JD 4400 w 59 inch blower acting up

[Chuck on lake]

I currently own a 4400 with a 59 inch front mounted JD snowblower. While using it recently it suddenly "jammed" and actually killed the engine. I suspected the worst but upon examination no damage to the blower, not even a sheared bolt. There was a large stone in front of the blower however. I considered myself lucky and continued. The next day the exact same thing happened. This time I couldn't find any stone or rock near the blower. I have sheared bolt numerous times before but the engine continued to run although blower performance suffered. However prior to these two times I have never had the jamb so significant that it killed the engine but did no damage to the blower. Do you think something else is taking place like a gear box giving out? This is such a different situation from what I have experienced in the past that I just can't figure it out.

Thanks

 

[defed]

i have a 359 blower (converting to a 59 via gear change). i don't even see a shear pin to protect the gearbox/tractor. i only see the 2 on the auger. every other shaft connection has a key and bolt. find it hard to believe that there is nothing to protect the gearbox should a rock get jammed in the impeller.

i really don't know what would cause your problem. seems that if it is stopping that hard that something would be broken.

on 2nd thought....is there any noise when it 'jams'? if not, maybe your seat switch is failing. when i 1st got my 4300, i didn't have the seat set for lightweights and every time i hit a bump, the seat would lose contact w/ the switch and momentarily stall, then catch when i was back on the switch. i thought there was an engine/fuel issue at 1st.

 

[kennyd]

Sounds like the shaft are rusted together so the shear pins cannot do it's job, if you don't fix it...you will be buying a new gearbox, or gears for your mid-PTO assembly. Find out why the shear pin is not shearing!

 

[defed]

maybe it's just me, but the parts drawings seem to indicate it as well....there is nothing that shears between the mid pto and the impeller.

splined coupler at mid pto and front mount. splined coupler at front mount to key and bolt at gearbox. key and bolt from gearbox to impeller/auger gearbox.

only shears i can find are at the auger itself...to me, if his problem is not at the auger, there is nothing to shear.

 

[jd3020u]

Unhook your mid pto shaft and try spinning the blower over by hand to see if anything feels out of place in the gearboxes. Also try running the tractor and pto without the blower. Might take awhile to replicate though. Did you try turning anything over by hand after it stalled the second time?
Had an old tiller once that would turn over fine until it got to one spot and then jammed. Good luck.

Tim

 

[Willl]

Can you use slip clutches on mid PTO's ?

 

[kennyd]

Can you use slip clutches on mid PTO's ?

Sure, but it would be a custom fab job-none are available to fit off-the-shelf.

 

[Chuck on lake]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I have not disconnected the drive shaft to see if everything feels free but I have noted that everything turns very slowly when the PTO is not engaged so just the fluid circulating is turning things which leads me to believe everything is free and not binding. And yes I did hear a "thunk" just as all this happened so I assumed I had jambed a rock in the blower but didn't find one. It all happens so fast that I just don't recall as much as I would like to. More snow is on the way and I will have to blow again and will try to pay better attention to details if it happens again. I have used the blower since 1999 and this is the first year I have had this experience even though I have done other damage in the past. These past two times have been the only times I have killed the engine and that really bothers me. Seems like whatever is happening must be really significant and could cause major damage if it kills the engine.

 

[mfreund]

On the mid pto there are only gears from the main pto. I wonder if you broke a tooth off the mid pto gear and the second time you caught the broken piece between the teeth left. I hope it is easier than that. If you look up mid PTO on Deere parts you can see the gears in the mid pto.

 

[DrainPondDesign]

Chuck,

I have had this happen twice on my JD 59" blower and my augers and impeller are not rusted to their shafts.

Once a rock jammed the impeller and once a rock jammed the auger without either shear bolt shearing.

Each time the engine was fully loaded, wouldn't travel any faster going up hill with load match engaged and a rock stopped it cold.

Disengaged the pto and it started back up, pried the rock out (engine off) and everything seems to work OK.

I think that the 3320 (30hp) engine was at its limit and the rock just put it over that limit so it stalled.

Maybe load match has something to do with this and it didn't have time to shift more power from the drive wheels to the PTO when I picked up the rock?

The times that the shear bolts did shear were when I was at PTO speed but not traveling as fast as I could which left some power to spare.

I do not know if this is actually why the rock stalled the tractor but it's just some more info to consider.