[Drinkin40s]

I was blowing along fine then I went to lift the blower up and the lever wouldn't budge. I am using the inner lever. It has worked fine all season so far. I did switch the hydraulics to the outer handle controls and it worked fine. Any thoughts? It seems bound up or something. Thanks!

 

[cmup]

Cameron,
I had the same problem, my detents finally just stuck from rust and crud. Was it in the float position? If so I would bet that is what happened. If you have the single stage thrower you can just switch hose hook ups and limp for a while. Look at jdparts, you can see the blowups there. Mine happened to be:AM104228 CONTROL VALVE 1 (SUB FOR AM100921) (SUB AM108779)

I put the tractor up on ramps under all four wheels. I simply pulled the belly screen, released the pressure on the system by moving the levers back and forth. Next I put a packing blanket on the floor (to catch parts) and crawled under and spun out that cap. When I pulled it out I found a bunch of crud in the end from moisture getting in there. After I found my lost detent balls, thanks to the blanket, I cleaned up all the parts, greased the whole thing, used the grease to hold the balls there till I could get it back in.

Now for the 64 dollar trick. Use a small pipe clamp to hold the balls in place once they are in the detent position as you slide it all back into the valve. The clamp just needs to be tight enough to get it all into place as it goes into the valve body. Thread it back in and try it out.

Once I figured that out, it was simple! You could also pull the valve out completly, but this seemed much easier. Just don't lose any parts! Search out - I think - stuck lever, someone gave me some good hints when I had the problem....
Good luck,
Conrad

 

[Drinkin40s]

Great! Thanks Conrad.

 

[virginiadeere]

Guys,

I had an earlier thread relating to the same issue. My issue concerned the lever not moving due to lack of use. The outer lever was only used for the mower deck. Bought a 4 way blade and needed the inner lever.

In a nut shell. I broke down the whole concept shotgun style. First, made sure it wasn't the lever, it was good. Second, tired to move the release valve that the lever connected to by tapping it, didn't work. So, the fun part came into play, disconnected all lines, removed the hydraulic valve/pump and took it apart cleaned and lubed it and it worked great. The best part is that learned how to take all that stuff apart and put it back together and it worked. Probably saved over $200.00 in labor at John Deere doing it myself. Jim

 

[Drinkin40s]

The funny thing is that it happened twice last year. Dealer came out while I was at work and did something to fix it (no charge). I think they said it was in float. The other thing I noticed is the power steering slows way down when the other handle hydraulics run the snowblower. Are they on the same circuit?

(Message edited by Drinkin40's on January 05, 2006)

 

[chris_z]

I have a STX 30 lawn tractor with some issues. My transmission is stuck in one forward gear. I was rolling down a hill backwards in reverse and my brake didn't hold and in a panic shifted the gear selector all the way forward to 5th gear without the clutch depressed, but kept rolling back. Now my gear selector moves up and down clicking into the appropriate place but I cannot not change gears. Luckily I can still mow without any problems but have to use my clutch to brake (probably not the best for the clutch). Also, I have to press the clutch to push it in and out of my garage for storage.

Any suggestions?

 

[woodpecker41]

I think you will need to pull the transmission from the tractor and then take it apart. There are shift keys that move from gear to gear on the main shaft and I suspect that you sheared them off. I don't remember is there is just one in your tractor or more. Thanks for the apology in the other forum but you have nothing to apologize for. Roger