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Idaho | Hey y'all.
I bought a John Deere 4430 (quad range transmission) this spring to use as a hay rake tractor. It pulls a hydraulic controlled wheel rake.
Five hours into raking the first field, the traction clutch burned up and the tractor would only move in 1st at an idle. It would barely creep along, but at least it would move, to get it back to the house.
We sent it to John Deere and they split it they replaced the clutch. They said the clutch had burned up because it had been replaced recently and had been installed backwards. They said that's why it burned up, but now it was good to go.
I brought it home and put it back on the rake. 7 hours into raking, the exact same thing happened. About an hour before failing, when I'd power shift from 3 to 4, very, very subtly, it'd feel like it wasn't kicking it up to full speed. Then 10 minutes before it fails, the 2 speed powershift doesn't do anything. Then the tractor starts losing power, losing power, until it slips and won't move except in an idle in 1st speed.
So it happened again after the jd dealer replaced the clutch. I called them and they said there's no way the clutch could've burned up that fast. The jd service rep came out and ran tests on the tractor for hours (because he couldn't believe it was the clutch). All of his tests were good. The clutch pressure was at 180 psi. And he finally decided it had to be the clutch since it wouldn't really move. So they took it back, split it, and the clutch was completely burned up.
Rather than find out what really caused the issue, all the jd mechanic wanted to do was blame me for riding the clutch (which I didn't do). I've put many, many hours on a 4430, and they still go strong. Furthermore, I talked to a farmer who runs a whole fleet of jd tractors and farms thousands upon thousands of acres, and he said I could've ridden the clutch as hard as I wanted and there's no way it couldn't taken that clutch out that fast.
It may not have anything to do with the clutch, but I'll add it in anyways. When I very first hooked it up to my hay rake, the tractor hydraulics (scv's) would build hydraulic pressure which would extend the wings of the rake and lift the wheels up, but it wouldn't release the pressure to let the wheels down. So the jd service rep had me crawl under the tractor and unscrew the manual bypass valve so that the scv's would release hydraulic pressure. I've had to do that three times, because every time I get the tractor back from having the clutch replaced, they've tightened that bypass valve back up so the scv's won't release pressure. Both the service rep and the mechanic said that wouldn't hurt the clutch...but they also claimed that the clutch couldn't burn up in 7 hours either.
So the tractor is sitting there with a new clutch and I'm nervous to rely on it as a rake tractor because of obvious reasons. Does anyone know why this tractor could be burning up clutches so quickly while maintaining it's recommended 180 psi?
Edited by TdsID 9/13/2020 09:15
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JD 4430 burning up clutches
