John Deere - JD440id Part 2

JD 440 ID Continued... 



I separated all the housings from the engine back.  I replaced what seems like all the seals and cleaned out all the goop from the housings.  I replaced a few of the worn bearings in the transmission.  I replaced the clutch and serviced the directional reverser and had to weld up one of the shift collars and fit it.  At this point all the housings are re-assembled.  New brakes are installed and adjusted.  I cleaned smaller parts and primed when weather permitted.

I had the wheels on it to roll it out and clean it.  Took a few baths to get her clean.  I have it mostly clean up to the engine.  I need to do some work on the front end so I will clean and get that part painted once things are put together.  Much of the back half was rusted and bare metal so I wanted to get it primed and painted while it was clean and we had some nice weather.  Took the wheels back off to paint hubs and housings.  The color I went with is a School Bus yellow that I bought from Tractor Supply (Paint Details).  It calls for a Majic Reducer for spray but I found a 10:1 ratio of Acetone works well.

Up next
I broke the bolt inside a stud where the radiator mounts so I need to remove that.  I need to put the mounts into the brackets for the radiator (I purchased new ones of those and they are just the rubber parts).  I bought new belts so I will be putting those on and mounting the alternator and power steering pump.  I have new hose for the radiator and I need to pick up some hose for the water pump.  I have the oil pan gasket and need to put on a new valve cover gasket.


Here are pictures of the project:
John Deere 440id Photo Album

John Deere - JD440id Part 1

At the end of 2014 I had an opportunity to tear into the John Deere Backhoe that I purchased around a year ago.  As a reminder, the clutch was clearly slipping as it would mostly only drive around in 1st gear.  This made the Directional Reverser useful since it was used to get the tractor to move in reverse (leverage 1st gear ratio to drive).  In the tear down I will talk more about some issues with the reverser that I found. 

Remove the Backhoe

To remove the Backhoe remove the bolts at the lower part of the bracket (there is a bar that crosses which I believe is to protect the hoses) and tap out the pins at the top of the bracket.  The trick here I wish I knew was that the brackets have hooks at the bottom.  I placed the bucket and book all the way extended out and on the ground.  The backhoe needs to be lifted up (keep the hoses connected for this and you can use the stabilizer feet) and then drive the tractor forward.  There are sleeves that would allow you to remove the backhoe brackets (left and right) from the front loader brackets but those are really frozen into mine so I will need to press them out.

Here is a pic of the brackets.  The bottom ones are hooks:

Remove the Front Loader

To remove the front loader I first removed the arms and bucket part.  Obviously you have to disconnect fluid lines.  I pulled the pins from the uprights and lift cylinders.  With that removed I was able to remove each side independently.  This will not drop off.  You have to remove the arms from the front grill part.  There are 2 bolts which hold a pin into a cup in the grill.  Mine were rusted in there good so we used the Ford 8N and a chain, a 2 lb hammer and plenty of liquid wrench penetrating stuff.  They eventually popped off.  I will be cleaning these and applying something to prevent them from rusting in again.  Once these are removed the bolts in the back can be removed and the assemblies will drop down.  I had to lean mine out and removed the wheels and tires to get them out.  They are heavy, especially since I couldn't take the backhoe brackets off.

Remove Everything!

Now the fun part.  I basically just started removing everything.  I had to use a heavy duty impact gun for some of the bolts.  You'll need some big sockets.  One of the wheel hubs was tough to remove and the other would have fallen off.  I had to purchase a new hub and will be doing some work on the axle to make it match the right side one.

I ordered a long list of parts.  As I removed things I would put anything broken in a basket and made sure to order those.  Each day I would update a spreadsheet with the parts based on what I removed and the parts assemblies in the manual.

Tough to find Parts

 Some of the parts were hard to track down.  Be sure to download and print the parts manual and that will certainly help.  The parts will span many models so the suppliers and sites I found often had them under a different model but the part numbers matched.


Air Intake Elbow: Mine had a repair attempted it seems.  That did not hold up.  I found a 3 x 2 1/2 PVC Reducer will help you adapt from the blower to the pipe that comes from the cleaner.

Directional Reverser anything: My shift collar is broken and will need to be brazed.  I was unable to locate one or a cross reference part even that would work.

Fluids

I did some digging to find out what fluids I should use.  Here is what I settled on.  There is plenty of debate here so I'll outline why I chose these types.

Directional Reverser Housing: Type A ATF.  These are wet clutches and the manual actually specified this type of fluid.  This related to a Dexron ATF Fluid.  My local NAPA dealer was helpful in explaining all the differences.

Final Drive: I settled on a SAE 90 gear oil here.  The oil is shared between the transmission and the differential housing.  I am in FL so heat is more of a concern than cold here so I wanted a thicker fluid so it would try to stay in and not sneak past seals and gaskets when it's 98 degrees outside. 

Ford 8n Hydraulics Rebuild and Brakes

At the end of 2014 I had some time off from work so I decided to break into the Ford 8n and fix the brakes and lift cylinder.  I removed all the top end of the lift assembly and had to replace the follower pin that rides on the cam for the float control.  Spoiler alert: despite my best efforts at tightening stuff up, I still can't properly use the float control with the float lever in the down position.  I also replaced the PTO shaft seal while I had it torn down and the fluid drained out.

Hydraulic Repairs

I had the most common problem with my lift arms.  They would lift fine but would quickly drift down.  With a scoop bucket of dirt I could hardly get it dumped before I wouldn't have enough clearance.  That's after stopping, putting it in neutral and dropping the lift control and picking it back up.  I also had an issue with adjustment where I was not able to work the control lever in the range and had to leave the top bolt out to run the control lever way past the top.

