Hi All - whilst cutting and cleaning up roads on fairly steep terrain on my direct drive D4D it is very difficult to shift from F to R. It seems to be caused by load through the transmission. After finishing a push on a steep road cutting I often have to jack the front of the machine with the blade (or bunny hop a few times with the main clutch) to take the load off the transmission to shift it back into R. The F to R leaver feels sloppy, however I've haven't driven another one so don't have anything to compare it to. Shifting F to R on flat ground without dirt on the blade is fine. My question is is this normal for direct drive machines or would a full or partial transmission rebuild (to tighten up the sloppiness) fix it? I'm not sure how many hours are on the transmission - The machine is a 1965 85A series. I'm after other's experience with similar direct drive machines and whether this is just part of owning them or not?
It sounds like the clutch needs to be adjusted. There will be an adjustment inside the clutch housing and then a clutch brake on the output of the housing to stop the drive line from turning. As things get warmed up the clutch wants to keep the drive line spinning making the transmission shift harder to accomplish.
Make sure that when you release the clutch you stab the brake at the same time. That holds the tractor from moving against, and loading the transmission. I grew up with , and owned 2 direct drives. I now run a 7F powershift for a friend sometimes, and still stab the brake forward to reverse. It's so ingrained I can't change.
I initially thought that, however given that it doesn't happen on flat ground makes me think it isn't the clutch? I have also tried adjusting the interlock shaft that moves with the clutch lever, however that hasn't fixed it either
Yep, forgot to mention that - hitting the brakes at the same time as the main clutch at the end of a push does seem to take load off the transmission, making it easier to shift. It sounds like it's just an inherent part of owning a direct drive - was just wondering if a transmission rebuild would fix or minimise the problem