# case 2290 tranny issue



## centuryinnfarm

I'm looking at one of these but there are 2 main issue with the tractor. 1, on the power shift portion of the tractor 3ed is not there. The shift lever acts as if has no stop on it. 2, the motor has a bad lope to it. I have run the tractor before but not under any hard load just snow removal and making a waist ditch but going down the road it loped like crazy. You don't nesisaraly feel it but can hear it for sure. Any thoughts?


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## Lostin55

Are you looking at it to buy it, or are you looking at it because you already own it? 
If you are looking at it to buy it, I would look elsewhere. In a situation like this, the purchase price becomes the inexpensive part very rapidly.


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## centuryinnfarm

I'm looking to buy it but for very cheap and was unsure of how bad things are on it


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## Lostin55

While I stand by my earlier comment, If you want to know how much it will cost, call your local Case IH dealer and ask them how much it will cost for parts and labor to replace that tranny.
If you are mechanically inclined, just ask about the cost of the tranny. That is provided that you have the necessary equipment to split the tractor.
I try to never look at a purchase from the best case scenario perspective. I have found that worst case scenarios are closer to reality. Someone on this website, I don't remember who, once said that you want to buy used equipment cheap enough that the only surprises are good ones.


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## 8350HiTech

My local guy will do an inframe on that motor for slightly less than 3k. (I just had him do my 2090 money pit) Inframe kit was only $1200.

The tranny is the hard part. My uncle has his 1370 rebuilt to the tune of 6 grand. Yikes. Same guy that did my motor says best case scenario on one is around $1500 (only needing one clutch pack and everything else being worth keepig) and worst case is send it to a salvage yard if you have damage to a cast housing.

Don't know how cheap you're buying it but it better be cheap. On the other hand, if you get it super cheap and end up with a tractor with a rebuilt powershift and rebuilt motor and you're still under $10k, I can't imagine that would be terrible. Those tractors were fuel efficient in their era and had some of the quietest cabs too.


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## Gearclash

Good chance the lope is an injector pump issue, likely the governor.


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## Bob M

I have a 2290, I really like it. I would call Binkley & Hurst in Rothsville Pa. They are very good and helpful. We just had our 2290 in our shop this winter and split. Worked on tranny. We probably spent about $2000 or so on parts. We also replaced some parts that the others probably would not have. We had Binkley & Hurst do an in frame Rebuild on our 2590 engine a couple years ago and it was close to $3000. It may be worth paying Binkley & Hurst to come out and look over this tractor, they are very knowledgable on the older case tractors. Shifting problem may just be linkage, or may be major.


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## snowball

centuryinnfarm said:


> I'm looking to buy it but for very cheap and was unsure of how bad things are on it


You better just keep look'n.. if they GAVE you that pile of crap.. you would still get screwed.. it will cost you twice what it's worth to fix it and you will still have a crap pile.... You can polish a turd.. but it's still a turd and smells like ... ( well you know )


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## 8350HiTech

snowball said:


> You better just keep look'n.. if they GAVE you that pile of crap.. you would still get screwed.. it will cost you twice what it's worth to fix it and you will still have a crap pile.... You can polish a turd.. but it's still a turd and smells like ... ( well you know )


If they gave it to him he'd be getting a good deal.


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## 8350HiTech

Btw, I didn't mean to suggest that it needed a complete overhaul. That was more toward explaining worst case scenarios. I agree with Gearclash that the pump is the more likely culprit.


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## snowball

8350HiTech said:


> If they gave it to him he'd be getting a good deal.


It's a free country Hi Tech... You may like them , I owned one.. couldn't get the POS off my farm quick enough.... JMO but it was a money pit.. tranny's are weak and costly to fix, they have problems with the heads cracking.. if the trans is in need of repair that's 10k on a 12k tractor and you still might have a motor issue....Just saying ..


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## 8350HiTech

It's only 10k if you buy every clutch pack new, pay high dealer labor rates, tip your service tech $1000, and then buy a brand new housing because you still weren't to 10 yet.

It's pretty simple on a deal like this. Buy it for salvage price. If you can get it going again for a shift cable and a governor, you're way ahead. If you tear the tranny apart and it's a doomsday scenario (bad casting) you just send it down the road. No harm, no foul.

The transmissions aren't the greatest but if you don't abuse them they should last in the neighborhood of 5000 hours.


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## Lostin55

. . . One mans use is anothers abuse. I have never had one of these tractors, but I am not mad enough at my checkbook to get into a deal like is described above. IF there is room for repair and a margin, albeit slim, go for it.


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## luke strawwalker

I run a 2290 and a 2390 for my BIL in Indiana... seems like pretty good solid tractors to me. They're Case guys from WAY back...

Powershift problems CAN get expensive if you have to go into the tranny... but they don't automatically HAVE to be. Shift linkages can be an issue-- first thing you want to make sure is right. I assume you're talking about the third powershift when you say "third is gone" (not going into it, or freewheeling when you raise the powershift to the third gear?? If you're talking about the third of the four ranges on the gear shift, then that's a gear issue...

