I have a newly acquired case 580b construction king backhoe with shuttle shift. I went to scoop a front bucket of dirt from a pile and as I started to push into the pile the machine started making a very loud popping sound. Like a machine gun. I went to drive it back to the shed and it now makes a loud popping noise on each revolution as it is driving. Happens in forward and reverse and also have tried it in both 1st and 2nd same noise. Can someone help me shed some light on this and help do some troubleshooting?
Lift the rear wheels off the ground and turn them by hand to see what you feel. You want to determine if one side makes the noise or only if the ring and pinion is turning. So turn each wheel individually with the trans in 1st so the other wheel reverses, then each wheel with the other locked and the trans in neutral. Let us know what you find. I wouldn't drive it, even for testing purposes at this point.
Thanks for the reply Delmer... so with the wheels off the ground trans in 1st spin each wheel by hand and there is no unusual noise. Can basically just hear gears turning. With the trans in neutral there is some notable noise ever so often in the rotation. A clanging noise about once each revolution. I might add the with the engine running and let the clutch out there is some noticable bearing noise. But nothing like the loud popping that started earlier. Also the tractor doesn't start to pull until the clutch pedal is at the very top of its travel.
Not uncommon for those machines to loose a tooth or 2 off the crown gear.
Sounds like the ring gear lost a tooth. There should be thread on this repair here, search: heavyequipmentforums 580b crown gear There are plenty of people here who can help you out if you have more questions than the threads can answer.
Drain the transaxle oil, remove the rear inspection cover & have a good look inside.
Thank you for your replies. I'll take a look and report back what I find. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.
Welcome to HEF, George !
Get some alcohol ready!
Thanks gentlemen. Heading to the beer store straight away, thanks for the advise
Welcome George I wish you luck with your ole ho e What part of Arkansas you live in?
I currently live in the Heber Springs area. The backhoe is on my small farm in Guy, AR
Ok I was just wondering. I live up near Jonesboro
Small world...I don't get up that way very often but I know a few folks in the Jonesboro/paragould area. Man you guys got hit pretty hard by a tornado this year huh
Yeah Jonesboro did get hit hard. I actually live south of Jonesboro so we didn't get anything to speak of. How's the weather down there today any damage from Lura?
Just rain today so far. One of the ladies here at work took a pic of a very well defined funnel cloud between here and vilonia earlier (work in greenbrier). But I haven't heard any damage reports so far.
I’m very impressed with the knowledge shared on this forum and glad to see some of the sharp people are kinda close. I take my brother from Kennett to Jonesboro for checkups every couple of months. No spring chicken there! I live just west of Cape so it’s an all day affair. Sister went to college in Jonesboro. Worked in and around there for several years. Good to kinda meet you both. Mike
We had one pass over us last but hat seen any damage.
Sooo....I got the tractor inside and got the cover off the differential and first two things I notice was broke tooth on the crown gear. Also no oil to speak of. Looks like a couple gal of water in the case. So obviously I'm going to drain it. My question for the group is this...when I decided to bring it in the shop I tried to drive it. Went about 50ft with it popping couple times during rotation but as soon as tried to go up very gently driveway it stopped and very loud grinding. Any resistance at all causes the loud grinding/popping. I wouldn't think this was caused by one broke tooth. Just thinking outloud here but it seems to me something is moving or something is worn and allowing the gears to not fully mesh and skipping. What are some thoughts on a next step?? I took some pictures but no clue on how to post them.
Something else I wanted to mention. The clutch...so when I released the clutch pedal it comes all the way up, but nothing happens. If I reach down and pull it the last 1/2" or so it engages and the tractor moves. I don't understand much about the valve the clutch pedal operates, can someone explain it for me?? Is it possible the problem I am having has anything to do with clutch not fully releasing/engaging? Ohh and I've ordered a manual, should be here in the next day or two....
The pedal that you are calling a clutch is actually a declutch pedal. It moves a spool in the trans valve to drop oil pressure. There is an adjustment that you need to do, the pivot bolt is an eccentric bolt and you turn it to adjust the free length of spool travel. The grinding noise you here going up the drive is the pinion gear not meshing with the ring/crown gear, that's why it quit pulling under load.
your clutch needs adjustment as Coy said, or maybe just freeing up the linkage, or replacing springs? The grinding is because it broke a little more of the gear off, or would 'jump" that gear with light load, but more load stops it in that place and it just spins on the broken tooth. Don't overthink this. The water didn't help anything, might not have caused it though. As long as the gear teeth look smooth, and the bearings turn smoothly, then I'd replace what you see broken and run it. With oil obviously. And inspect everything as you remove and replace, but don't assume anything else has to be broken, there's plenty of threads of the same gear breaking on here.
Coy and Delmer thanks for your replies. Now that I have the case drained and better access I found the other side of the ring gear has about 6 broke teeth in a row. So it's a total of 8 or 9. That's makes a lot more sense why it was going what it was doing. Also, Delmer, you are right about assuming something else has to be wrong. It just bothers me that this is only the 2nd time I drove the machine and I bet I havent driven it 100 yards total. First time no noise whatso ever. Second time I go to scoop up some dirt and pop. Thanks for the help. I'll keep checking in. Coy, how did you guys do in the storms? I have a friend in Calamine that had a tornado real close to them...
It may be the brakes. Each side has 4 balls in housing. Those can cause loud popping noises, especially if the brakes are worn or binding due to wearing out. Remove the brake housing and check the circular thingy in the middle. That is where the balls are. On one of ours, it would only turn in a circle as one side had the brakes bound. Eventually cracked the housing. Don't ignore.
as always. i learn from listening. ty
Welcome to HEF, mahdis6 !