few years. Good thing; we're due for some snow today, 6-8". (Tractor might actually get some exercise!)

 

[massey driver]

Tractor was brought back yesterday... apparently all was normal, according to the techs at Northwood; the shudder was nothing to be concerned about. Looks like a clean bill of health for the next few years. Good thing; we're due for some snow today, 6-8". (Tractor might actually get some exercise!)

It was good to hear that there wasn't any problems with it.Sometimes the noise's we hear especially around the end of warranty make's us stress and worry for nothing.Larry

 

[irvingj]

Yeah, I was happy there weren't problems, but also a bit embarrassed... felt badly that Northwood went to all that trouble but found nothing.

And our snowstorm seems to have petered out... nothing so far but a few flurries up here, and actually some occasional hazy sunshine!

Oh, well.. back to the "honey-do" list! (Would you believe I'm now highly qualified to attach a good, tight cover to a portable quilting ironing board?)

 

[Bolens1886]

Well Irvingj, I got close to 8" by this morning down in Londonderry...So mine will get a light workout tonight after work

 

[irvingj]

We ended up with between 6" and 8" .... it drifted somewhat. So the 2310/blower did get some exercise, though I had to manually try to keep the blower lifted a tad because the ground was largely bare. It was just a bit too much to simply pack down.

At least the landscape is looking whiter again!

 

[jaybrad]

Glad to hear your tractor is OK.

When I first started reading this thread I was concerned because mine has about 100 hours on it now and has, sadly, spent most of the winter sitting in the garage. We haven't had any snow in about a month. The ground is pretty bare, and lately it has looked and felt more like April.

I did take the tractor out last weekend to do some very important FEL work: moving the snow from one side of the driveway to the other.

My wife just rolled her eyes.

I have a friend who lives nearby (and is on TBN) who uses his B3030 (?) Kubota to get the mail at the end of his driveway. That would be the same mailbox that he drives past when he gets home...about 100' from his garage.

I fully understand, but I think his wife does the same eye-rolling gesture.