Oil & Fuel 4200 SST - Metal in hyd oil....

[Wesbo]

I previously posted regarding the notchy shifter in my tractor (4200 with 1300 hours), and was directed to a service bulletin regarding the shifter and related parts. I ended up swapping out two parts that had obvious wear (the rod from the shifter to the transmission and the bearing through which it passes) but the notchiness remained. It really balks shifting in to second, and sometimes you can't go from neutal into first or reverse without a lot of fiddling.

Well, I finally got around to a full hydraulic service, and it was frightening. The main drain plug had two chunks of metal stuck to it's magnet. Each was perhaps the size and shape of a dime that had been broken in half. The draining oil had a sheen to it from all the little sparkly pieces of metal. The suction screen was totally matted in powdered metal, some of which was obviously yellow metal of some kind (bronze/brass/etc).

So I guess I have a few questions...

1. How much metal is 'normal'?
2. Am I at the point now where I should let the dealer crack it open and take a look? I'm OK with spending money to make things right, but if I'm looking at $2000 or $3000 to make things right then I don't even want the dealer to look at it.

Thanks,

Wes

 

[ridgerunnerinwv]

I have found some metal in my hydro,personally I would not be too alarmed to find some metal. Others might disagree with me.

 

[DieselPower]

A small amount of metal isn't uncommon. Your oil should not look like it has a sheen with metal sparklies in it. It sounds like you might have some serious problems lurking inside that need to be checked out before something serious happens. If it has bronze/brass in it, it also sounds like a bushing/bearing has been eaten up somewhere in the system. I don't think I would even run this unit anymore until it is checked out.

 

[BillyP]

I previously posted regarding the notchy shifter in my tractor (4200 with 1300 hours), and was directed to a service bulletin regarding the shifter and related parts. I ended up swapping out two parts that had obvious wear (the rod from the shifter to the transmission and the bearing through which it passes) but the notchiness remained. It really balks shifting in to second, and sometimes you can't go from neutal into first or reverse without a lot of fiddling.

Well, I finally got around to a full hydraulic service, and it was frightening. The main drain plug had two chunks of metal stuck to it's magnet. Each was perhaps the size and shape of a dime that had been broken in half. The draining oil had a sheen to it from all the little sparkly pieces of metal. The suction screen was totally matted in powdered metal, some of which was obviously yellow metal of some kind (bronze/brass/etc).

So I guess I have a few questions...

1. How much metal is 'normal'?
2. Am I at the point now where I should let the dealer crack it open and take a look? I'm OK with spending money to make things right, but if I'm looking at $2000 or $3000 to make things right then I don't even want the dealer to look at it.

Thanks,

Wes

How many hours has it been since this service and before?

 

[Wesbo]

I don't know how many hours were on the last hydro service. I bought the tractor used.

Any idea, or at least a ballpark figure, for what might be wrong and how many boxes of money I'm going to need?

Thanks,

W

 

[DieselPower]

Kind of hard to diagnose online. What did the two chunk's you removed look like? Gear teeth?

 

[Wesbo]

The two big chunks stuck to the drain plug looked like chips from a gear tooth face. All the little pieces? Like shiny metal mud...

 

[mlip]

I currently have a 4300 sst at the dealer repairing a broken range selector. They had to split the tractor to fix it. I'm into it for about $2k.....IMO, the metal you have inthe oil and on the magnet are bad omens. I'd avoid running it.

 

[DieselPower]

Not sounding to promissing that's for sure. I'd also avoid running it as it would probably only make matters worse. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

 

[pat32rf]

Sounds like my 4300HST. I took it to the dealer for a bunch of small stuff shortly after. As well as the metal, it felt like the cogs on the rear axle lock had been worn. It would only lock in reverse, in forward it would often "ratchet" instead. I had found prior to this that my helpers had been stepping on the lock lever while one wheel was slipping, instead of letting off the go pedal until the wheels stopped, then locking the axle. The dealer jacked up one wheel and tried the lock, seemed OK to them so they left it. Another problem was a oil leak in the front axle where the "king-pin" turns. This was noticable when using the loader on uneven ground. The dealer washed everything so they could see the source then drove it around their yard- surprise- it didn't leak. They also fixed the scv(?)valve as requested, did a oil service and installed the ROPS recall and a new thermister. For $1700 they didn't have to go inside the rear axle but the axle lock still doesn't work and the front axle leaks. They did the work last fall and I couldn't tie up the tractor once the snow came so I'm living with it secure inthe knowledge that the old service manager suddenly "left" that same week. (PS-I've since put 800hrs on the tractor and except for needing another thermister everything seems OK)