Hey Guys & Galls! I am new to this forum, as well as, new to my grader (well, graders in general). Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated as I am off grid and my grader is 3-4km down my 20km road in and out. I have a Champion 730A and I was plowing snow, I made it 3 - 4 km and the transmission light (over heat) came on. I shut the machine down and got out to let it cool / pull plates off to allow for more air flow in hopes of a heat sink. After a while I got back in and the machine fired up, the light was off and we were plowing again. Made it a little ways and then I had to back up a hill to take another pass. Half way up, the light came on again, this time when I stopped, the grader did nothing when I went to move again. The console is not doing anything weird, the green light for gear selection is on and not blinking or red. I pulled the cover off and the electrical looked ok. I can shift gears in forward and reverse, but nothing. I ended up going back last night when it had definitely cooled down and it moved about 3" forward then I put the clutch in, and when I released it... nothing. I dipped a stick into the transmission fill and pulled out some oil and it smelled like normal hydraulic fluid. I heard somewhere that their may be 3 - 4 solenoids on the transmission and one of them may be causing an issue but I cannot locate these for certain. I was planning on pulling one from my float system to swap for the transmission one, but once again just not sure what I am looking for. And this seems to be eluding me on the old google machine. I don't have the manual that came with the unit so I am kind of at a loss their, if any one is wiling to share one, that would be awesome! I have some unit information below.... Plate On The Cab: Model No: 730A Product Identification Number: X026356X Plate On The Transmission: Model No: 74401 Product Identification Number: 1624 Really hope someone can provide some assistance on this, and thank you in advance! If there is more information anyone wants please let me know, I will do the best I can to get it.
Used to run a 730 years ago, tranny oil has to be 10 weight if memory serves me right, I had tranny problems but all was linked to improper voltage from a alternator going bad, caused all kinds of problems, maybe look there first, hope this helps
Thanks for the reply. The oil may be the issue I will look into that. I am assuming that besides getting the, 20L of oil up here is changing it out hard? Once again, no manual came with the grader. I found the 4 solenoids on the transmission..... At least I think I did, they had a 3/4" retaining nut and then they just slid off of the shaft and I undid the electrical connection. Two are located on the front, pretty easily accessible so I pulled them off. One was a single (Sorry I do not know the correct term) toward the top of the transmission and the other was a double, toward the bottom of the transmission. The top one was cracked almost all the way through so I figured that was the issue. I swapped it out with one from my float system and nothing happened. The bottom one looked ok. The other two are located on pretty well the top of the transmission, more to the drivers right hand side. Not a fun place to work. I managed to take the retaining nut off the top of one but I could not get the solenoid to slide off the shaft like the others. Not sure why? I did some resistance checking (With the engine off and the batteries switched off)... The leads from the transmission to the solenoid measures consistantly +/- 2.9 the solenoids on the transmission measured +/- 27 I then checked the leads to the solenoid i took off the float system and they measured +/- 46
Sorry, I forgot to hit the reply button. Response above.....
Maybe this info on the 8400 series transmission will help. http://www.sierrapark.org/Equipment/Champion_730A/Shop_Manual/Section_8_8400_Transmission.pdf
That is awesome! Thank you for sharing! What if my console is not throwing a code?
“What if my console is not throwing a code?“ Then it is time to check pressures. Your console only monitors the health of the electrical system on the transmission. Now you need to check the hydraulic circuits. Pressure tests and then pull filter and suction screen.
Acecaded, That is what I was getting while reading over the portion on the solenoids and the fault codes last night, no code = not electrical. From the information you sent, I quickly reviewed last night. I believe the suction screen in located on the bottom of the transmission on the drivers left hand side. When I pull this connection it appears I am going to loose all the fluid in the housing, correct? Is the pressure test procedure hard? I don't recall seeing this in the manual, but I probably missed it or didn't know what I was looking at, looking again. I take it I am going to need some special tools/measuring equipment? Lets say the wrong fluid is in the transmission (I am thinking the people before me were using the wrong fluid)..... Is it as easy as draining the oil and pouring in the correct fluids? If the wrong fluid was used what king of damage would that cause?
It’s in the manual although a bit vague. First pressure to check is at the filter head. Should be a hex head pipe plug on a fitting to hook the gauge up at. 165-185 psi I believe. I’m guessing by your serial number that you have a series 4 or 5 machine. Doesn’t really make too much difference as the transmission would still be the same. I really only have good info up till series 3. Yes if you pull the suction screen you will get all 10.4 gallons out. I have a question for you, with the engine running and the clutch pedal up, and transmission in a gear, does the input shaft from the engine turn? The high temp from your first post does have me worried that a clutch pack might be toasted. But there is a wet clutch at the engine bell housing that could cause all this heat. It would also explain the lack of any gears at all. Why don’t you go check the driveshaft thing and we will move on from there.
Acecadet welcome to the forum. I have had a similar issue but not with overheating. I have 1986 730A series II that all of a sudden would stop moving. After awhile it would work again. It's really random when it acts up. I repaired a bad connector on one of the starter wires that brought the volts up to just under 14. It looks like it throws a code but the window is very hard to see. When it's working I can faintly see what gear it's in if I look real close.
