kgwoodworker
New member
Hope you guys can offer some suggestions on where to start looking for this problem. I have a New Holland TC-25D with hydostatic drive a SuperSteer. It was built in Jan. 1999 and I took delivery in Mar. of 99. I've done the regularly scheduled maintenance and the few minor repairs that have been required and it just turned 1,000 hours. It's equipped with turf tires and normally spends the summers cutting 4 acres of grass with a 930B mower deck and the winter's clearing the snow with a FEL and rear blade.
However, today's plan was to move a pile of dirt. Things were going well until after driving into the pile to fill the bucket, I could not back out of it. It felt like the axles were locked mechanically and couldn't turn. Not like the brakes were applied but, by something solid. I had been in low, full 4WD and on the rear differential lock. The lock pedal popped up when I took my foot off it. Changing drive ranges, dropping 4WD and trying forward or reverse didn't seem to make a difference. I dumped out the bucket and used it to raise the front wheels off the ground. No difference. I used the bucket to roll the tractor backwards and then I was able to get it to move under it's own power back to the barn. It still wasn't right though. It was bucking or jerking like when trying to turn with the rear differential locked or with 4WD still on.
I thought maybe the front axle clutch was stuck so once back in the barn I lifted the front axle off the ground. Both wheels spun by hand easy. With the clutch disengaged I could spin the driveshaft and the wheels would turn. When I engaged 4WD I could no longer turn the driveshaft so I think the front clutch is working correctly. Next I lifted the rear axle off the ground. In neutral both wheels spun easily in opposite directions. With the differential lock applied, they spun together, same direction. They would not spin far though. Whether it was in gear or neutral didn't seem to matter. Fluid levels were fine but, it is time to change the hydraulic system fluid and filters. That was on the list of things for Oct.
I was kinda' surprised that the spinning of the rear wheels was limited in neutral with the rear diff lock applied. I'm not up on what else is going on in the hydrostatic drive forward of that to know if it's normal or not so I'm open to suggestions or recommendations of what to look for next. Thanks.
However, today's plan was to move a pile of dirt. Things were going well until after driving into the pile to fill the bucket, I could not back out of it. It felt like the axles were locked mechanically and couldn't turn. Not like the brakes were applied but, by something solid. I had been in low, full 4WD and on the rear differential lock. The lock pedal popped up when I took my foot off it. Changing drive ranges, dropping 4WD and trying forward or reverse didn't seem to make a difference. I dumped out the bucket and used it to raise the front wheels off the ground. No difference. I used the bucket to roll the tractor backwards and then I was able to get it to move under it's own power back to the barn. It still wasn't right though. It was bucking or jerking like when trying to turn with the rear differential locked or with 4WD still on.
I thought maybe the front axle clutch was stuck so once back in the barn I lifted the front axle off the ground. Both wheels spun by hand easy. With the clutch disengaged I could spin the driveshaft and the wheels would turn. When I engaged 4WD I could no longer turn the driveshaft so I think the front clutch is working correctly. Next I lifted the rear axle off the ground. In neutral both wheels spun easily in opposite directions. With the differential lock applied, they spun together, same direction. They would not spin far though. Whether it was in gear or neutral didn't seem to matter. Fluid levels were fine but, it is time to change the hydraulic system fluid and filters. That was on the list of things for Oct.
I was kinda' surprised that the spinning of the rear wheels was limited in neutral with the rear diff lock applied. I'm not up on what else is going on in the hydrostatic drive forward of that to know if it's normal or not so I'm open to suggestions or recommendations of what to look for next. Thanks.
