Hi All I hope i can pick a few brains out there as i need some input ,i have just bought a John deer 855 crawler .That was my first mistake ,not checking it over properly. Don't know if anyone is familiar with them here but it's worth asking as i don't really have a good idea myself. Going through the oil levels it is a nightmare,everything is low hydraulic transmission finals werent too bad though.But there is where the problem is. I found the R hand side final drive has some amount of slopp in it,i'd say around 5 mm maybe,hard to measure it and all that.These systmes are a hydrostatic drive which i am new to . I noticed the slop after changing out a sproket and while using a bar and spanner on the bolts is raised some,i imediately drained the finals and the RhS has metal in ,its kinda fine and larger particles.I am floored pretty much after seeing this...all i can imagine is the worst case scenario,it will fail..while i hav'nt checked for slop on the other side the oil has very fine amounts of metal in it,it looks not too bad i hope. My question is as i will post a pic of the oil contamination is what am i in for here,any opinion in general i couldnt thank you enough for.It scares me to have to rebuild it as im about to go build a small couple of dams with it for kicks.It wont be working hard but still..I have only driven it into the yard and noticed no noice from the finals ,and pretty much shaking my head at this point.the parts availablity scares me and the prices even more so. Also where the final drive can move on the transmission does taht mean the tranny is worn or the final drive ? Apreciate the help jdr
oh by the way what would be a good suggestion as to the type of oil to run in the finals and transmission motor housing ? i presumed a good 80/90 gearl oil myself.One final side and hosing had gear in it and the other side appears to have tranny fluid ..I am waiting for the manual for this thing to show up in the post so i don't have any lead of where to go with the fluid either.
i found an auto trans oil at super cheap autos ,it suggess i can use this is the hydraulic tank ,final drives and transmission , ( Gulf Western AgriTrans Tranmission Fluid - 20 Litre, 10W-20 ) opinions ? the hydraulic tank is kinda milky,looks like it has had a gutfull of f water in ...what ever the cost but at the most affordable i wll drop it all and change the filter. Well i have the transmission covered as i must have been losing it at the time and went down to the John Deer supplier and got a tank full of the good stuff..I quizzed them about the oils to use but they said to consult the manul which i dont have yet.They say the machine is old and to be honest the service knowledge there isnt really that technically forwarding or great .Rest assured they have a tranny oil which they were confident would work in the tranny well..very expensive stuff though.Hy Gard oil all the modern john deers use they say for tranny ,hydraulics and finals. jdr
I wouldn't hesitate to use something like that in the hydraulics only,, especially if you're replacing something milky. Sounds like you found the right oil for the transmission (manual or sticker on the machine?) or at least a good quality one. I can't comment on the finals. Did the Deere people mean the manual isn't very good, or they don't have very good service knowledge of the older machines?
Hi Delmer The dealer didn't seem to have much knowledge about the machine,but in reality it is a hitachi dealer who as well do JD parts and service.I can get parts through them for a JD machine. As you did i thought the same , if the hydraulic oil is full of water then anything must be better,if at least the replacement oils states hydraulic etc ,then it should be good. I can't find any sticker which states what oil to use .
Sounds like the dealer was shining you on. I know the dealer I worked at had multiple copies of the JD Historical DVD's and all the old hard copies saved in a back room. I didn't work on many of the early hydrostats but if I remember correctly they used hygard in the hydraulic and hystat. Gear oil in the finals.
Deeretracks She may have been ,but it was a woman in her early 30s ,office material but a looker alright. Correct me if i'm wrong ,but i see a final drive and also a transmission housing which has its own oil ,both have drains and refill plugs..Then i have 3 tanks,one is transmission oil,one is hydraulic and the other is diesel fuel. So i assume the transmission housing would take gear oil ? i can feel a big nasty gear inside the bung hole..The final drive by the way has 2-2.5 mm play as i lift it with a jack and measure it will a dial gauge.I may not pull them down as i need to put it to work and iv'e been in this situation before in where i end up pulling one thing off ,then its a full rebuild with another hundred or so new pictures of the labor hours gone into it. Has anyone used Moreys transmission oil additives to beef up longevity in ageing bearings ,anything for now until the times comes to pull them down,and even then that's will of course be a test of strength and will power to see if iv'e still got enough grease in the elbow to do it.
sorry my account of paswords etc and auto log in fails has me 2 log- ins now..pain in the ass..
ok,so i pulled down the right hand side and found the (what i call) the case bearing (taper) pretty good,not 100% but very good condition...The play in the final drive seems to be the gears and it is a planetary set up. A couple of planetary teeth are broken and i have taKEN out the broken pieces from the bottom of the final drive.but mostl the teeth are ok..only 2 teeth seem affected here.The sun gear looks quite good but the ring gear has hardening coming away which is where all the metal seems to be coming from...this looks expensive..is it possible to have the ring gear cleaned up and rehardened
Your best bet IMO would be to make up a parts list,be sure that the bearings are serviceable,take die grinder with a small stone and grind all sharp and chipped edges and put it back together for now.There is nothing you can do with those gears except use them up,witch may be hours or years.In the meantime start collecting parts,this will give you time to shop for a better deal and not be stuck with the first thing you find.Good Luck!!!!______ If your two broken teeth,are not side by side it may run a long time.
thanks for the help Outasite I will start searching for parts.i am left wondering if this is just wear and tear...i cant see any hot marks on the shaft or gears..the machine has done 7 thousand hours but the oil was dark...hmm ..will see if i can get some more pictures of the other gears and post...thanks again..
I'm no expert but I'd guess the two teeth broke off long ago and have been making all those marks since then. Getting ground up between the gears. Some of those pits look like rust pitting. I'd clean it out real good and run it and keep an eye on it. The damage is done what have you got to lose. As the other poster said it may run for a long long time with out a hiccup and could be fixed later if it does.
thanks oarwhat. The left side is good,some pitting but very minor compared to the rhs which are the pics i posted above. Is is a good idea to lightly file out ridges and loose bits of the teeth with a small file maybe ?,i also have a chainsaw die griner for larger pieces.
Remove all loose and little pieces that cracked or stuck in the ring gear.Take the grinder and grind all the sharp corners off! Then run it like you stole it! and cross your fingers
thanks mate... does Praying help ? because i've already got my head in my hands.... (sobs)