another 4300 design flaw!

[defed]

and don't even try to tell me that THIS one is NOT a flaw!!! i've read about it before, and now it happened to me.

today i was helping my brother move some dirt w/ the box blade. when finished, and the tractor sat for awhile, i found a puddle of oil under the front final drive. great, another seal leak i figure. luckily, it was just the bottom plug for the front final drive got pushed inward, causing it to leak.

the only time i can think that it happened was when i had some piles in a line, i straddled them to level them the opposite way, and the front end got hung up when the tires sunk into the pile. i presume the weight of the front end pushing down on the piles forced the plug in.

i don't think the cap is damaged, but i plan to get a new one. i'll pull the old one out from the outside and install the new one. to save the plug and the $9 it costs, i could remove the hub and push it out, but then i have to reseal the hub, more work.

there should be something solid under this area to protect this from getting damaged. it doesn't seem like it is difficult for something to hit that area. i plan to try to figure out a way to guard it...i don't think it will be hard to do, just difficult to make it look pretty.

 

[kennyd]

I guess you should get rid of that machine and get something else...just to many "design flaws". Good luck finding the perfect machine.:confused2:

 

[defed]

they all have their faults...just irritating when some engineer sitting there drawing this stuff up never thinks about the consequences of a friction fit plug in a downward facing cylinder...and that it wouldn't be that hard to at least add some shielding to it.

i was in 4wd all day, and there was no way to know it was leaking. it could have drained empty and i wouldn't have known it, then i'm running w/ no oil, and then something else more severe breaks, just because the design engines have alot of book smarts but not much 'farmer sense'. heck, it could be possible to completely lose that plug w/o knowing it, then you could run dry for days...who checks their front axle fluid every time they use their tractor? i don't unless i see a leak...but maybe i need to start!

 

[defed]

and while, yes, this is a complaining thread, it's also a 'just keep an eye on this because it's easier to do than i thought' thread.

 

[RoyJackson]

There was an "under armor" kit availible for the 4xxx series way back when. IIRC, it cost about $1400-$1500.

 

[AKfish]

I'm trying to understand the OP's complaint.. is the problem "plug" one of the drain plugs on the bottom of the planetary drives adjacent to the wheel/rim assembly?

And it's a friction fit plug? Really....? Not an allen-headed or hex headed screw? That's hard to imagine.

IIRC - when I changed out the front differential hyd oil on my JD 970 (1994 model) the drain plugs on the bottom of both planetary drives were allen-head screws.

Smaller versions of the screws that I found on my 2008 JD 110.

How could it be that a newer model JD tractor - 4300 - could have "push in plugs"?

I must be missing something...

AKfish

 

[beenthere]

Does sound fishy



AK is right, it is a screw-in plug that takes an allen wrench to turn out. Maybe the design flaw is that this plug doesn't have a square head that defed can put an adjustable wrench or open-end wrench on to tighten or turn out.
Here is where it is located, and identified as "drain plug".

 

[rekees4300]

and don't even try to tell me that THIS one is NOT a flaw!!!

It is not a flaw. The 4300 is a tractor not a bulldozer! The weight of the tractor is suppose to be on the wheels not the belly. The only design flaw complaint I have is that when you have a FEL and a front blade, the brackets for the front blade have to be removed before the FEL can be mounted. If they had designed the brackets just a 1/2 inch shorter the loader would mount. Guess the engineers in the John Deere FEL dept. don't talk to the engineers in the front blade dept.

 

[arrabil]

Defed, you're not supposed to run over things with your tractor. Ask me how I know. So you're describing operator error, not a design flaw.

 

[Egon]

My 4200 has Allen headed drain bolts on the front wheel drives. Both have had the Allen head portion stripped prior to my getting the tractor.

The two replacement plugs are in a little container downstairs waiting for me to get ambitious.