A couple pics: I am trying to remove the cover off the Hi/Lo Range on my 580CK (1968 year). I wanted to see if perhaps I could find out why my Hi/Lo range sometimes slips out of gear. I have a Case shop manual, and see that they forgot to state that the two shift gears must be in a certain position in order to get the cover to come upwards. I got the shift levers in the position that brings the forks to the most center position, but now the top assembly still does not want to come out. It rubs on the steering column support on one side, and then on the tranny shift cover on the other side. It appears that "maybe" it would come out if I removed the tranny cover (on the right side in the pic). However, I just installed it last week with fresh gasket silicone, and new paint......I hate to take it off, especially if the Hi/Lo cover still wont come out. Any advice?????? \ Thanks.
And you can see in this pic that I even removed the dip stick (which the manual also did not say should be removed, but is a must). I also took off the air filter which seemed to be rubbing some on the forward/reverse shift linkage. The shift linkage was also removed.
Pull your nice, clean, newly installed cover. Obvious from your pics it's in the way.
El hombre.......You are right. I was in a rush today to take this cover off, and was surprised to see that so much had to be removed to take the dern thing off. I had read another guy's post saying it was a piece of cake to remove. Not on my 1968 CK. I had to remove the tranny cover as you suggested. Then, it was still almost impossible to get those forks to come out. I had the two levers in the right position, and the linkage that comes out of the steering column was right in the way. Some pics: Got the lid off, and if you have a keen eye you will notice that there is too much hydraulic fluid in the gearbox. Drowning the poor gears. So I grabbed my el cheapo $5 hand pump and pumped out 3/4 gallon. Here the lid is up-side-down showing the two large forks: This lid has an air filter on top which has not been off in over 30 years......Mud-dobbers can really foul-up a confined space like this: Look at the crap that came out around the porous filter. The filter was in great shape and is easily cleaned in gas or diesel: (Will show this in next post)
Dirt up inside the air filter: And here was the quick/easy way to pump out 3/4 gallon of extra fluid: And here is the steering cover removed so I could remove the linkage which will make it alot easier to put the lid back on: One of the reasons to remove the lid was to see why the Hi/Lo Range Lever would sometimes pop into neutral when going up or down a hill and raising/lowing engine rpms/torque. The ball/springs work fine, as the small shafts will find the detents and lock into place when I tap the ends with a rubber mallet. The only thing I could find was in the long shift handle......there is some play where the shift handle goes into the lid and is supposed to lock into place, I believe on splines. Measuring from the end of the long handle, I would say there is about an inch of movement before the handle causes the internal shaft to slide in its track. But that should not impact the Hi/Lo range popping into neutral. Unless someone gives some magical advice, Im just gonna mount her back on and use bungi cords on the range selector if it persists. At least I now have brakes to slow me down.
Update: For anyone else who may have the Hi/Lo Range Selector popping out of gear and into neutral, especially on hilly terrain, and as you change engine rpm/torque, I think I found the problem. Pics: Here is a pic of the Hi/Lo cover. I decided to give it a tackle, and I got the Hi/Lo shift handle off. There is a very small allen pipe plug on the top of the cover that has to be removed. Then, you use a punch to knock down the small roll-pin. I left a portion of the pin still in its hole so it would not be so hard to get it started back in. Took alot of penetrating spray and prying/knocking with wood & hammer, but I finally got the handle to come off. There is a small (3/16" x 5/8") woodruff key that holds the shift lever to the small finger that moves the shift fork. Im surprised that the shaft is not splined to prevent movement in the shaft. The woodruff key was actually jamming as I was trying to remove the shift lever, and I finally tapped the shift lever back on some, and was able to use a needle nose plyers to pull the woodruff key out of the shaft. Then, the shift lever tapped off real easy. Upon examining the 50 year old woodruff key, it appears to be worn and fits in the slot a bit loose. This looseness transfers into a lot of play as you go to the end of the shift handle. So, as I was operating the tractor and shifted the Hi/Lo lever, this amount of play was enough to cause the shift fork to not shift completely into Hi or Lo range. So, I am hoping that just by replacing the woodruff key with a new one that fits tight, that I will eliminate the "slop" between the shift lever and the small shaft that it fits inside. I will post a follow-up after I have put a new key in and given her a try. Would be great if this solves the problem.
Update on repairing the Hi/Lo Range Shift Lever: This is a must read for anyone getting ready to attempt to re-install the cover on the Hi/Lo Range Gear Box. Even though I have shop manuals and I removed this rascal a couple weeks ago, I was almost totally stumped as to how to get it to go back on. I spent an hour trying to manuever this cover in all kinds of positions to get her back in place. It seemed impossible. It seemed that the dern cover had grown like a germinating pumpkin seed in the spring weather. I was about to go bang my head into a brick wall in frustration. Here is a pic of the open Hi/Lo range box in the front and the 4 speed gear box behind it. You must remove the 4 speed gear box cover in order to remove/install the Hi/Lo range cover. I spent an hour fussing with this cover, and tried to follow the Case Manul instructions which just said "Hi/Lo Lever must be in forward position, and the Forward/Reverse lever must be in the rear position". I had them set in these positions, but there was not room to get the cover on. In this pic, you can see the position of the Hi/Lo shaft under the cover....it is sticking out just a bit on the rear of the top cover: I found that I had to tap this shaft forward to the point where it was actually going past the cast iron boss of the cover. This gives enough room to barely get the lid forward and with both big forks going downward into the gearbox. You have to be careful and be sure that the Hi/Lo Lever's fork "finger" is still set properly into the fork shaft, as when the forks move a bit, the fork finger can slid right out. Same with the Forward/Reverse lever. So, being sure these fingers are still in place, you then must peer under the lid as you carefully lift it down......and be 100% sure that the big forks are falling into the shift collars where they must go. I had to slid both collars forward/backward until they were in the right place to receive the forks. Got the covers in place, with some blue RTV on the gaskets to help keep moisture out: Continued in the next post.
So, the covers are finally back on. The Hi/Lo and Forward/Reverse shifts great. Now that I have a new Woodruff Key (3/16" x 5/8") in the Hi/Lo Range shaft, I feel confident that it will no longer pop out of gear and into neutral. The new key should give the lever the full throw range that is required. Now, on to other mechanical issues.....slowly but surely.
Also, I found that Tractor Supply has large ORings that fit great under the dip sticks of the gear boxes.....to help keep moisture out.
Did you have to angle or twist the top plate for the high low? I'm so tired of fighting it I'm ready to take a cutting wheele to the bottom of steering column to get the clearance.
If you put both shift collars all the way forward on the shafts and then shift the forks all the way forward as well the cover will go on with less stress and frustration.
Is that the same for the remove all also? It seems like I'm fighting it like crazy to get it off. In the previous post it almost look like he turned it sideways to get it to come out.
Yes it is; put both levers in the back position and when you get the cover loose and start up with it you can move the hi-lo lever a little more out of detent to give shaft more room to clear housing.