Case IH dx40 front ring bolts sheared ???

Mrblue4274 · Mar 23, 2016

Hi, I hate that my first post if gonna be a negative, but here we go. Monday I purchased a 2002 dx40 with 900 hrs on it at an implement auction. The unit fired up and ran perfect, bucket looked like new, tires and huge deck looked good, mowed awesome and drove around great, so I bought it and brought it home Monday. Tuesday I moved some things around my yard and instantly noticed a kinda clunking noise while the tractor was moving, not very loud, and I could actually feel it more than hear it. Today I mowed my yard and as time went on the noise/feeling began to bug me, so I was rolling down my driveway and put it into neutral and shut off engine and could tell it was in front end. When I put it in fwd it got louder. I decided to check the fluid and as I unscrewed the axle level stick it blew out oil like a volcanoe, like someone had intentionally filled it way past full. I decided to drain oil and noticed lots of shiny pieces in the oil, and could hear ringing particles as they hit my metal pan. A quick search brought up ring gear bolts shearing so I thought I better pull off the left side axle housing and viola, huge amounts of metal, ring and pinion gear screwed up, and all the bolts busted off the ring gear. Does anyone know if Case has taken any responsibility for this problem, because from all the posts I've found on the problem it seems fairly common. Just curious if anyone had any insight on the issue, and needing to vent over feeling a little butt hurt right now.

chaser413 · Mar 27, 2016

Doubt Case will help, it is 14 years old. I'd approach the auction service about returning your money or work out a deal with the seller.
I've bought bad stuff at auctions too but not that expensive. Looks like the bolts were loose for awhile, holes are oblong. Bolts probably fell into ring and pinion.
Good luck with it!

Mrblue4274 · Apr 6, 2016

Well I lucked out, the dealer/seller agreed to pay for parts which came to a tune of $973 dollars. They where a Deere dealer and someone had traded the dx40 in and after two attempts which included pulling the rear top off, and installing new linkages for fwd, mid, rear, and pto run decided send it to auction. My main gripe was the front differential had been completely filled way past where it needed to be for full, in my opinion to mask the noise it was making. At any rate the front is back together with all new internals and fluid, and it's nice and quiet. Now if someone would just tell me where my serial number plate is I could order a operator manual..