[Shane_wy]

I'm new here and really appreciate this site. I'll get to the question first and then the story of this tractor later if anyone is interested.

On my 300 the two hydro levers pass through each other at the pivot point. They must be filled with crud, because they move together. If I hold each one of them they operate fine, but this is annoying. I am trying to figure out how to disassemble the levers to clean them up and see if I need new nylon bushings in there. I have removed the linkages and the bolt that passes through the pivot. From the parts catalog it appears that there are not set screws so I took a chisel and tapped it between the two arms that connect to the linkages inside the steering cowl. This caused the two linkage arms to move apart separately, but I'm not wanted to ruin anything. Do I need to just keep working the linkage arms off with pry bars, or am I missing something in properly disassembling this thing? By the way, I checked the valves to see if they themselves were sticking and they operate freely.

Now for the story on how I came to be given the 300 and be on this site. My dad and I operate a dairy farm together and collect old farm tractors as a hobby. I guy had an old JD 70 that he wanted to clear out of his yard as well as some other equipment, one of them being this 300. He said that he had rebuilt the motor and 26 hours later his brother ran it out of oil and smoked the motor last August. I figured that I could find another motor to replace it with. When I got it in the shop I checked the oil and level was good, but no spark. After some fiddling I found a few things that could have made it so that I would act like it had burned up. I fix these very simple things and it starts up and runs great.

Now I am just working on some minor issues, ie. hydro-lever, parking brake, etc. and I'll be read to cut grass. The guy also gave me a snowblower, tiller, disc, and 4-way plow with it. The mowing deck looks to be in good shape. It has three sets of hydraulic couplers. Hydrostatic works flawlessly. Everything seems to work great. I'm pretty excited about this tractor. I didn't realize what I had until I got on this site.

Thanks for all the info! I'm sure you'll be hearing more from me.

Shane

 

[gonetofarm]

Welcome to WFM!!!!
I own a later version of the 300, the 316 replaced your 300. Other than minor differences they are the same tractor. The lift control levers have on the 316 are different than those on the 300. Someone will show up and comment on the lift control levers.
You got a steal on all the attachments. Those alone can be worth more than the tractor. Finding out the tractor is actually in operation condtion would be iceing on the cake. These fine old machines are indeed simple by today's standards. Seems the older simpler stuff also lasts a LOT LONGER TOO. That is when properly taken care of.

 

[Jdodad1]

David,

"Seems the older simpler stuff also lasts a LOT LONGER TOO."

Now that is well stated, and I agree...

A good horse will out last any of the cheap stuff most people bring home to use these days, including the current crop of automobiles.

 

[110johndeere]

shane yes the nylon bushings do get seized up with junk from not being used. all you need to do is take them apart and clean everything really good and then apply a thin coat of grease before you reinstall.

as for taking the levers apart, the bolt that goes through the middle holds everything together. once you have that bolt out, take the two little arms off that attach to the linkage for the hydro valve.
after that, the two levers will slide out, with alittle patience i might add. mine were really a pain to get apart but once both bushings were cleaned up and lubed, everything worked fine.

on a side note, when you put everything back together, make sure that you don't over tighten the bolt that goes through the middle. if you'll notice that when you took it apart there are two washer/bushings that center the bolt in the large hole on the levers. those bushing/washers crack really easy.

later
andy

p.s. ditto on what david said.

 

[Robertg]

Shane,

Also check the small pins that hold the linkage to the levers. I just got finished with mine and it was pretty well rusted. Ditto what Andy said on the washers. They are investment cast and not strong at all. I had to make a new one for mine out of steel bar stock.
Concerning your parking brake; you want to adjust the linkage, near the rear wheels, to where the brake engages in the second notch, there are 3 on the parking brake. You will have to do this with each brake since they are separate.
On the hydro lever; look down where it attaches to the transmission. There will be a small bolt and bushing/roller. Most likely that will be worn and possibly the pin and clevis where there is more adjustment.

Bob

 

[Shane_wy]

I appreciate the heads up on the washers. The roll pins looked good when I removed them. No rust or grooving.

Andy, I have tried working the two little arms off and they are pretty tight. I have made some progress, but was afraid I was going to break something by doing it wrong. Sounds like I was on the right track. It doesn't help that I am trying to do it with everything still mounted to the tractor. I may have to break down and remove everything so that I can get enough leverage to finish.

Bob, the problem with my parking brake was that the arm that engages with the notched arm had sheared the pin that goes through it, allowing it to move out of position on the shaft. Once I figured this out, I put a couple spot welds on it and it seems to be great.

Thanks for the posts!

 

[110johndeere]

shane you can take the levers off of the tractor without taking off the main housing.
when i took mine off i got the levers off part way then sprayed wd40 on the bushings and kept working them back and forth till everything finally came apart. they can be a real pain with everything froze up but with some time and patience it'll work.

later
andy

 

[Shane_wy]

Good to know. I'll get back after it in the morning.

Shane

 

[Firedude]

try PB Blaster instead of WD, seems to work better loosen some things, use might also want to try cleaning them with gunk cleaner or something similar, might just be frozen up from "gunk"

 

[Shane_wy]

Well, I got the job done. Thanks for all the help. I think that the crank arms must be of the same material as the washers that break so easily. I put very little pressure on the inside crank arm to get some leverage to work it off the shaft and the arm snapped right off. Actually kind of surprised me how easily it snapped. That was a $37 mistake. I cleaned everything up, applied a little grease, replaced the nylon bushings, and reassembled and everything works great and levers move independently. I'm very happy with how it turned out.