Hey All, New to the heavy equipment ownership. Bought a early 90's JD 244e. Trying to dig out a silted in pond. So, Motor runs great, had some wiring to straighten out under the dash. BOught the TM1502 manual with diagrams and everything. Current Issue; Right after startup it moves pretty good, does'nt have much pushing power but it will move along ok. about 10 mins into running it barely moves in forward, but still moves decent in reverse. I have changed the hydrostatic filter, The hydraulic filter, hi/lo trans fluid and filter. Have the same results. Next I'm going to tet the hi/lo trans pump pressure but if that turns out to be within spec where should I look next. All the other hydraulics work great bucket/steering. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. thanks
I see you found the other thread. Just to confirm, the engine doesn't lose speed when you lose forward power, right? Do you have the old filters still? Cut them open and check them for debris by cutting out a section and squeezing the oil out of the paper in a vice, that will show the fine debris, the coarse debris will be obvious even covered in oil.
Correct Engine loses no speed. Any sort of flat or grade increase and it goes to a crawl engine rpms stay the same. On a down hill grade it will get moving pretty good. Already tossed the old filters, but the hi/lo trans oil was black, pretty nasty. and the drain plug had about a 1/8 inch of sludge on the tip of it when I pulled it out. New oil was put in with new filter, and a little seafoam trans tune. ran it like that for a little while, that fluid was in for about 2 weeks with about an hour or so run time on it. I have since drained it to check the pickup tube filter in the reservoir, it looked brand new, like the owner before already tried that fix, fresh RTV and all on the gasket surfaces... new oil that came out looked ok, a little dark for only running through for an hour or so..
I don't have any more info than you do on this system. It sounds like an axial pump hydrostatic transmission. Is this "hi low" transmission a separate oil compartment? is it a gear shift transmission? how does the reverse work? a console shifter to a different compartment than the hydrostatic transmission? The fact that it works in reverse might be a good sign. if there's a reverser that is slipping rather than the hydrostat. I'm just speculating, I don't know what you have. Re reading your first post, you're on the right track, read the manual, don't listen to me.
Thanks for replying anyway, Yeah, Im following the manual, it has some troubleshooting stuff. Problem is I have no hydraulic testing equipment. Gonna have to buy everything the manual calls out to test with. Guages, hoses, adapters, etc.. Flow meters aren't cheap. cheapest I could find so far is 400 at northern tool... Wanted to reach out and see if anyone has had the issue before with a different fix than just the oil change I read on here before I start dropping money on testing equipment..
U can get 5000psi gauges real cheap on ebay.. {just a thought}..
We really need to be sure it is one direction or both that lacks drive power. It will make a big difference on direction to take. Is it the same/worse in high range as opposed to low range? How does reverse work when backing up a grade or back dragging with the bucket pretty hard to the ground? The same or with much better power? If reverse also weak check your inching pedal. They like to stick with old age and cause travel power issues. If forward only you might want to swap the forward and reverse shift solenoids to see if the problem follows the solenoid. If forward only the motor shuttle valve may be sticking. You will definitely need to get some testing equipment and follow the TM diagnostic procedures.