Strange problem w/new DK-40SE

   / Strange problem w/new DK-40SE #1  

tsdial

Member
Joined
Jan 6, 2009
Messages
27
Location
Tennessee
Tractor
Hinomoto 2304
As I posted here before, I bought a brand new DK-40 last Saturday from Little Tractor, and they were nice enough to have it delivered the same day. It started snowing just as it was being delivered, so we just put it in the garage for the night. Sunday was warmer, so I got out with it and tried out both it and an older used 2 bottom plow I bought a while back. Everything was working great for about the first 30-45 minutes. I couldn't quite make a tight enough turn to line the plow up straight for one run, so I stopped, pushed in the clutch, shifted the shuttle from forward to reverse, and nothing happened. I thought I just hadn't engaged the shuttle correctly (it was pretty stiff, being brand new) so I pushed in the clutch, shifted the shuttle forward and back to reverse, then let the clutch out again-still nothing. I ended up checking every gear and every range (hi, med, and lo) and the darn thing still wouldn't go. I finally shut it down, and went and re-read the manual in case I forgot something. Not finding anything there, I called James Little, who had told me to call even if it was a Sunday, so I did. He went through a few things with me, and finally said it was beyond him and he would have his service tech call me back. Mike, the service man, called me Monday. After going over everything I had done and tried, he said they'd pick it up and take it back to their shop (a 2 hour drive) to check it out. They were going to pick it up Tuesday morning. I went home early to tow the tractor out of the field and back to the driveway so they could pick it up. I grabbed my trusty Harbor Freight towstrap and stared my little Hinomoto tractor and drove it out into the field to the Kioti. I started the Kioti so I could lift the bucket and the plow, and so my wife would have the power steering to make it easier to tow. After starting it, I thought I'd put it in gear just for grins. Sure enough, the darn thing started moving just like nothing was wrong! Figuring I must have just overlooked something the night before, I called Mike and told him what was going on, that I figured I was just stupid and missed something the night before. We decided to cancel the pickup, and I was to call them if it happened again. I was already home for the day, so I decided to finish the plowing. Again, everything went great for about 30 minutes. I was plowing with the tractor in 4WD, low range, 2nd gear. Each time I got to the end of the row, I would stop, push in the clutch, and move it from low range to high. After about 30 minutes of this, the next time I stopped at the end and switched from low to high, when I let the clutch out, nothing happened. I tried all the gears again, moving it from high to low back to high range, turned off the 4WD, moved the shuttle back and forth-nothing. Then I shut the tractor off, shut the 4WD off, and restarted the tractor. Abra cadabra! It started moving again!

After it did this to me consistently each time I reached the end of the row and tried to move from low to high, I called Mike back and told him what was happening. We decided it was best for them to pick it up after all. I went ahead and finished the plowing, with it again consistently doing this each time I tried to switch from low to high, and me having to shut it down and restart it each time to get it going again. When I had talked to Mike I thought it had something to do with the 4WD, which didn't really make sense, but it seemed like I had to switch that off each time to get it going. After hanging up with him and paying even closer attention to the problem, I realized it was the high-medium-low range system that was the problem (which I relayed to Mike the next morning).

They picked it up Tuesday and brought it back Friday. Mike and I spoke , veral times in between, with him working the tractor in mud one day and, with my permission, plowing 2 acres with it the next. True to Murphy's Law, it didn't do it a single time with him. He went ahead and lubricated several of the controls, including the shuttle shift lever. As I said, they brought it back Friday, but it's been raining since then and I was finished with the plowing anyway, so I really haven't been able to test it.

I know that they (the people at Little Tractor) think I'm crazy. I know that Mike's explanation of how it is unlikely for this to occur is very logical. I also know that I'm not an idiot and am fairly mechanically inclined, and I know it was happening over and over to me on Monday night. I feel bad that the folks at Little have gone through all the time and expense they did, only to not see the problem. In my line of work, heating and air conditioning, we have the same thing happen from time to time-the homeowner reports a problem which turns out to be intermittent, and we sometimes make 4 or 5 trips before we catch it happening. I know where they are coming from; if the problem doesn't present itself while you're looking at it, there's nothing you can do about it.

What about it? Anybody out there seen anything like this before?
 
   / Strange problem w/new DK-40SE #2  
Sounds like a bad sensor or something else electrical.
 
