HST damper issue l3300

[marksmand]

After doing a lot of snow clearing and moving after a big deep snowstorm in March, I was unable to restart my L3301. Played with the HST pedal a bit and it started. Noticed the tractor was creeping a bit as well and the problem happened again. Talked to the dealer and they said to replace the HST damper. Ordered the part, which was almost $100 w/tax.
It has now warmed up a bit and the problem has gone away. Assume there was some ice or snow in or around the damper that is gone
Do you think i should replace this anyway? tractor is a 2014 with 300hrs. Would prefer to just leave it alone and save the money
Rob

 

[s219]

Could have been ice in the treadle linkage -- in fact that would have been the first thing I looked for, as it's a common problem reported here (affecting many linkages and safety switches on tractors used for snow removal). But the damper itself works with a fluid, and that would also be temperature dependent. So it could have just been cold affecting the damper itself. I wouldn't expect the damper to go bad on an L3301 already, since that tractor can't be more than 2-3 years old.

 

[marksmand]

Thanks for the info. Will skip the replacement and move on. If it happens again next year I'll park in the garage and turn on the heater Rob

 

[teg]

I assume you've been greasing the zerk/grease fitting for the pedal to allow it to move freely? There are 3 zerks on that rod the hst rocks back and forth on.

PS. you have L3300 list as your tractor... which is a much older tractor 1994 - 1999 Grand L Series.

 

[rbargeron]

When a damper fails its usually because the gas charge on one end leaks out, causing it to push harder in one direction at rest. A leaky damper doesn't improve, so if its ok now something else was keeping yours from centering. Diagnosing a damper on the tractor is tricky because there are other springs acting and other things that can show similar symptoms. Disconnected from the linkage a damper should center itself if pushed either way.

 

[s219]

When a damper fails its usually because the gas charge on one end leaks out, causing it to push harder in one direction at rest. A leaky damper doesn't recover, so if its ok now something else was keeping yours from centering. Diagnosing a damper on the tractor is tricky because there are other springs acting and other things that can show similar symptoms. Disconnected from the linkage a damper should center itself if pushed either way.

The damper on these HSTs doesn't always have a centering spring built in. On my previous B, the damper and spring were two separate things. All the damper did was resist motion (slow it down) but it would stop wherever you left it. The centering spring (which had it's own adjustment) was what pulled it back to center. I believe the BX is the same way. If you took the damper out, the treadle would still recenter but it would be very abrupt.