John Deere 440 icd advice

[dtoots1]

my jd440ic, on the hard turning needing to jerk handle is usually adjustment issues for steering brakes nd throwout bearing.
lift cylinders are easily taken part and cups nd seals replaced, my last set cost me about 50$, after i paid almost 300$ for hydraulic shop to do first one!!!

i was 76 when i tore out my first final to replace clutches and brakes on my left side...
you can read my posts of issues i went thru.

[Tmond]

Hi! So I’ve got a 1956 440 crawler, diesel. Engine is running strong, but has almost no get up and go. When I place it in 1st gear, just barely moves, and then, only if on flat ground. No power to climb any hills. It seems like if I run it for a bit the pickup improves just slightly. Only a few days ago, no problems at all. I read some posts and tried a few things just to attempt to locate problems. When in first gear, if I pull back hard on both steering handles, it does not move, however, as soon as I release them, it gives a little jump then slows back down again. The right foot pedal (brake) is completely loose. I didn’t see any broken linkage, but am I barking up the wrong tree there? I’ve not worked on this crawler at all before.

[Lavoy]

Do you mean the engine dies if you try and go, or the engine runs fine, and something else is slipping? Would need more specific information to try and diagnose.
Do you have a service and operators manuals for the crawler?
Lavoy

[gregjo1948]

At $800.00, your not getting hurt. You have plenty of room to buy parts to get it running and digging. The labor to fix it is where you might get burned. If you job it out you might get a lot of money in it that you'll never recover. If you do your own wrenching; what's your time worth? I'm always buying/selling old JD dozers and old tractors of many makes. I fix them up to save them from the scrap yard to be destroyed. I don't make much, if any, money on them but, I consider it a hobby that doesn't cost me money. How many hobbies pay for themselves? I personally like the two stroke Detroit diesels. Pound for pound, they deliver a lot of power. You just have to keep them wound up as, they don't have the low end lugging power that a four stroke gas engine has. I'd own that machine in a heartbeat. Just my opinion.

[dtoots1]

tmond,
sounds like
1...main engine clutch may be slipping....try adjusting.
2. .. go thru steering adjustments exactly as show in your manual. and try again, sometimes adjustment may need done at least twice.

then report back as to results.

[Jim B]

As Lavoy asked, do you have the manuals? You will need those to make the checks and adjustments. If you don't have manuals, contact Lavoy I expect he can get those through his store.

dtoots1 has two good things to check/do as a starting point. If the engine is running well and doesn't drop off under load, the clutches (engine and steering) become suspect to me.

I would suggest, when you report back on this, that you start a new post of your own on this. It will be less confusing for all, if your problems are not mixed in with Chartersj's questions and issues.

[Tmond]

Do you mean the engine dies if you try and go, or the engine runs fine, and something else is slipping? Would need more specific information to try and diagnose.
Do you have a service and operators manuals for the crawler?
Lavoy

No, the engine starts just fine, never skips a beat. As a whole, the tractor has been working just fine, blade holds up fine, but I noticed that it was getting more difficult to get the right side to turn when I pulled back on the handle. Turned left no problem. Went to use it a couple days ago and started up just fine. Place in 1st gear w no grinding or anything, but just barely moves, like there is no power going to the tracks, either side. Pull back on both steering rods tight, then release and the tractor lurches a bit, then back to barely moving, forward or back. Then noticed the right pedal (brake) has no tension at all on it. The pedal moves freely forward or back w no resistance. So, is there a linkage that I need to check into? Or am I getting into more serious w the brakes? To me, almost seems as if the brakes aren’t releasing enough to allow the crawler to move.

[Jim B]

Tmond,

Do you have the Service and the Operator's manuals for your crawler?

[original possum]

Pull the rear bung on the reverser, put it in 4th gear, and start it with the clutch in. Let the clutch out (while stopping movement of the tractor any way you can except pulling steering clutches). If the guts in the reverser spin then it is the finals. If they don't move it is either the reverser or main clutch.