I removed the seat and top top cover based on a video I saw on you tube.  I replaced the friction pad, control lever bracket (it's cast aluminum so it didn't come off in one piece) and a few other parts.  Added in some washers to tighten up the internal linkage and replaced the piston and cylinder.  I went with the rubber o-ring style piston instead of the original steel rings.  Something had broke in there at some point and some pieces of steel wore deep grooves in the cylinder and piston/rings.  The pump had been replaced at some point which is likely from a major breakage in the transmission housing.  I inspected most of that but did not replace anything there.  Bought a 5 gal bucket of mineral oil from Napa and was on my way to lifting things and holding them up.

Brakes

One of the brake drums was badly damaged as a result of the pads being worn completely away and the steel scrubbing on the drum.  Had to order a new one of those along with the shoes.  I did replace the brake springs.  I was missing a spring, the left side gets an extra spring.  I should have taken pictures and videos of assembly but I was anxious to get it put together.  I replaced the felt dust seals and rear axle seals while I had it all apart.

Videos

Here are some poorly narrated videos of the project.  Pardon the mess in the shop, it's still getting settled.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM6Uf94UU-w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjGzCceSo-8

John Deere 440ID

I finally have a little free time so here is an update.  This past January I purchased a John Deere 440ID with the Model 71 Loader and Model 52 Backhoe.  The serial number plate is missing so the best I can guess is that it's around a 1960.  This is based on a little research and some details found on Johnny Popper.  It's a 5 speed but the clutch is bad.  It had a broken fitting and some bad hydraulic hoses on the loader and we lost most of the fluid getting it loaded on the trailer.  It's heavy, no kidding.  We needed it a little farther forward so it was a slow ride home.  Anything over 25 or so MPH had the tail of the truck swaying.  Needed a little more tongue weight.

Progress so far...

I added in some fluid recently and dug a hole with the backhoe.  I added 43 Hydraulic oil since I new it was an old beast and since I live in Florida, cold is not an issue.  This was before I got the manual which says to just use regular oil in case anyone is wondering.  I recently bought the manual for the backhoe so if you have any questions please feel free to reach out.

It worked well and was really fun.  It has a bad cylinder on the crowd.  Bucket and boom are really strong.  Right stabilizer leaks bad and the valve leaks so I am guessing there will some seals and rebuilds to get all that cleaned up.

Loader was getting air in the system but no leaks as I worked out the air.  I suspect the filter in the reservoir is pretty dirty and it's only drawing fluid off the top.


I changed the oil and tracked down a wix filter.  I found these listed but the message board has some comments addressing the fit for some:
JD 440 ICD

Fuel filter: Wix 3513
Oil filter: Wix 51100 (GM 1100) 

Source: http://www.jdcrawlers.com/messageboard/viewtopic.php?t=6927&sid=62a1851067c05fd20d963a8a802ea468

Motor sounds great, it cold starts hard though.  Once it's warm it fires right up.  Its the GM 2-53 2 cycle Detroit Diesel.  2 Stroke with a super-charger has a very unique sound I will tell you.

Clutch is non-existent.  I have to move it around with the directional-reverser.  For anyone interested, I have to put it in the reverse position and then put it in reverse to go forward and 1st gear to back up.  I think the clutches in there are shot too so I am planning a rebuilt and tranny overhaul (where needed) once I have the backhoe and loader off.

Brakes are bad.  I can't tell is something is wrong mechanically since one is stuck and the other just doesn't seem to slow this beast down much.  They are easy to get to so I will just check them out and probably just order the pads when I order the clutches.

That's all for now.  The wife and I just had a baby so this is on hold for a little bit but I am anxious.

Blog Update for 2014!

I bought a Backhoe Loader so I thought it would be good to change the name here.  I will use the same blog to post my Ford 8N projects and the JD 440ID details.  I am also planning on including some info on attachments here as well.  Please reach out to me with any questions you have about the tractors or attachments.

Ford 8n at Work and Attachment List

I thought I would add in a little about what I have been getting into around the property with the old girl.  My daughter just turned 1 so I cleared and graded a nature trail for her.  I have been maintaining the road and moving dirt around with a scoop bucket.  I removed some invasive vines that had killed all the other trees and plants with the root rake.  Most of the time I just look for things to do just to get out of the office and out on the tractor.  I haven't started on any gardens or anything yet...that will probably be this growing season.

Right now my dad and I are sharing most attachments until I start bringing some home.  Here is a list of what we have (operational).  I would be interested in hearing what others have outside of this list that they find very useful...

• Scoop Bucket (loving this one to fill in a hole from a pool that has been removed)
• 2 Scraper Blades (one came with my tractor so it's the only attachment I have)
• Box Blade with teeth
• Root Rake (not the thin rake fingers style)
• Boom
• Bush Hog
• Finish Mower
• 1 Bottom Plow
• Middle Buster
• Disc
• Roto-tiller

By far the best upgrade has been my seat.  The wife bought one of those suspension seats to replace my pan style seat.  I have to admit it was a great gift.  I had it assembled and mounted within a day.

Upgrades/Fixes I will need to get into soon...

• New Tires
• Hydraulic Piston Rebuild
• Rear Axle Seals
• Clean gear oil off brakes and new pads
• PTO Shaft Seal

Fixing Lift Arms

So I should have been more careful...that part is obvious.  There is a steel bar on the outside of the left lift arm.  I took an attachment off and the wire I had tied and wrapped around the 2 arms broke.  In about 1/10 of a second the bar is up in the fender.  Not good.  A few mins on the shop press and it was better than before (was a little bent when I brought her home).  So I added a few things I had laying in the shop to help out and made some not-so-original modifications so the lift arms would stay out of the tires.  It has helped.