310A How to drive properly

[beenthere]

And sometimes double clutching helps move between gears. That is when you clutch in (disengage) to shift out of gear into neutral and letting the clutch out, then clutch in to shift into the other gear followed by the clutch out. The way I had to drive the old 50's trucks and assume it would work here too. Gets dicier when under load going up a hill.
Sometimes, if a foot accelerator for engine rpm, could leave the clutch out of the equation altogether. Just shift into neutral and match the engine speed to the tranny gear desired.

 

[5030]

Transmission on a JD 310A does not have synchronizers therefore in was not designed to be changing gears while moving forward. One can carefully change gears but some gear grinding will be heard unless one is very good at shifting gears on a non-synchronized trans. 8th speed was designed for highway travel.

Dude needs to learn how to float the gears and that is an aquired trait. My Kubbys are the same, only 1st is synchro, the rest have to be floated.

 

[Lstlk2hi]

This might sound stupid but I'm going to ask it.
I have a 1986 310a loader backhoe and love it. I am wondering how do you drive this thing on the road. Fast? So there are high gears and low gears. Do you just choose the high gear and use the shuttle shift to go? So if I want to go full blast down the road do I start in 8? Or do you use a clutch like a car and change gears? 5 to 6 to 7 to 8 and how does that work? I am having problems starting off in 8 and going up hills. The gears don't seem to want to go in with the clutch when moving. Do I turn the shuttle shifter to neutral and then clutch?
Please explain this to me. I know it sounds really stupid but no manuals explain this.

Thank you

Always keep in mind you are pushing +/-15,000 lbs of steel. Once warmed up and on relatively flat put in high range. Try starting in 2, grind it into 3rd and keep your revs low until your body knows how it is about to react. Have watched 2 guys die under tractors. 1st was discing an orchard in central WA and his dog was prancing in front of rear wheel. He tries to get it out with his foot and wheel lug grabs jeans. Always choose your gear before the climb or down slope. 2nd had left it in 8th and didn't know how to use his 'anchors' effectively. Hard on the machine but in emergency loader and outriggers applied with brakes stop you. Pic is MF with Bush Hog scraper running on 180 degrees of 5" box steel. With blade tilt, 3pt tilt and infinite angle adjustment you can catch on oak and spin front wheels off road in a heartbeat. Any further it would have rolled few hundred feet and splat on road to lake or bounce.

If driving on city streets, KNOW the autos are going to have no idea and cut you off mercilessly. This caution applies to equipment on trailer with F350 pulling JD300 Industrial or driving the rig. Low and slow with the equipment, it lasts a lot longer that way also.

 

[Lstlk2hi]

PS --> Double clutching with a power shift is not ez. Match revs to next gear and the grind, lol. Find a place to learn the art of driving a way too old tractor. Our 580C extendahoe, places and angles where the bucket is low and over there to keep things balanced. Plan your approach to trench start/finish and expect to bounce yourself occasionally. When dig is below, extra careful applying dig and lift. Backhoe stuck in wheelie is funnier than heck.

 

[Lstlk2hi]

It is hard / impossible on most tractors of that vintage to shift the high / low range when moving. I would start off in high range 1st gear (5th) and then work my way up to High range 4th gear (8th). I would leave the shuttle in forward. A little gear grinding is common, dont force it in, let it fall into gear with slight pressure. Downshifting is tricky and requires floating gears (something I suck at). My Massey 20C of similar vintage is a 6x6 transmission (shuttle and hi/low and 1-3). I am always driving it down the road to different properties. At high range 3rd gear (6th) clipping along at 22 mph it can get places quick. I run a gear until the tractor will not go any faster before shifting, otherwise it bogs the engine down too much. Don't dump the clutch let it out at a moderate pace. Hills are your bane, tractors do not like to climb them, I have found on my Massy if I leave the throttle all the way forward, when I hit 1000 RPM's I downshift but pause a half second for the engine to rev up. This lets me climb hills the most efficently. Worse case you stop and downshift into low and creep up them.

On backhoes without clutches and only torque converter transmissions you need to shift into neutral to shift gears. It is a different sort of challenging.

@Tx Jim has good advise for on road shifting.

The JD 310A Hi/4 is 16.4 mph. Backhoes will bounce bad when they hit a bump and can become uncontrollable. I would take it slow if your not use to how they bounce down the road. If you have a boom lock for the backhoe it helps reduce the bounce. If there is no boom lock its like riding a bucking bronco. I would encourage putting a seat belt on if you have one, in case it starts bucking. Its a lot easier to get a tractor under control when your still in the seat. Remember when making right hand turns that the hoe likes to swing out in the left lane. Other than that stay safe!

I have roaded backhoes up to 15 miles at a time. Traffic will hate you, the damn backhoe will try to buck you off, and your rump will remind you the rest of the day. Farm tractors are much more enjoyable to road, way less bucking. Have fun, and let us know how it goes.

Driving loader/scraper across S end of Silicon Valley yearly was a trip. Learned to keep loader bucket windshield height. Made the car drivers more aware of me poking along 10/12.

 

[5030]

PS --> Double clutching with a power shift is not ez. Match revs to next gear and the grind, lol. Find a place to learn the art of driving a way too old tractor. Our 580C extendahoe, places and angles where the bucket is low and over there to keep things balanced. Plan your approach to trench start/finish and expect to bounce yourself occasionally. When dig is below, extra careful applying dig and lift. Backhoe stuck in wheelie is funnier than heck.

Not 'grinding' at all. It's matching the gearset speeds in a non synchromesh gearbox so the gears mesh WITHOUT GRINDING, something I do all the time and floating the gears is a learned trait. I never touch the clutch at all, in fact the clutch sould only be used (when roading) to come to a COMPETE stop.

Probably why after 5000 hours plus on my tractor, the freeplay on the clutch is unchanged.

 

[5030]

Additionally, why my big truck Western Star conventional, has never had a clutch adjustment either. That 3rd pedal is not used often.

 

[Tx Jim]

Not 'grinding' at all. It's matching the gearset speeds in a non synchromesh gearbox so the gears mesh WITHOUT GRINDING, something I do all the time and floating the gears is a learned trait. I never touch the clutch at all, in fact the clutch sould only be used (when roading) to come to a COMPETE stop.

I curious how you put transmission into gear after you first start engine if you don't depress clutch pedal at all??

I've driven my fair share of miles in an 18 wheeler. No I also didn't use clutch when changing gears in an 18 wheeler. Once I learned how to shift trans without utilizing the clutch it was very easy to shift the gears up or down.

1st time I ever drove 18 wheeler on snow I was leaving Waterloo, Ia with 3 new JD tractors going back home to Texas. I was very glad when I finally made it across the Red River.

 

[5030]

If you read my comment, I stated starting and stopping and no other times. I much prefer a standard trans even in my car. It's a 6 speed. In 30 years if driving big trucks, I imagine I drove over a million miles and never once fried a clutch either.

 

[Tx Jim]

I read where you stated stopping but you mentioned nothing concerning truck initial movement. WOW 1 million miles on a clutch is some kind of a record! Did you receive a gold watch for that feat?