JD 4840 Hydraulics Question

[Howard H.]

The local JD house told Dad his old "4840 wasn't worth fixing". It runs fine, but was giving trouble shifting.

They showed him a bunch of goo out of the trannie that looks like dirty congealed lard. It is about like spreadable butter and was probably a gallon or so of it in there. They said it had about 3 inches of water in the bottom of the trannie, too.

There aren't any metal filings or clutch pad residue in it.

If the hired hand accidentally poured some water in the rear end, could that have caused that much goo to precipitate out of the oil??

I'm not sure why they think it isn't fixable. Dad said there were no gears chewed up or anything.. He thinks they just didn't want to even mess with it, even though they already had the rear end partially torn down...

I think he's been running that cheaper hydraulic oil that comes in the yellow 5 gal pails...

He's thinking about changing the oil a couple of times and seeing if that will "clean out the rear end"... Does anyone have any comments or advice about such a situation??


Howard

 

[JDseller]

You have two different issues.

1) Your JD dealer is full of it. If the engine is fine then the tractor should be worth the cost of going through the transmission. This could be as high a 10K if your Dad really messed up all of the clutch packs.

2) Using cheap/junk hydraulic oil in a Power shift transmission can make the PS junk in a short time. So by "saving" a hundred dollars on oil he may have cost himself big money in repairs. The gunk you are finding in the bottom of the transmission is more than likely from condensation. Good hydraulic oil has water inhibitors in it.

The transmission will not fix itself by just changing the oil several times. The clutch packs in a JD 4840 where not the greatest to start with. The dealer will want to put in complete JD reman packs in. They are real high and usually not needed IF the old packs have not been slipped too much. I can usually rebuild the old clutch pack much cheaper if the separators and such are not shot. If the carrier and planetaries are bad then it is a high priced repair.

You need to find a better service place. Too many of the new techs are just new parts changers.

 

[buickanddeere]

What is "trouble shifting" ? It maybe fine with just cleaning the sump, ensuring the valve body isn't plugged and the linkage is free to move full travel.An uptime trans pump and real hy-hard.

 

[Howard H.]

Thanks for the comments, fellows...

It just was not responding smoothly and shifting into gears like it should. We've had two 4840's for years and he could just tell something was wrong.

I agree 100%, JD - that was the first thing I told Dad, too - find another mechanic!

For one thing, just looking at it, there was no obvious gear damage or bearing pieces laying anywhere... There was no appreciable amount of clutch lining or pieces, etc...

We've got 5 JD dealerships around the farm, but all about 50 miles away.

Dad suspects the hired man (who is in his 70's) might have put some water-contaminated oil into it, but is not sure how long it has been in there - and is not positive that is the whole story, either.

But Dad is also getting pretty gunshy about taking it to ANY dealership. His 1st dealership of choice has had the 4440 back down there 5 TIMES this winter and the hydraulics are still not correct on it! He hoped this dealership would be better, but it sure doesn't look like it...

Howard

 

[spped]

I agree with jd too.I think young kids dont get the training like i did when i started in the dealer ship. Now a day they are so worried about money they dont want to pay the new guys to work with the older mechanics.On your 4840 i always say if man made it man can fix it.It seams to me there is something going on with your hydraulic oil if you are have trouble with two tractors.I know what everyone says but there is nothing cheap about cheap hydraulic oil, it cost more in repairs than you save.If the 4440 has it in it to you might make sure the dealer knows,sometimes the whole story helps with figuring out with what going on.Also what state are you from because it sounds like half the people must live near you.Everyone on here talks about how bad the dealers are.