No front drive

[Chaostamer]

I was dragging the road one day and on the way back up the hill I heard an ungodly clanking up front and center to tractor (3215HST). Shortly after stopping and then starting to see where or what and it disappeared. So did the front of my 4x4. Any ideas on what it could be? Approaches to try? Anyone have diagrams or know where to get them?

 

[Chaostamer]

Well, we tested the front wheel drive today. I think I still have it. Dragged the road as a test and it seemed to pull well. The back tires did slip a little but front never did. Why would that be?

 

[DavesTractor]

One quick way to see if your front axle is engaged is to do the brake test. Get going a moderate speed in loose gravel in 2wd and hit the brakes. The back tires will skid, probably several feet. Then engage 4wd and do the same thing. You will stop way shorter with very little skidding if the front axle is making the proper mechanical connection. The other way is to raise the front axle with the loader bucket, hold one tire while someone tries to manually spin the other tire.

 

[Chaostamer]

DavesTractor - thanks for the ideas. We did something like that (accidentally). We jacked up the rear and were going to run the tires to see what the rear did and we dang near pulled off the jackstands as the 4wd was still engaged. So, we have something. Would your tests (and I will do it tonight when I get home) tell me something more/different?

 

[Chaostamer]

UPDATE: You will see from my other post that we know we have power at the front wheels. However, we noticed something new yesterday. When the 4wd is engaged and we try turning sharply, there a popping/clicking noise. Doesn't matter which direction we turn. It happens at a sharp turn (not a casual turning of the wheels). It does not happen when the 4wd is disengaged. Thoughts?

 

[DavesTractor]

UPDATE: You will see from my other post that we know we have power at the front wheels. However, we noticed something new yesterday. When the 4wd is engaged and we try turning sharply, there a popping/clicking noise. Doesn't matter which direction we turn. It happens at a sharp turn (not a casual turning of the wheels). It does not happen when the 4wd is disengaged. Thoughts?

That doesn't sound promising. It isn't all that difficult to take the axle apart and look for a broken gear, missing teeth or a bearing that fell apart. If you are handy, don't fear doing that. Worse case scenario would probably be a front ring gear and pinion with a busted tooth. Let us know what you find. It is possible, not sure, that we have some used front axle parts, ring gear and pinion, perhaps side gears etc. I'd have to see, but we have retailed a couple thousand Mahindra tractors and over the years we have bought some rolled, burnt, "got drowned in the creek" sort of tractors that often have a bunch of good parts.

 

[Chaostamer]

DavesTractor - Thanks for the insight. Question - what part of the front end do you suggest I tear into? Out at the wheel? The top of that assembly? Bottom? Or do I get into where the driveline comes into the axel?

Thanks!
Aaron

 

[DavesTractor]

DavesTractor - Thanks for the insight. Question - what part of the front end do you suggest I tear into? Out at the wheel? The top of that assembly? Bottom? Or do I get into where the driveline comes into the axel?

Thanks!
Aaron

It is hard to know how to answer without seeing the tractor, listening to the issue and so forth. I think I would check first where the driveshaft connects to the front axle. Remove the cover and look that over. If that looks fine, start at the hubs and work inward. Lastly would be the ring and pinion. It is not a common failure on these tractors, so I have no real insight on where to focus. We have seen a few ring gear failures, but that becomes more obvious.

I will say that almost every time I have seen a ring gear failure on a front axle of one of these it was due to improper usage of the tractor. Often a guy is fetching heavy loads of wet sand out of a creek and backing up the creek bank. 90% of the entire tractor and heavy load is on the front axle and they are backing up a hill needing quite a bit of power. The rear tires are just about in the air, giving no help. The front axles are made to assist, not to do all the work or even the majority of the work. Front axle components on all compact tractors are much smaller then rear axle components.

The other way to break an axle, of any brand compact tractor, is to use the front loader to push out a tree or stump. You get the bucket in a really good spot, lift hard and drive forward. One of just a few outcomes are available in that scenario. Either the stump gets pushed out, the front tires spin (but they won't as you are pressing a huge load down on them), the clutch slips, the engine dies or you break your front axle. It all happens quicker than the time needed to read that run-on sentence.

I throw out those scenarios in no way meaning that you have done any of this. Others will read the thread and maybe think about the dynamics of how they load up a front axle. I've broken and bent some things myself over the years. It is better to learn from other's mistakes than to make them yourself.