Satoh S630D will not move

[ScottishTimeLord]

Hi All, I recently purchased this tractor and today was the first time I have actually tried to do anything with it. I drove it forward about 25 feet in 1st gear with no issues. Stopped it and put it into 2nd gear and at that point it would not move. The trans started making a rumbling noise like gears are turning but not contacting anything. It wouldn't move in any forward gear but reverse worked so I got it parked again. It still makes the rumbling noise in the forward gears and will not move. The 3-point hydraulics seem to be fine and the PTO seems ok as well. Any ideas what may be causing the problem are appreciated. This is the first tractor I have owned.

 

[CausticUrbanCoast]

First place to start is to try and find a service manual.

Do you have a Hydrostatic transmission or gear driven? It sort of sounds like you may have gear driven. If so you should check and adjust your linkages, they may not be fully engaging.

If it's not that, you will need to drain your hydraulic fluid, pop the top off your case, and inspect. Really need a service manual or IPL at this point so you know what you are looking at.


If you have a hydrostatic transmission, then your troubleshooting is different.

 

[ScottishTimeLord]

The trans is gear driven. It appears that the trans has 3 ranges in order to achieve 9 forward speeds (and 3 reverse). When my problems started it was in the middle range, so it turns out that I was using 4th-6th gear. I dropped it into low today and tried 1st and it did creep forward with no noise. Not wanting to push my luck I stopped there. I have a service manual for it, but transmissions have never been my strong suit so I didn't want to start digging into that if there was a chance I was missing something simple.

First place to start is to try and find a service manual.

Do you have a Hydrostatic transmission or gear driven? It sort of sounds like you may have gear driven. If so you should check and adjust your linkages, they may not be fully engaging.

If it's not that, you will need to drain your hydraulic fluid, pop the top off your case, and inspect. Really need a service manual or IPL at this point so you know what you are looking at.


If you have a hydrostatic transmission, then your troubleshooting is different.

 

[CausticUrbanCoast]

Shift through your gears with it off and see if they engage or not. Hopefully your tractor is level.

Push your tractor around and see if you get resistance.

If your tractor has the same clutch as mine, it is all in or out! No feathering like you would a car.

 

[ScottishTimeLord]

I'm pretty sure I found the problem. After taking the top off of the trans I looked at all of the gears and there were no visible signs of damage. So I started moving the lever that changes it from low - medium - high range and all of the gears engage properly. What I found though, is the range lever is supposed to have a little spring loaded ball that locks it into one of the three positions on the side of the case, but the ball and/or spring is missing. I'm thinking I must have bumped the lever just enough to get it between ranges. It got to be too late to finish putting it all back together tonight so I'll try to get it done tomorrow and see how it works.

 

[CausticUrbanCoast]

Hmm.

That is unfortunate, did you drain all the hydraulic fluid to make sure they are not in the bottom of the case or jammed inbetween the gears?

 

[ScottishTimeLord]

The ball and spring are part of the range lever on the outside of the case. I did drain the fluid and clean the filter, which was filthy. Got it all back together and everything seems to be working now.

 

[CausticUrbanCoast]

That is great to hear!

 

[CausticUrbanCoast]

I could not remember which was on the inside on mine; was either the range or 4wd. The other was in an inconvenient location between the case and mid PTO column.