450E transmission issues

[Dougramyy]

New to the crawler world. Just bought a 450E in December. Had to change most of the hoses, rebuild one lift cylinder and rebuild the control valve. Changed engine oil and all filters. Ran it for about 30 minutes and all was well. I then decided to tackle my driveway and after running it for an hour or so the engine started to surge. I stopped and reduced rpm to idle and seemed to clear up. I resumed working and it started surging against n so I decided to stop and bring it back to the house. I was ona slight incline and when I went to reverse it stalled. I was able to start it and put in low and go forward. I was able to get back to the house in L. H didn’t work. Thoughts?

[Jim B]

Welcome to the site. For future reference posts for your 450E should be on the Late Models Board. Adding your general location to your profile might help with some things that come up.

A couple things to check.

See if the fuel tank vent is open. If you take the cap off and look in you should see the end of a small tube. It exits at the bottom of the tank, that is the vent and it should be open, mine was plugged. Loosening the cap when it is acting up is a quick check.

Another is to see if the pellethane ring in the injection pump is breaking up. Remove the fitting for the return line from the injection pump and see if the check valve in it has small pieces (aka mouse turds) in it. If the return to the tank is plugged it will affect performance and can stop the engine in extreme cases. Another check, some use, is to loosen the two screws that hold the cover window on the side of the pump and let it leak some fuel, if it runs better with it loose ring breaking up is suspect. You can find a number of posts here about this condition.

Was High working before the engine problem? Was it lack of engine power that it didn't work or did it not engage? If it didn't engage there are a number of pressure and linkage adjustments that must be checked/done in the correct order for which you need to refer to the manuals.

If you don't have the technical manuals, get them. There are two required for the 450E. TM1330OP (Operation and Tests) and TM1330RE (Repair). The Operator's Manual is OMT81347. You can access the online Parts Catalog (PC2036) at https://jdparts.deere.com/servlet/com.d ... anguage=19. Lavoy sells manuals and may be able to help you with those. You can purchase them on line from John Deere's technical bookstore or find used ones on eBay. I would go with manuals Lavoy recommends or OEM (new or used). Quality of some of the reprints out there is poor and not all are complete.

Good luck,

Jim

[Dougramyy]

Jim,

Thank you for the reply. Got the machine running this morning. A new fuel filter and blew some compressed air through the return line. Surged for a minute or two but cleared right up.

As far as the HLR goes - high was working when I started working the driveway yesterday but not any more. I tried moving the machine in high after getting it running but it moved an inch or so that's it. Low and reverse work. Reverse takes 2-3 potatoes before kicking in but does work. Not sure if it will on an incline though. Another odd observation - when I started working the steering required quite a bit of back pressure - towards the end when high stopped working the steering became very responsive and took little to no back pressure. I could steer with one figure.

I do have the manuals and plan to tackle this issue tomorrow.

Thanks

[Jim B]

When you changed the filters did you remove and clean the screen in the transmission? What are you running for oil in the transmission?

[Dougramyy]

I did not remove and clean the screen. I will do that next. I am running JD HyGuard.