Mowing Deere 4400 PTO wont engage. Help Please

[srx700pilot]

I have a 2001 Deere 4400 compact utility, hydrostatic drive. My Mid and rear PTO will not engage, not allowing me to mow or run any attatchments. When the yellow switch is up and the lever is moved forward to engage the PTO, the PTO does not engage. It does just barely move, but just by putting a hand on the shaft will stop it. I am unaware of anything that happened to it. I am however wondering if my son who uses the tractor often, tried to engage the yellow switch or engagement lever out of order. I don't know that for sure, just wondering. Can anyone tell me how to trouble shoot this, or have an idea whats wrong? I initially think the clutch is needing replaced, of which I don't know anything about the procedure and can't find any threads about this online anywhere. The dealer wants to take it all apart to trouble shoot it and estimated bill was $6000. Is this an issue anyone else has had and is it something that I can repair without taking it to a Deere dealer. Thanks for any help.

 

[texasranger556]

Did you notice any loss of power in the PTO prior to it completely stopping?

The fork that engages the PTO clutch also disengages the PTO brake, so if the brake is disengaging it sounds like the fork is moving at least a little. Attached is the parts diagram from the manual for the pto linkage.

I have a 2001 Deere 4400 compact utility, hydrostatic drive. My Mid and rear PTO will not engage, not allowing me to mow or run any attatchments. When the yellow switch is up and the lever is moved forward to engage the PTO, the PTO does not engage. It does just barely move, but just by putting a hand on the shaft will stop it. I am unaware of anything that happened to it. I am however wondering if my son who uses the tractor often, tried to engage the yellow switch or engagement lever out of order. I don't know that for sure, just wondering. Can anyone tell me how to trouble shoot this, or have an idea whats wrong? I initially think the clutch is needing replaced, of which I don't know anything about the procedure and can't find any threads about this online anywhere. The dealer wants to take it all apart to trouble shoot it and estimated bill was $6000. Is this an issue anyone else has had and is it something that I can repair without taking it to a Deere dealer. Thanks for any help.

 

[dfkrug]

I have had 2 JD 4300 with broken clutches. Same tractor as yours, but smaller
engine.

But first, make sure that the cause is not electrical. The PTO will not turn on
if certain interlock safeties are not enabled. Also, there are plugin relays
behind the panel below your steering wheel that do go bad. You will need
a manual to know which one is which.

The PTO shaft may spin under no load due to drag of the wet clutch, even
when not engaged.

As for repairs to my PTO clutch and brake, I do cover that in both of my
rebuilds. You do NOT need to split the tractor to make this repair, and
a lot is revealed if you take off the rear PTO cover and look inside.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/parts-repairs/146974-john-deere-4300-complete-rebuild.html