2000 JD 310SE ZF 2025 front axle I've noticed something strange with this hoe. Some erratic jumping of the front axle. Lifted it with the bucket and turned the tires. Feel a notchiness. Afraid it's the differential. Took the right side planetary plug out... looking in there oil level good and hardly anything on the magnet. Gears from what I can see are pristine. Will check other side but sure seems like a differential issue. Next I'll take the driveshaft off to isolate it to the axle itself and not the transmission. Check the left side planetary through the fill port and if that's looking good it looks like I'll be pulling the knuckles and shaft assemblies out since that is the only way to inspect the differential. Anybody have experience with these ZF axles and what usually fails?
Serial number? All the time? Only when turning? Front wheel drive on or off?
All the time yes. That's why I think it's in the axle not the trans. Not just when turning. On and Off. Worse when turning though. Thinking spider gears. U-Joints do not look bad. Axle MS-2025 Axle S/N 74878 Tractor S/N 878927
Lets see what happens with the drive shaft removed. If it still has issues then yes, you may be going inside. Those differentials have been very reliable, so there is no common failures that I am aware of. We have seen mostly outer planetary or kingpin issues with them.
Thank you. I really appreciate you helping out. Always good to learn from the experienced. I doubt it's the trans because when you rotate the wheels the driveshaft doesn't turn. The spiders spin around the side gears. That's why I think it might be thedifferential. I feel a bad notchiness while turning the tires. I'm hoping it's the planetary though like you said. Or possible broken axle? Waiting for my shop to get finished spray foaming so I can bring it inside. I do have some experience with differentials. I changed out a Chevy truck to different gears front and back years ago. Did all the proper measuring for pinion height and backlash, Rear was a GM 10 bolt with the shims. Front was an aluminum diff that split in two with threaded adjusting rings.
Engine has to be running with the MFWD off for the drive shaft to turn by spinning the wheels.
So I removed the front driveshaft. I can use the machine at least now. With the front wheels off the ground when I spin the wheel with the driveshaft off, it feels fine. When I do that the pinion yoke spins. That's telling me the entire differential/ring gear is turning. Now if I grab the pinion yoke and spin the wheel, this stops the differential from rotating and causes the side and spider gears to do their thing. This is where I feel a notchiness and an occasional harder bump at the yoke. After I get some digging done here she's going in the garage for more diagnosis and probable surgery.