1959 440 dozer kicking out of 2nd gear

[82Maple]

I’ve had this wonderful unit for 18 months now. Been running farm and logging equipment and doing my own modest repairs off and on for 50 years but first time crawler owner.

Over the past 18 months I’ve routinely used 2nd gear for easy pushes (ie topsoil on level ground) right up until I parked it 3 months ago.

Jumped on it a couple days ago to move it to winter storage - popped it into 2nd and it immediately jumped out. Tested it a couple more times. Same thing. Forward and reverse (this unit has the reverser)

All new transmission and reverser oil 10 hours ago.

Super puzzled - partly because of how suddenly this problem emerged. Previously had never kicked out of gear.

Any suggestions as to where to from here are greatly appreciated

Apologies for the “run on post”. Just wanted to share all I could for context.
Howard

[pop pop]

do you have a service manual for the 440 series spark ignition tractors ?
it shows and explains all the tranny info. after you read it you will probably be able to trouble shoot it yourself.
it is much more than i want to explain. about 25 pages of reading.
but one question is, what made you change the oils? was it already acting up?
i wouldn't drive it until you figure it out because of possible further damage.
another question starting from the top down, do you have the rubber boot ? or cracked, or missing?
also, is the shift lever kinda loose or wanting to fall back into your hand when placed in second?
might be the shifting mechanism which is sort of an easy fix.
keep us updated.

[82Maple]

Huge thanks for your very thoughtful and insightful reply. I really appreciate the time and effort that you took.

Yes - I do have a manual - and manuals like that one (>1-inch thick and filled with amazing detail) were part of my previous (non-mechanical) life - which is to say I'm feeling a little more than embarrassed for not referencing and reading that Transmission section (140-10) dealing with the shifting mechanism and more. Somehow, in scanning the manual, I glanced over it, because of the "Spark Ignition" heading. My bad. I now have my reading assignment - thanks to you.
Now the responses to your questions - in order:
1) Q: What made you change the oils? Was it already acting up? [82Maple] I was not sure when the oils had last been changed - and I've found that in draining the oil, letting it settle in the receiving container and then running a magnet around the bottom, I can get at least a layperson's window into the overall health. All was good 10 - 12 hours ago (that's all I've put on the unit in 18 months).
2) Q: Do you have the rubber boot ? Or cracked, or missing? [82Maple] Good point. No. While the machine does have a canopy, during the three months that it was sitting since I last used it, it was sitting outside.
3) Q: Is the shift lever kinda loose or wanting to fall back into your hand when placed in second? [82Maple] The shift lever feels like it always has, and like it is in every other gear position - that is to say, very positive. Nothing feels at all out of the ordinary - that is until I let out the clutch and the response is an instantaneous 'kick-out' before the crawler has had a chance to move two inches.
Again - thank you.

[Lavoy]

Typically this is an indicator of bad bearings, tapered gears or both. Pull the top cover off of the trans and inspect the gears, check for play as much as is possible.
Lavoy

[82Maple]

Here's the update
So, clearly, I should have pulled the transmission cover before asking questions. Thanks for your patience. I'm a novice with "learnings-in-progress" at this end, it would seem.
It would also seem, based on the attached photos, that this situation has just moved from "fun" to "too-much-fun"!
Oops - looks like I need to figure out how to post photos, so here's what I found.
2nd gear is not in good shape. In this layperson's opinion, having seen only a handful of gearsets in my lifetime - and most of those 50 years or more ago, these do not look good. In fact, I'm shocked that it held 2nd gear at all. Yet it did - until it didn't. (I remain astounded that it's not popped out of gear before.)
A bit more context before I pose a couple more questions.
After purchasing the unit 18 months and 15 - 20 hours ago (the hour meter was not working - I've since remedied that) and then changing the oil 10 hours ago, there were no metal pieces of substance in the oil. Yesterday, when I pulled the transmission cover and then ran my flex magnet around the inside bottom of the housing. - a couple of gear 'chips' but again, nothing of significance. Meaning it was likely in poor shape when I bought it (lesson learned - next time, pull that cover).
So - the questions:
1) Am I missing anything in assuming that I've got a big job ahead of me in pulling and redoing the transmission as the only solution?
2) Or - would you continue to run it using only 1st and 3rd as 'working' gears?
3) Any educated guesses on what went wrong to cause this? (Sorry - I'm new to all of this and working hard to create a bit of a personal knowledge base.)
Right now, I'm assuming that I've got "The Big Job" ahead of me - starting with reading the entire section of the Service Manual that pertains to 440 transmissions.

[Jim B]

To post pictures here you need to use a third-party hosting site. You can contact Lavoy and set up an account on the dedicated picture server for the site. Or you can use sites like Postimages or Imgur.

[Lavoy]

It is more than a lot of work unfortunately, remove everything attached to the transmission until all that is left is the transmission, then remove the transmission from the crawler, and then tear the transmission down. Its not rocket science, but not easy, and very time consuming.
Will it keep running the way it is? Maybe, but if the issue was caused by bearings, it will only run til it breaks, which will be sooner than later. If you are comfortable with this, run it, but when it breaks, it will likely be catastrophic, and you will need to find another transmission. Even if you rebuild it now, you are going to need some gears, but that really should not be an issue.
Lavoy

[82Maple]

Huge thanks for your comments. Very constructive. Thank you for the confirmation that it is a full teardown of everything not attached to the transmission. I was still clinging to a hope that there was some short-cut I was missing. I love certainty - and being newly retired I have the time and I have the tools.
So - a couple of thoughts - and these are just thoughts from a novice.
1) I've gone back and forth in the transmission housing with a 5lb flex magnet to ensure no chunks floating around. There was nothihg of substance so just thinking that Option 1 would be as you said to run it as is. I'm the sole operator so I'll use 1st and 3rd.
2) Option 2 would be to tear everything apart and then go to work on the gears. I've got a 'gear guy' with tons of experience as a professional equipment mechanic who would help me at that stage. I also have a source fo used gears that are in good shape. Or - I could cheap-out and just flip the hears - meaning that unless I uncover some other surprises, my cash outlay would be close to zero.

Anything I'm missing here.

I remain deeply curious tho as to what caused those gears to be in the shape they are in. I had either been led to believe, or assumed (because the engine was rebuilt <100 hours ago) that the transmission had been gone through.

So - 30 minutes ago I tracked the former owner down and chatted with him. Turns out that he knew there was a problem with 2nd and so he operated it in 1st and 3rd to avoid issues. The owner prior to him had gotten the unit stuck and got rough, and knowing he'd damaged 2nd, he took the top off and fished all the metal chunks out and it's been running for probably 200 hours as best he could tell me, with little or no use of 2nd gear.

Every machine has a story. Juist got to dig to find it.

Huge thanks again.
PS - I super appreciate this forum. The work that you and others have put into it are commendable - truly!

[Lavoy]

Tapered gears are heavy use and/or bad bearings. There are bearings inside of sone of the gears you can't see, and pieces won't fall out.
Lavoy