[Lavoy]

Something is slipping, you need to determine what. Go through all adjustment procedures in the service manual from engine clutch to steering clutches.
Lavoy

[Jim B]

Lavoy and original possum have given you good advice. Your problem may simply be an adjustment, but the problem needs to be found/diagnosed before anyone can help you with answers to correct the problem.

We can't say just turn this one thing to correct your problem. Do you have Service Manual SM2028 and Operator's manual OMT73459 for the 440ICD? We say check and do by the manuals because there are steps which are related and have to be done in order. And, to me, it doesn't make sense for someone to sit down and type all that out every time someone needs to adjust the clutches and brakes, when the procedures are in the manuals. If you don't have manuals contact Lavoy (postmaster@jdcrawlers.com), he sells them from his store (which provides this site for us to use).

Let's think about this. Your 440ICD does not have a torque converter, like a car, that can allow slippage when the brakes are held, it has a mechanical clutch which is either engaged or not. If your brakes were stopping your crawler the engine would be bogging down and stalling from the load the brakes would impart on the driveline. The fact that you say the engine runs fine and it is like no power to the track tells us something is slipping, not brakes dragging or locked up. The first likely place the power can "slip" is the engine clutch. This could stop all travel. How much free play does the clutch pedal have? There is an adjustment procedure for the engine clutch, because it wears.

Next would be the reverser clutches (Your has a reverser, correct?) Again the reverser clutches could stop all travel. Is the reverser in gear? Does the reverser handle have a good snap when you put it in forward and reverse positions? Does it stop travel when the reverser is in forward or forward and reverse both? If forward or reverse only it might be that direction's clutch in the reverser. If travel stops both forward and reverse stop, that indicates engine clutch to me (original possum gave you a check for that). There is an adjustment procedure for the reverser clutches, because they wear.

The last place for slipping clutches would be the steering clutches. Usually one will fail first, not both at once. Losing both at once indicates the problem is ahead of the steering clutches to me. When you pull back on both levers the engine clutch or reverser clutch may get a grip running unloaded which it looses when you load it by releasing the levers. A slipping clutch engine or reverser clutch will usually move a machine some using progressively lower gears (less load on the clutch) until it looses all its grip. There is an adjustment procedure for the steering clutches and brakes, because they wear.

Also oil on the engine or steering clutches will make them slip. The reverser used in a 440IC or ICD should have wet clutches which run in oil. None of this is to say you don't have problems with your brakes as well, but they are not keeping it from moving in my thoughts. And there could be a bad coupling point along the way in the drive line from the engine clutch back to the pinion gear. Adjustments and diagnosis are needed to solve this.

Please check these things out, then start a new post and post answers to all has been asked here in that new post, so your problem isn't 3 or 4 pages back in an unrelated post, you may get some other readers with ideas to help you.
Jim

[dtoots1]

also, update your profile as to your location...someone may be around the corner and can visually look and help

[Chartersj]

After some more digging and reading through my manuals I have found the reverser has had its guts removed and straight shaft put in its place. That would explain why the reverser handle has been removed.
So that narrows my slipping down to the main clutch or steering clutches. Looking in the right side inspection cover everything is wet looking so I'm guessing that's the root of the problem for that side. And the left side is dry, but notice the 1/2" adjustment bolt for the throw out bearing is all the way bottomed out in the adjustment slot. Could that be why that side is slipping??
I am in the process of removing the final drives now. The 4 bolts on either side facing the front of the machine on the drives have been testing my patience. I have them all out except for one (lots of heat)which has been stripped bad the last time it was apart. Not sure how to tackle it since it's on the inside of the frame with very limited room.
Radiator was fixed for $80.

[dtoots1]

believe you may be talking about the large mounting bolts for the blade arms?
if i remember correctly i used extension on my box end and turned enough from the outside to break loose and then had to get underneath to get all the way out., course mine were not stripped and i wouldn't think those large bolts would strip, i suspect that may have been loose enough at one time that movement may well have damaged threads bit or rust inhibiting.

[Chartersj]

Yep those are the ones. 1-1/8”. The head is rounded off on this last one