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Wilmington Illinois | I have a John Deere 8440 and a 4430 and both of them are a pain to start when it is under 50 degrees outside. I'm wondering if the valves need to be set. They both have around 6000 hours on them. The 8440 is hard to turn over and even hard to start when plugged in. The 4430 starts easily if plugged in for a while. Thanks for any information. |
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Elizabethtown,KY | Just the nature of the beasts. |
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northwest ohio | +1..... Compression is probably lacking too |
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michigan | We had a 4430 for about 25 years and it took a shot of starting fluid almost every cold start weather it was -10 or 70 degrees outside. |
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45 miles south spingfield il. | My 4430 was hard to start,complained to mechanic. He rebuilt starter- not replaced. I really thought it turned over fine before. I think you can buy better starters now |
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| On my 4430,4630 it helps if you keep the fuel tank full... seems like the fuel drains back to the tank when under half...also pump the fuel up by hand with the pump by the strainer.
They are "ether pigs" when its cooler for sure.
A jd mechanic told me to use the "cheap ether"...it still helps start it...but doesn't have the "kick" of the good stuff...anyway..fwiw.
I have overhauled two of mine..and the top rings groves on the pistons were really sloppy...ether?
Under 20 degrees...a tarp over the engine to keep the breeze off the engine block...and a battery heater sure help, too
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ecmn | on the 4430 convert it from 2 6 volt batteries over to 12 volt batteries. on the 8440 get an electric destroking valve so when you go to start it the starter isn't trying to run the hydraulic system.
if it turns over that hard there could be a high pressure leak not allowing the pump to ever destroke. |
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Macon, IL | Best things you can do:
1) Convert to 2-12v batteries-makes a HUGE difference. (Assuming cables are good-I had custom cables made just to right length-running both sets to starter and ground of course)
if that doesn't do it
2) Put on a gear reduction starter
and finally
3) Open checkbook and put some 40 series type pistons in
I bet #1 will make you much happier. |
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Nc Ks. | Even though they don't have real high hours, I'd bet your compression is down enough that it makes some difference. Had my 4450 with 11,000 hrs. overhauled a few years back and now I can go out on days with temps in the 20's and it will start easily. Bought a used 4240 a few years ago that has a gear reduction starter. That helps too, although it's never been overhauled and won't start near as easily as the 4450. |
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| My local dealer used to have the heads planed off a little to pick up the compression on these tractors. They thought it helped them start better. |
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| getting your cranking speed up there will be the best money spent. |
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South East SD | We had a 4430 that had to be plugged in if you walked by it with an ice cream cone, literally 40 degrees and plug it in. Our 8640 was always like that. One trick is to turn steering wheel left and right and that helps take pressure off, it helped mine. |
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s.w. Wi. | +1. helped mine |
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20 miles west of Indianapolis,IN | Mine r the same way....nature of the 404 . |
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Northwest Illinois | Nature of the beast. My dad would always turn the wheel side to side to relieve pressure also. Maybe theres a reason JD made it so easy to spray ether into the intake stack on those tractors. That was one of my jobs as a kid. |
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| <p>I agree on the above about using two 12V batts and new heavy cables. A gear reduction starter second. Something that hasn't been mentioned is the injector pump. I thought there was some modification or setting on the Bosch pump to get 30-40 series to start better?</p>
Edited by Claymore 1/14/2014 10:58
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| Could it be that these 35 to 40 year old tractors need a little money spent on them? |
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NW Iowa | We had the pump rebuilt on our 4430 several years ago and made a huge difference. It will start when its 25 out. Never would start when it was 40 previously. |
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EC Kansas | No, they started hard direct from the factory in cold weather. |
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WI | jd720 - 1/14/2014 08:32
We had a 4430 that had to be plugged in if you walked by it with an ice cream cone, literally 40 degrees and plug it in. Our 8640 was always like that. One trick is to turn steering wheel left and right and that helps take pressure off, it helped mine.
+1 that's what we did on our 2640 |
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| We've had a 4430 from new and have tried several thing to help improve starting. We've sent the pump to get rebuilt several times but didn't help much. Replacing the batteries with 12 volts really helped (batteries lasted 7+ years). With the old 6 volt batteries they were only lasting a couple years and burning out the starter every second year too. With the 12 volt batteries the starter has lasted 20+ years. We recently replaced the old Delco style starter with a Denso knock off. WOW!!! Spins it over like a new tractor! It still needs a shot or two of either. We installed a recirculating engine heater and that helps immensely when it gets really cold.
With our 8640 we've found some come out with the Delco starter and some have the Denso starter. The Delco is a slow pig that burns out easily. We have a parts tractor (blown engine) with a Denso starter so we put it on the 'new' 8640 and it spins over like new. The tractor also has a second positive cable running from the battery to the starter (not sure if that is really needed). Our Kenworth uses 4x group 31 batteries so I put a couple of the old batteries in the 8640 and will be seeing if the other two will fit the 4430. We just had to convert cable ends to lugs (which are MUCH better than the lead clamp style).
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Old 30 and 40 series John Deere Tractors starting hard
