John Deere 4300 complete rebuild

[dfkrug]

Don't forget, you can order deere parts online from your home computer.

I buy almost everything but fuel and food online. I even bought my first
car, sight-unseen, on eBay just this summer. It was shipped from Illinois.

Arends Bros in Illinois got my JD parts biz this time around, and they deserve
a plug here. Good service and fair prices. Second big shipment arrived
today for this project.

 

[dfkrug]

Moving on to the rear axles and final drive.....

All these photos show corrosion on the rear axle housings. Dirt accumulated
in these locations, and it often got wet. Aluminum is very intolerant of
acidic contaminants.....JD owners should clean these areas if they want
their tractors to last a long time. This is especially true if the tractor is
used in and around horse barns or other areas with a lot of acidic liquids.

In the third photo, I have removed all bolts. The brake control lever needs
to come off before the housing can be removed. You can also see the
diff lock shaft (painted black)....some models put the control lever on the
left, and some, the right. I will need to remove the paint from the shaft
to get it out.

The brake levers on both sides were very hard to remove. The roll pin is
nearly solid, instead of the common C-shaped style, and it took a sledge
hammer to get it out. None of my gear pullers could remove either lever,
so I had to resort to surgery....

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

I should have warned you about the roll pins in the levers. They are a smaller pin pressed into a larger pin. I made a tool out of a piece of 1/2" diameter x 18" long 17-4 sst heat treated to about 44 rockwell. It was basically an 18" long punch that was turned down to drive out the smaller "inside" roll pin. Having it this long was handy to be able to get a 3lb sledge to convince it out. There is a thread somewhere I did years ago about my "naked" tractor. Once you get the levers off it goes pretty easy. But I highly recommend that you replace the seals where the axles come out of the housings. I also lightly sanded smooth the axles where the seals contact it for smooth sealing.

The brakes will work great once you get all the lever's thru holes cleaned and greased.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Here's a link but the photos are not as good as yours.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/parts-repairs/84836-4310-jd-rear-axle-seal.html

 

[woodlandfarms]

I buy almost everything but fuel and food online. I even bought my first
car, sight-unseen, on eBay just this summer. It was shipped from Illinois.

Arends Bros in Illinois got my JD parts biz this time around, and they deserve
a plug here. Good service and fair prices. Second big shipment arrived
today for this project.

My first car? Do explain. I hope you mean your first car to purchase on ebay, not to own ;-) Not sure how you develop the skill sets you have without driving one.

This said, I can stomach an engine rebuild, but trannies are voodoo.. very impressed on the depth you are going on your own...

 

[dfkrug]

My first car? Do explain. I hope you mean your first car to purchase on ebay, not to own ;-)

I can see that my statement can be interpreted 2 ways. I have owned
about 40-50 cars, PUs, and M/Cs. I have sold them on eBay before. This
was the first one I bought sight-unseen and shipped to me.

 

[dfkrug]

Here's a link but the photos are not as good as yours.

I remember your post, Kyle. Thanks for the reminder and link. I see that the
4310 does have a slightly different axle casting, around the ROPS support
area. It is super important that the ROPS bracket does not wiggle against
the Al casting, or the Al will be eroded away.

I got all the roll pins out with the "persuader" and a regular drift....pulling
the levers off was the hard part!

 

[gbw]

Mr. Krug:

A complete newbee, I know almost nothing of tractors but I've absolutely enjoyed following this. So forgive a not too smart question: Why are you not replacing the 'worn' motor and pump valve plates? Is the wear minor? While they are costly, it seems like there would not be another opportunity without very major effort if they do fail.

Meantime, I've been poking around my '06 Deere 4320 w/FEL. I love it, I use it mainly as a toy and an expensive mower (25 acres). The only non-magnetic parts I've located so far seem to be the end caps of the rear axle housings. The axle housings themselves and all other cast housings seem to be of iron. Again, thanks, I've loved following your work.

 

[dfkrug]

A complete newbee, I know almost nothing of tractors but I've absolutely enjoyed following this. So forgive a not too smart question: Why are you not replacing the 'worn' motor and pump valve plates? Is the wear minor? While they are costly, it seems like there would not be another opportunity without very major effort if they do fail.

The slight wear I see on the valve plates will not affect the operation of
the HST, as far as I can tell. The kind of wear that would be bad, and
require replacement, would be scoring of the plate that would cause oil to
leak radially out from between the plate and the rotating cylinder block. The
same criteria would apply to the polished hard steel swash plates. How much
micro-scratching is tolerable? I do not know. I could just buy new plates,
but the additional $450 or so is discouraging. A judgement call, certainly.
Others might have purchased new plates. I did not check prices on the
swash plates.

Meantime, I've been poking around my '06 Deere 4320 w/FEL. I love it, I use it mainly as a toy and an expensive mower (25 acres). The only non-magnetic parts I've located so far seem to be the end caps of the rear axle housings. The axle housings themselves and all other cast housings seem to be of iron. Again, thanks, I've loved following your work.

As I noted in a previous post, I checked out a 4120 at the dealer, and found
no structural AL used. That's good. Since you have a 4x20, maybe you
can check something else: JD uses only one cartridge-type hydraulic filter
for their 4x00 HST tractors. There is an HST filter, but no replaceable
implement pump filter, as I have on my Kiotis and my B21. Does your
tractor have HST and, if so, two replaceable filters?

 

[gbw]

Thanks, I understand. Replacing everything would indeed make it cheaper to buy a new tractor, certainly not the point of rebuilding.

My 4320 does have the eHydro transmission which I've come to love. So does my wife, who has equal regard for clutches and water moccasins (shoot it!). Only one replaceable hydraulic filter, an automotive spin-on cartridge type, but very large. I've not yet changed it (220 hrs. on tractor, replacement cycle is 400 hrs.) so I'm not sure whether it's on the HST or the implement pump. There is a cleanable second filter, I suppose it could be replaced but the book does not mention a replacement cycle unless I've missed it. I'll check both items more carefully tonight.