Thanks for the reply Welder Dave. I talked to another friend of mine that had pretty well the same issue. He said he would be moving along and all of a sudden its like the grader would throw its-self into neutral. Apparently it ended up being one of the two solenoids (1,2 or 5) on the top right side of the transmission. I hope its as simple as a solenoid for me but I am not so sure. Altho when I went to remove solenoid 5 it was stuck in place. If by the "input shaft" you are referring to the drive shaft I will check this and get back to you. I do know that in neutral with the clutch up it rotates at pretty good speed, when I put the clutch in it dose slow but dose not come to a complete stop. I will check with the transmission in gear, as requested. Could a plugged filter cause this issue and create the heat? I recall now that I had to give it good revs the day prior after the issue started (may have been acting weird before as well but I was not familiar with the equipment) and it was like, after the revs of the engine got up, the transmission kicked in, almost as if the filters were plugged? I had someone ells suggest this to me as as well.
Acecadet, With the engine running and the clutch pedal up, and transmission in a gear... The input shaft from the engine rotates. I need to look up the Wet Clutch in the manual as i am not sure where this is.
Ok if the shaft is rotating that means the clutch at the engine is passing power but none of the clutch packs in the transmission are engaged. Have you acquired a gauge yet or pulled filters?
I have a guy coming in on snowmobile today with the filters. Still looking into the hydraulic pressure testing equipment...... Would this sound like a torque converter issue?
Look at this, start at page 40. I know it is a bit older than yours but should still be very similar. http://www.sierrapark.org/Equipment...nual_Series_III_SN_21911_to_24735_12-1993.pdf
Been working on getting tools up here, just a little bit challenging between the Christmas and New Years holidays. How do I know what Serial Number my grader is? all I have are the identification numbers listed in the original post.
So... Might be of use in diagnostic. When I went to check if the drive shaft was spinning or not, in neutral, I noticed that the transmission fluid was below the glass and not registering, looked all around, no fluid anywhere. Weird because the last 4 days the grader has been sitting on the hill it has been full (I also poured more in before I started plowing just due to the issues I was having). Full to the point where it is over the glass. So I went to check it again today and yup, it was still below the glass. Ran it quick to see if the fluid would come back up, even used the main blade to level out the grader on the hill. Oil level never came into the sight glass. Came back home to grab fluid and headed back. The level was back up, when i got back to the grader!!! So I said F-IT and poured in some more. I ran the grader and operated hydraulics for 30-40 min. This is what I found..... After about 15 - 20 min in, grader attempted to move in reverse. Then stopped. When I shut the equipment down I felt the transmission. It was Warm, not hot, but noticeably warm compared to my hand. So I went to the back of the unit where the main suction from the transmission goes directly into the pump and then from the pump into the cooler, and I felt the hose, pump and cooler. All three were substantially cooler than the transmission. Should these items not be just as warm as the transmission??
Those parts should be just as warm as the transmission. It appears that there is no flow in the hydraulic circuit of your transmission. Please drain the transmission and have a look at the strainer. If it is totally plugged with stuff, you can clean it up, strain out the oil and put it right back in. Because the next trip should be back to the barn for a tear down to see what came apart.
That is kind of what I am thinking. Now, for draining the oil and throwing it back in.... Will it not get dirty? When I pull the suction line off, it will flow into that compartment the transmission sits in, which has a "half moon" type hole, I am assuming to allow the oil flow out of the "transmission bay". What your thinking is that, if I can get the oil flowing again, I may have gears to get home?
Thinking it could also be the hydraulic pump. Going to pull that off and have that checked first. Might not report anything for a couple days.
Check screen first. Won’t cost anything except a little spilled oil. Run the oil through a clean rag on its way back in if it is only going back to the shop. If you don’t find anything substantial then move on to the pump.
Acecadet, After I found out the plumbing on my unit has gone through some extensive changes, I realized the Main Hyd. Pump off the engine is the one that runs my transmission. Not the one in the manual at the back of the grader, which I tested first and all was good. So I sent in the main pump for testing, and it is fucked. I think I have found the issue now. I did drop the fluid and all looked good minus the fact that the screen was laying on the bottom on the inside of the transmission. I will swap out the canister filter for this system along with new fluids when I reinstall the main pump. My question now is...... Do you happen to know where I can find the "Flow Rates" required for the transmission (8400 series transmission)??? I cannot seem to find the flow rates listed, I have seen pressures but the flow rates seem to be eluding me. Thanks for all the help!
Hey Folks, I do not know why I am having such a hard time with finding information on the 8400 Gearco transmission. I am looking at changing the main hydraulic pump (for some reason my main pump runs the transmission) as it is gone. But we are having a hard time finding parts or a equivalent replacement. I am thinking that because my hydraulics were changed I may not need such a large pump for the transmission. So, hopefully, if I can locate some data on it I may have more option available to me for replacements. If anyone has operating requirements for the Gearco 8400, that would be super appreciated. Thank you in advance!
Try calling Jade Equipment. If anybody would know it would be them.