Hello all, I recently purchased my first piece of heavy machinery for my small farm, a 2012 John Deere 329D with about 4500 hrs. I have been clearing land with it (pushing trees and such). This afternoon a log got jammed against the front glass and shattered it (blatant operator error I know). After dealing with the mess of glass, I moved the machine back to the driveway. Apparently some of the glass slid inside of the rubber joystick cover and seems to be interfering with the joystick. The left stick feels fine and appears to me to return to its normal position, but I now cannot get hydraulics working as the display reads "Left Joystick Not Centered" (paraphrasing). I have removed all of the glass that I can see under the stick cover. Unfortunately the boom is lifted slightly, and I cannot lower it to lift the cab and get at the joystick from the underside. I have looked around a bit on this forum and found instructions for entering service mode, hoping that I could clear the joystick problem at least long enough to lower the boom... I hold the menu button for 5 seconds, and "Service Mode" is displayed, but it quickly kicks back in to Main Menu mode... whether or not I press any of the buttons to try to cycle through the service mode options. I don't know why I can't access any of the service options. Any suggestions?
Welcome to HEF Thomas ! First, a complete serial number is needed to gather accurate information. To lower the boom: Sit in the seat, close the cab door, key on (engine off), fasten the seat belt, lower the seat bar, cycle the park brake to the middle position, move the boom control lever to lower the boom. If the boom will not lower, then the accumulator is most likely discharged. As for the monitor, it sounds like the menu button might be stuck. To clarify, you enter the service menu, press the menu button to enter the menu, then it returns to the original screen (hour meter)? You can't select next in the service menu to scroll through the choices? How far will the cab raise? You might be able to access the hardware for the lever if it can come up a foot or so. I do find it hard to believe glass got in there, unless the boot is split. Have you had any trouble with that lever before?
Thank you very much for the information. serial: 1T0329DJLBD215829 Looks like the boom has settled down to the ground over night, so there's a good chance I'll be able to raise the cab without problems when I go out there. As to the Service Menu function, from your description it may be that I simply misunderstood how it was meant to work. I will give it another look and report back.
So I figured out how the service menu works. In Diagnostics I enter the Left-Joystick menu. It reads: X-Axis: 0 % Y-Axis: --- % Moving the stick around doesn't change these numbers. The right stick works as expected and the X and Y values show as expected for the right side. It's odd because the joystick was working just fine until after I busted that windshield. There were some bits of glass inside the joystick protective cover, down inside the springs and mechanisms of the joystick. I guess it could be a total fluke that the stick would break at this time, but it seems related.
The Y-Axis being all ---- would most likely be an issue withing the joystick assembly. I would think if you had a voltage supply issue, ground issue, or a "CAN" communication issue, the X-Axis would also be all ----. Let's see what you find when you can get under that joystick to check the wiring.
I got the joystick assembly taken apart. I think I have found the problem. There is damage to the sensor under the joystick. There were some tiny glass shards in that damage spot so I am pretty sure that a chunk of glass got wedged there and ruined the sensor... Looks like I'm in it for a new joystick assembly. The damage is on the Y-axis and not the X, so it would make sense that the sensor is not sending data for it.
I wonder if I can buy the sensor and not a whole new joystick assembly
Whelp... spoke to the dealer. The replacement part is over $1500. Gonna try to find a used part.
No luck on the used part unfortunately. I ended up spending over $1500 on the sensor, $300 on the new glass and $75 for new window rubber. It was an expensive mistake. On the positive side, while the machine was down for a few days I took the opportunity to clean out under the cab.. I don't think its ever been done in the life of this loader.. I couldn't even see the hoses when I started, they were so buried in greasy dirt. It took me a full 6 hours of power washing to get her cleaned out...
Next time you break the door glass, maybe look into Lexan. I have replaced my door glass with Lexan. I got it from Racing Shield. You can get it in different thicknesses. I have one machine with .5 inches thick and the other machine is thinner but I can switch the doors back and forth (I use the thicker Lexan for mulching).
Thanks I will look into that... My dealer told me that the heavier glass is upwards of $1500 from them, so I think when I'm being proactive enough to buy things before they break, I'd like to look for some cheaper options. What retailers are recommended for aftermarket parts?