   / Strange problem w/new DK-40SE #3  
I have a shuttle shift and find sometimes (more than not) that I think I have engaged it and have not. I usually push in the clutch and put it into forward again and than clutch and move it to reverse if it didn't work correctly the first time.

lloyd
 
   / Strange problem w/new DK-40SE
  • Thread Starter
#4  
Yeah, I know what you mean...the thing is, after I started having the problem and paying close attention to what I was doing, I found that the problem was occurring even if I didn't touch the shuttle lever. I was plowing a little bit of an uphill incline, no more than about 5 degrees or so, so I had it in low range. When I got to the end of the row, I didn't even touch the shuttle shift lever-I just pushed in the clutch, stepped on the brake (even though I really didn't need to), and moved the range lever from low to high so that I could circle around the patch I was plowing at a faster speed. Like I say, I didn't even touch the shuttle shifter, just moved from low to high, then let out the clutch, and nothing happened. Thinking I might not have it engaged properly in high range, I shifted it-hard- from high to low to high again, and let the clutch out again. Still nothing. But every time, if I shut the tractor off, moved the lever back and forth from high to low to high, then restarted the tractor (which of course means I had to put the shuttle in neutral due to the safety), it moved right out with no problem. The only thing I can think of is that once every thing in the tranny heats up, something in there is just enough out of adjustment that expansion due to the heat causes something to not engage properly. I don't know why shutting it off causes it to re-engage; perhaps it IS something electrical, although Mike assures me that everything involved is mechanical, not electrical, and I have no reason to doubt what he is saying. It's enough to make me (and Mike, I'm sure) pull my hair out. I had too much else to do today (wife's been out of town with 2 of the kids, and I had to clean house :rolleyes: ) so I didn't get to try it out today. Besides, I'd already plowed all I needed to. :D
 
   / Strange problem w/new DK-40SE #5  
I don't own your model, but it sounds like what happened to my 3054. The roll pin securing the range lever to the shift rod (where it enters the transmission housing) broke, allowing the collar to rotate on the shift rod without moving it. It would sometimes shift the range selector(because it is a fairly tight fit) but other times would slip on the shaft and not shift. Took me some time to realize what was happening, but a fairly easy fix(used a grade 8 bolt and nut to repair) as there is not enough room to replace the roll pin without significant disassembly. I hope this is of help to you
 
   / Strange problem w/new DK-40SE
  • Thread Starter
#6  
I don't own your model, but it sounds like what happened to my 3054. The roll pin securing the range lever to the shift rod (where it enters the transmission housing) broke, allowing the collar to rotate on the shift rod without moving it. It would sometimes shift the range selector(because it is a fairly tight fit) but other times would slip on the shaft and not shift. Took me some time to realize what was happening, but a fairly easy fix(used a grade 8 bolt and nut to repair) as there is not enough room to replace the roll pin without significant disassembly. I hope this is of help to you

Thanks, I appreciate the info. I might copy and paste this into an e-mail to the dealer-I just bought this about a week ago, brand-new, so I feel like it's their responsibility to fix it, not me. They've been very nice about it, and keep reminding me that I've got a lot of time of warranty, I just hate the fact that they probably think I'm either crazy or stupid. It's nice to hear that somebody else has had a similar problem. Being new to Kioti, I have to ask; is your 3054 a Kioti tractor?

Thanks.
 
   / Strange problem w/new DK-40SE #7  
tsdial
Yes it is a Kioti;2004 model. It is,however, an archaic model using older technology and no longer produced,or I should say, replaced by their KL30 model. It is a gear transmission, shuttle shift,so that technology may still be current. I was surprised when my unit did this, as it had just about 100 hrs, and had not been abused when it happened. I'm not sure the roll pin broke or simply worked its way out,but was definitely missing when I got under there to look for the problem
 
   / Strange problem w/new DK-40SE #8  
tsdial,
What you have going on is a strange one. The one other common thing you have going on before it won't go is pushing the clutch in. When you let the clutch out, can you feel pedal pressure almost to the end? There should be some free play at the end so the throwout bearing is released from the pressure plate. Not sure how restarting the engine would effect this but the clutch and pressure plate would heat up from engine heat and maybe stick somehow.
Maybe the tractor is just like a person, break time now. :)
 
   / Strange problem w/new DK-40SE #9  
I too was wondering about clutch pedal adjustment. But, "fixing" by restarting the engine doesn't jive too well with that.
 
   / Strange problem w/new DK-40SE #10  
Someone had a similar thing happening here a while back, the tire was spining on the rim. you might mark your rim/tire to see if that is happening.
 

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