2520 popping out of 4WD

megaboz · Jul 10, 2011

Crossing a paved road shouldn't have any affect. I drive on a paved road that is falling a part all the time in 4wd. If i dont on the hills i slide down the darn thing. The worst thing that is going to happen is tire wear and binding up if making tight turns but I agree neither should cause it to pop out of 4wd.

PCABE5 · Jul 10, 2011

Tom,

Looking at the diagrams for 4wd when you engage 4wd the collar slides backwards off the ball/springs on the output shaft and engages the input shaft. My opinion is that the ball/spring are more designed to keep the collar/4wd disengaged rather than engaged.

For those on the subject of mfwd slippage, ratios on the 2520 is a 1.538 front to rear ratio. So the front is turning faster and needs some slippage to occur.

Fordman1981 · Jul 10, 2011

Tom I don't own a JD but here is my 2 cents 4wd should never pop out that is a very big safety issue. Think if you are going down a hill with a mower or rotary cutter on the back and no front end loader and it pops out you have no way of slowing down the mower won't slow u down when u drop it. I have had a tractor pop out of gear on a hydrostat transmission but it was due to me not having the lever in gauged all the way. Luckily i had a box blade and front bucket to stop me. It sounds to me like you are missing the detent balls that keep it in the locked in position and when you are putting load on it holding back down a hill thats when it disengages. I have 1100 hrs own my New Holland TC 33D and have had all kinds of loads on it going up and down hills down some hills that really i should not even be on and have never had the 4wd disengage. Good luck on what you find out and i'm sure the dealer will do what it takes to fix it they had rather fix this problem than have it pop out of 4wd cause you to get into and accident and be liable for it. Probably more so JD liable that the dealer.

Gobblin Tom · Jul 10, 2011

Fordman1981 said:
Tom I don't own a JD but here is my 2 cents 4wd should never pop out that is a very big safety issue. Think if you are going down a hill with a mower or rotary cutter on the back and no front end loader and it pops out you have no way of slowing down the mower won't slow u down when u drop it. I have had a tractor pop out of gear on a hydrostat transmission but it was due to me not having the lever in gauged all the way. Luckily i had a box blade and front bucket to stop me. It sounds to me like you are missing the detent balls that keep it in the locked in position and when you are putting load on it holding back down a hill thats when it disengages. I have 1100 hrs own my New Holland TC 33D and have had all kinds of loads on it going up and down hills down some hills that really i should not even be on and have never had the 4wd disengage. Good luck on what you find out and i'm sure the dealer will do what it takes to fix it they had rather fix this problem than have it pop out of 4wd cause you to get into and accident and be liable for it. Probably more so JD liable that the dealer.

Thanks, I am waiting anxiously to hear from the dealer on the issue. Like I said before after I showed them on my phone where others were having the same problem on the forum, they said they are going to contact JD about the matter.... The only good thing is that if I know it will pop out at least I will be a heck of a lot more careful while running it!!!

Fordman1981 · Jul 14, 2011

Any word from dealer?

Gobblin Tom · Jul 14, 2011

Fordman1981 said:
Any word from dealer?

I talked to them yesterday about my saw, I figured I would wait until I picked it up
from service and ask then about the tractor. I figure that should give them more than enough time to get an answer from JD?? Maybe I will give my sales guy a call also since the service manager is his brother.....

PCABE5 · Jul 25, 2011

Tom any word yet?

ZR7400 · Aug 18, 2011

I have been watching this thread for a while but there hasn't been any updates so I thought I would post my recent experiences with my new 2520. My new 2011 2520 is doing the exact same thing. It will pop out of 4 wheel drive going down a hill with a bucket full of dirt or rocks. The first time it happened the tractor had only 12 hours and I thought it was a fluke and I might not have had it engaged all of the way, but it now does it frequently. I have 22 hours on the tractor now and I contacted the dealer regarding this. They said that they never heard of this, but they would look into it with JD. I requested one of their service techs to drive the tractor at my house (knowing that they wouldn't be able to duplicate at the shop) which they did and the tractor popped out of 4 wheel drive for the mechanic. He went back and checked with JD, and apparently they are aware of a problem with these tractors and they are working with engineering to come up with a solution. John deere advised my dealer to complete a five point check list, most of which sounds like BS to me.
1. Check tire pressures (I already did this)
2. Check that correct tire sizes are installed (done)
3. Check the 4x4 linkage (Its a leaver about 8-10" long, whats to check?)
4. Check for correct ballast (my rear tires are loaded)
5. Disassemble transmission, check for problems, document and contact JD with findings.

The first four are a no brainer. I don't like the idea of them taking my tractor apart knowing that JD has acknowledged a problem with no solution. My thing is that if they take the transmission apart and find nothing wrong, then what? I hope JD comes up with a solution quick.

Another thing that my tractor does and I don't know if it is connected is a grinding type sound from rear end. It sounds like the gears may be binding or fighting the front end four wheel drive line. It only does it when going down hill in four wheel dive and turning sharply. I mentioned this to the mechanic, but he didn't really say much or seem to think that it was anything serious. I don't know, has anyone else experienced that noise?

Gobblin Tom · Aug 29, 2011

ZR7400 said:
I have been watching this thread for a while but there hasn't been any updates so I thought I would post my recent experiences with my new 2520. My new 2011 2520 is doing the exact same thing. It will pop out of 4 wheel drive going down a hill with a bucket full of dirt or rocks. The first time it happened the tractor had only 12 hours and I thought it was a fluke and I might not have had it engaged all of the way, but it now does it frequently. I have 22 hours on the tractor now and I contacted the dealer regarding this. They said that they never heard of this, but they would look into it with JD. I requested one of their service techs to drive the tractor at my house (knowing that they wouldn't be able to duplicate at the shop) which they did and the tractor popped out of 4 wheel drive for the mechanic. He went back and checked with JD, and apparently they are aware of a problem with these tractors and they are working with engineering to come up with a solution. John deere advised my dealer to complete a five point check list, most of which sounds like BS to me.
1. Check tire pressures (I already did this)
2. Check that correct tire sizes are installed (done)
3. Check the 4x4 linkage (Its a leaver about 8-10" long, whats to check?)
4. Check for correct ballast (my rear tires are loaded)
5. Disassemble transmission, check for problems, document and contact JD with findings.

The first four are a no brainer. I don't like the idea of them taking my tractor apart knowing that JD has acknowledged a problem with no solution. My thing is that if they take the transmission apart and find nothing wrong, then what? I hope JD comes up with a solution quick.

Another thing that my tractor does and I don't know if it is connected is a grinding type sound from rear end. It sounds like the gears may be binding or fighting the front end four wheel drive line. It only does it when going down hill in four wheel dive and turning sharply. I mentioned this to the mechanic, but he didn't really say much or seem to think that it was anything serious. I don't know, has anyone else experienced that noise?

Yeah sorry I haven't been on in a while... That is the same way I feel about having mine ripped apart. I have just been a lot more careful when using the 4wd... I also just did my 50 hour oil and hydraulic oil change and found slivers and chunks on the rear screen.... I will copy your comment and email to the dealer all the did was check with the online JD thing and they said there hasn't been anything reported....

Gobblin Tom · Aug 29, 2011

I put a call in to JD myself today to make sure they were aware of the issue. They said they weren't showing anything but they did document it and I am supposed to receive a call back sometime this week from them.... I really don't want to have my tractor ripped apart to be looked at and then ripped apart again to be fixed later do to a recall etc.....