New Holland TC24D Low gears not engaging

luvs2ride1979 · Dec 18, 2012

I tried searching the forum, but I couldn't find a thread with the same symptoms, so hear goes!

I have a TC24D tractor that I have been using for about a year now. Just recently it has decided that "Low" no longer exists. When I have it in Low, none of the gears engage. It's like it's in neutral. No grinding, no slow movement, nothing. All of the gears seem to work find in Medium and High (have not tried reverse in high! lol). A farmer friend of mine said it sounded like the transfer case, but he admittedly doesn't know anything about New Holland tractors.

My husband was thinking he should try "Changing the Transmission, Rear Axle, and Hydraulic System Oil" (from messicks.com), so he'll give that a go tomorrow.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

pedalstomper78 · Dec 18, 2012

Just for a touch more information, what transmission does it have? Shuttle? Hydro?
Is the gear selector lined up with the "L" when you put it in there? What happens if you jiggle the lever a bit? Any noise?

murphy1244 · Dec 18, 2012

:welcome:

luvs2ride1979 · Dec 18, 2012

It has a clutch, so manual transmission, right? I have driven a hydrostatic before, and it's not the same.

Yup, all lined up. You can move the shifter in to each gear, but nothing happens. Tried jiggling, tried "man handling" it, no avail. I have had the shifter or the L/M/H lever stick before, and wiggling the tractor back a bit made it "unstick."

When this first started happening, reverse would work in Low, but it made an awful noise, like something was grinding. It was moving fine, good power, just scary sound. After a couple of times of that (I shifted it out of gear pretty quickly!), nothing worked in Low. I remember my husband having some stalling issues a while back, but he didn't discuss it with me much. I didn't have any stalling issues when I drove it, but I usually drive it in Medium, using Low only to back up.

pedalstomper78 said:
Just for a touch more information, what transmission does it have? Shuttle? Hydro?
Is the gear selector lined up with the "L" when you put it in there? What happens if you jiggle the lever a bit? Any noise?

jinman · Dec 19, 2012

luvs2ride1979 said:
It has a clutch, so manual transmission, right? I have driven a hydrostatic before, and it's not the same.

Yup, all lined up. You can move the shifter in to each gear, but nothing happens. Tried jiggling, tried "man handling" it, no avail. I have had the shifter or the L/M/H lever stick before, and wiggling the tractor back a bit made it "unstick."

When this first started happening, reverse would work in Low, but it made an awful noise, like something was grinding. It was moving fine, good power, just scary sound. After a couple of times of that (I shifted it out of gear pretty quickly!), nothing worked in Low. I remember my husband having some stalling issues a while back, but he didn't discuss it with me much. I didn't have any stalling issues when I drove it, but I usually drive it in Medium, using Low only to back up.

Since you have three ranges, your tractor is a 9x3 transmission. Your description makes me think the low gear is broken. Since "L" is in the middle of your shifter (M-N-L-N-H) then the problem is not a bent lever. Perhaps the grinding your husband heard was low gear losing a few teeth. I think your husband changing the transmission/hydraulic oil is a good thing. He should inspect the oil closely for metal pieces/chips/shavings that might have broken off when low gear failed. Using a magnet to examine any residue in the oil would be the best technique.

luvs2ride1979 · Dec 19, 2012

Low is actually in the back, H-N-M-N-L from front to back, is what it looks like. We took the seat off and looked at the moving parts when moving the lever and shifter. Nothing looked obviously bent or "wrong."

We're going to get hydraulic fluid later today. I'll report my findings.

jinman said:
Since you have three ranges, your tractor is a 9x3 transmission. Your description makes me think the low gear is broken. Since "L" is in the middle of your shifter (M-N-L-N-H) then the problem is not a bent lever. Perhaps the grinding your husband heard was low gear losing a few teeth. I think your husband changing the transmission/hydraulic oil is a good thing. He should inspect the oil closely for metal pieces/chips/shavings that might have broken off when low gear failed. Using a magnet to examine any residue in the oil would be the best technique.

jinman · Dec 19, 2012

luvs2ride1979 said:
Low is actually in the back, H-N-M-N-L from front to back, is what it looks like.

:laughing: That is funny! I'm not talking about you, but the decals shown on New Holland's parts list is wrong. See the illustration below. Item #1 in the upper left hand portion of the illustration is supposed to be the decal for the Range shift lever. I'm sure the illustration is just wrong and the graphic illustrator who drew the parts list diagram must have been a bit distracted. I thought it was a bit odd that Low would be in the middle, but I've seen stranger things.

tinatian0804 · May 13, 2019

Hello! We have the same exact tractor with the same exact symptoms. In our TC24DA, 'low' range is suddenly became non-existent. We can shift into it but the gears will not engage. Putting it in neutral and rolling it down the slope produces a rhythmic clicking noise. Anyone with experience with this? Thank you!