Hello. I'm a tractor newbie. I picked up a John Deere 950 in the fall and have been using it to haul logs out of the woods with no issues. It came with a snowblower which I hooked up a month back or so and have been clearing out a couple snows with it since. Today something gave. I'm guessing/hoping it's just the linkage and not a hard fix. The full story:
I was just down the road blowing out a neighbor's pole barn. I was getting ready to take another pass when I couldn't move backwards. Couldn't move forwards. I pulled back on the PTO lever figuring maybe some snow had clogged the chute and stopped the tractor. That lever just kept moving, it didn't stop in it's normal place. That's when the "oh ****" feeling started peeking its' head. Got ready to start towing it back to my house when I noticed it was in high gear, not low, which is very strange. I've never used high gear with the snowblower on the tractor and it definitely wasn't in high while I was blowing snow. Could the linkage breaking have popped it into high gear? Did I hit the lever with my foot when I got out? I'll never know, but by putting it in low gear I was able to drive away. That didn't fix the PTO engagement lever moving freely but luckily the PTO was stuck in engaged position so I was able to finish cleaning up some snow, but I'm not sure it's a good idea to be using it if the linkage is broke and I can't disengage...
Does this sound like a linkage issue, or something else? It's winter in Upper Michigan and I don't have an enclosed space to work on the tractor. Is this an easy fix, or terrible? Is it something I can put off until spring or a get to it before you drive it again kind of issue?
Thanks!
I was just down the road blowing out a neighbor's pole barn. I was getting ready to take another pass when I couldn't move backwards. Couldn't move forwards. I pulled back on the PTO lever figuring maybe some snow had clogged the chute and stopped the tractor. That lever just kept moving, it didn't stop in it's normal place. That's when the "oh ****" feeling started peeking its' head. Got ready to start towing it back to my house when I noticed it was in high gear, not low, which is very strange. I've never used high gear with the snowblower on the tractor and it definitely wasn't in high while I was blowing snow. Could the linkage breaking have popped it into high gear? Did I hit the lever with my foot when I got out? I'll never know, but by putting it in low gear I was able to drive away. That didn't fix the PTO engagement lever moving freely but luckily the PTO was stuck in engaged position so I was able to finish cleaning up some snow, but I'm not sure it's a good idea to be using it if the linkage is broke and I can't disengage...
Does this sound like a linkage issue, or something else? It's winter in Upper Michigan and I don't have an enclosed space to work on the tractor. Is this an easy fix, or terrible? Is it something I can put off until spring or a get to it before you drive it again kind of issue?
Thanks!