Copied from TBN:
I spent 2 hours +/- bushhogging my neighbor's hill and had just got done. Transferred from one gear to another to ride up the hill and go home. There was soft thump or click and all power going forward went away. It was if the transmission had accidentally got shifted into Neutral. Tractor is a L4330D with the GST transmission.
But in this case, there were no major sticks or branches that could grab anything. The steering column shifter was in forward and the gear selector was in the proper gear and it's locked out of N anyway. Tried Reverse - nothing; it was free wheeling either way F or R (but it always went backwards because I was on a hill). Then I noticed power steering was out; extremely difficult to move the steering wheel at all.
I tried the FEL and 3ph and both worked fine. I had checked the hydro and engine oil before I left; but I didn't check it while on the hill. There is nothing hanging below the tractor and there were no major oil leaks or drippings or anything. Started and stopped the engine several times; tried taking it into and out of gear, changed gears - nothing.
It sounds to me like a shifter linkage failed - but then that doesn't account for the power steering loss. So I'm puzzled and stumped.
Someone on TBN found an old thread where the hydraulic pump inlet hose started leaking and letting air into the system; had the exact same symptoms as I did. He replaced his inlet hose and all was well. I replaced the inlet pipe on my L4330 GST with zero change.
Page 7-M2 of the WSM shows the steering hydraulic circuit. "A" goes to the 3ph hydrauilic system and "B" goes to PTO clutch valve and GST Valve. So I *assume* that there is a problem somewhere in this circuit. Since it's not the inlet hose, that leaves the gear pump or the steering controller.
Any other thoughts or ideas? I'm stumped and my tractor is totally INOP; heck I can't even get it on a trailer to take it to the dealer at this point.
HELP!
I spent 2 hours +/- bushhogging my neighbor's hill and had just got done. Transferred from one gear to another to ride up the hill and go home. There was soft thump or click and all power going forward went away. It was if the transmission had accidentally got shifted into Neutral. Tractor is a L4330D with the GST transmission.
But in this case, there were no major sticks or branches that could grab anything. The steering column shifter was in forward and the gear selector was in the proper gear and it's locked out of N anyway. Tried Reverse - nothing; it was free wheeling either way F or R (but it always went backwards because I was on a hill). Then I noticed power steering was out; extremely difficult to move the steering wheel at all.
I tried the FEL and 3ph and both worked fine. I had checked the hydro and engine oil before I left; but I didn't check it while on the hill. There is nothing hanging below the tractor and there were no major oil leaks or drippings or anything. Started and stopped the engine several times; tried taking it into and out of gear, changed gears - nothing.
It sounds to me like a shifter linkage failed - but then that doesn't account for the power steering loss. So I'm puzzled and stumped.
Someone on TBN found an old thread where the hydraulic pump inlet hose started leaking and letting air into the system; had the exact same symptoms as I did. He replaced his inlet hose and all was well. I replaced the inlet pipe on my L4330 GST with zero change.
Page 7-M2 of the WSM shows the steering hydraulic circuit. "A" goes to the 3ph hydrauilic system and "B" goes to PTO clutch valve and GST Valve. So I *assume* that there is a problem somewhere in this circuit. Since it's not the inlet hose, that leaves the gear pump or the steering controller.
Any other thoughts or ideas? I'm stumped and my tractor is totally INOP; heck I can't even get it on a trailer to take it to the dealer at this point.
HELP!
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