Front wheels locked

sodamo · Sep 28, 2008

CK30HST, 487 hours. Helping dig our pool today - I get to move the spoils. Lots of repetitive forward and reverse over short distance to load and empty bucket. While reversing, my front wheels just locked up. Was in 4wd at the time. Shifted out of 4wd, but to no avail other than I can't seem to shift back in. Front wheels don't want to spin either direction.
HELP - any thoughts, suggestions what to look for? This happened just before quitting time, so I'll get a better look tomorrow.

David

JoelD · Sep 28, 2008

Hmmm, for both wheels to not want to spin sounds like something went wrong in the differential.

I'm thinking you're gonna need to pull the diff apart.

I don't have my manual with me, but would expect one wheel or the other to spin if anything other than the diff it's self.

Joel

Highbeam · Sep 28, 2008

Use the loader to lift the front end up off the ground and try and move the wheels around. You have no breaks up there to go foul. All the fun bevel gear stuff in the outboard housings could fail but would leave only one wheel locked up since you have an open differential. Your problem would be in the diff itself or in the driveline/tranny. When in 2wd you can reach into the little hole under the tractor and actually rotate the driveline.

Did you have oil in it? I'm sure you did.

wallace · Sep 28, 2008

I have seen this 3 times already this year...
Customers have not been putting enough gear oil in the front axel and when run a distance it heats up the front diff which is not getting the lube because of the fluid level being to low.
It takes out the pinion if you remove one of the hubs you can look in and see if the center section gears are blued.

I hope this is not your case but it sure does sound like what the other tractors did when they broke.

sodamo · Sep 28, 2008

Thanks so far

With the front lifted via the bucket, both wheels rotate freely (opposite directions).
The 4wd Lever is in the UP (disengaged) position and will not go DOWN (engaged) position. I was in 4wd when the problem occurred and disengaged to see if it made a difference.

To be continued....

David

JoelD · Sep 28, 2008

Rick has mentioned this in the past when I was doing my maintenance. I think the cause is, the oil will fill to the sight glass prior to running down into the low spots on the final drives. You need to keep filling until you've measured in the measured amount as it will continually run into the low spots.

I almost made the mistake until I took a hard look and kept adding the oil until I had put in the recommended amount.

Its a result of the shape of the castings, not that the castings are faulty, just that the oil takes time to fill all the nooks and crannies.

As Rick stated, I hope you've not toasted the diff.

Good luck,
Joel

TBDonnelly · Sep 28, 2008

The CK30 has a sight glass in the front axle to check the oil level.

I have this sudden urge to go out and double check the oil level in my front axle.

Don

BJN644 · Sep 29, 2008

wallace said:
I have seen this 3 times already this year...
Customers have not been putting enough gear oil in the front axel and when run a distance it heats up the front diff which is not getting the lube because of the fluid level being to low.
It takes out the pinion if you remove one of the hubs you can look in and see if the center section gears are blued.

I hope this is not your case but it sure does sound like what the other tractors did when they broke.

Glad I read this before I do my 50 hr service.

Is gear oil the recommended lube? the manual says gear lube or hydraulic fluid.

contdevelop · Sep 29, 2008

Just to clarify, the front axle is supposd to hold 5 quarts of 90W? and does someone have a picture of this "sight glass?" I just did the 50 hour service on my Ck30hst about 2 weeks ago and the front axle took all 5 quarts with no problem, however I previously read a post from someone who said it takes a while for the frant axle to fill up and people were not putting enough oil in it. My dealer and owners manual both said it takes 5 quarts, but after adding the 5 I wasnt sure if I should add more.