The 2290 I've been running for my BIL shifted really "snappy" on the powershift, but it was always reliable... at least I never had a problem with it over the past few years... He said it'd been gone through before he got it, and he had it probably 15 years, so it should be pretty long-lived once it's working right... We did everything from pulling a 15 foot IH 5400 no-till drill and conservation no-till coulter cart with it, to chiseling, spraying, etc... I enjoyed running it but he sold it this spring to buy a new planter, so now I'm either going to be in the 2390 or the 4890, which is where I spent most of this spring disking and last fall running the auger cart. That 2390 is a real nice tractor too-- little heavier transmission and it shifts much smoother when you bump up the powershift.

The heads CAN crack on them, but there's three heads so it's less of an issue... the main thing is not to abuse them. If you have it gone through by someone competent, you should be good... That's the main thing. They do tend to "hunt" a little on the injector pump, especially at start up or rapid throttle changes, than some other tractors I've driven... It COULD be an injection pump problem (slop in the governor or internal linkages) but it could also be slop in the throttle linkage or even a fuel-delivery problem... my BIL's had some gunk the tank (diesel slime algae growth) that would periodically plug up the fuel bowl and line-- pull the bowl, blow off the screen and blow the line out, and she was golden... so don't automatically think the worst... not saying it's NOT, just eliminate the easy stuff first...

I'd buy one if I was in the market and if it had working AC... probably one of the nicer tractors to drive and get in and out of... certainly better than the old Deere Sound-Gard cabs, at least for a fat boy... LOL  Good power and plenty of iron-- take care of the basics and they'll give a good life... they don't build them like that anymore!!!

Later and good luck! OL JR


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## Flacer22

I really dont understand why people hate these tractors I read all kinds of articles on how horrible they are to work on and junk the transmissions were. So I went out and bought a 2090 that did not move at all period just made horrible grinding noise. I played 4000 bucks for it. Drug it home read about it for 2 months picked every dealers brain that would talk to me and then split it. I've never spilt a tractor before in my life and this was first tractor I've ever owned. I'm not even a good mechanic it was pretty simple to fix I did spend 300 bucks on a good service manual. All said and done I replaced a blown bearing that destpied a main shaft and 2 gears. Ripped basicly the entire transmission I to pieces and had less than 1500 bucks in it including 450 for case hytran. Tractor now is purring like a kitten shifts fine. So for 3 day project some time I got a tractor with 3100 hours duels and full set of weights for about 5500 bucks. And that tractor just made all my first cutting hay. Its big brother the 2590 well I'm a gluten for punishment i guess but it will run soon too haha.

2290 is same trans as the 2090 too few pics of mine from winter. I can't say much about engine issues as mine don't have any but I do know how to spilt it if u have questions and it comes to that.


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## Flacer22

Also I guess I should add that fixing a power shift problem although possibly hard to figure for sure what's wrong is easier to do then what I did with the gears. As when u split the tractor the first thing u come across is the clutch packs 1 and 4 then u pull the power shift assembly and planatrys out with packs 2 and 3. At that point your done pulling apart and once its split that can all be done in an hour.

Least from my experience if only 3rd power shift is not working its likely not a planray problem but more so a pressure or clutch pack issue. Check test ports for pressure on the valve body first may be as simple as cleaning spools maybe bad disc. If so u can buy clutch disks for 45 bucks each might need 4 worest case would be 16 but again if 1 and 2 are working I'd say u don't need 16. Gaskets for valve body are about 75 bucks filters from case are 75 and it takes 25 gallens of hytran.

I guess the pins that hold the clutch packs 1 and 4 are also known to sheer off not sure if that would lead to your problem or not but if so u would see that immediately and they can be drilled out and put bigger bolts in not sure how bad a job this is but more time and suming than costly


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## luke strawwalker

My BIL is the expert on them-- they have run Cases all their lives and still do (His did is 89 and still piddling about the farm on the Case Skid-steer and the old Case 45 we pull seed bean wagons and run the auger with in the fall. They've got a 1070, just sold the 2290, and run the 2390 and 4890 as their main tractors now.

He's said before that a lot of folks griped about the Cases because they turned the screws up on them too much... He's got a buddy who's an expert mechanic on the Cases who helps him out, and he knows all the ins and outs of them... how much you can turn up the screws on which models, and which ones you can't, and which ones if you turn the screws up too much, are going to break, and where... Some of them you could turn up the power on quite a bit, others, not much if any without causing problems.

A lot of it flat comes down to maintenance and how it was used or abused. ANYTHING will fail if not maintained properly, or if abused or used in too hard a way for too long. Just a matter of time.

What Chuck (my BIL) likes about these tractors is, that despite their age, they're still reliable, and you can get even low-hour units for a fraction of the cost of what other tractors run with really high hours... He was looking at possibly getting a big FWA early Magnum, but found he could get the Case 4890 with half again as much horsepower and about a THIRD as many hours on it for HALF the money! That's pretty much a no-brainer. Been a really good tractor too-- spent most of month in it disking and pulling a basket crumbler behind that...

Best of luck to you...

Later! OL JR


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## 8350HiTech

Hey Luke, do you mind asking him if he knows anything about adding a foot throttle to a 90 series?


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## luke strawwalker

Well, none of his have them, so probably not... sorry. I can ask at some point.

We had a Case David Brown 13-something-or-other (IIRC the model number-- maybe 1385??) when I was a kid... ran it a few times when I was learning to run hippers in early spring. Grandpa traded it off after the wiring harness burned up for the THIRD time in the couple or three years we owned it. He bought it new from the Case dealer in town, and the wiring harness burned up twice under warranty-- when it burned up the third time he just pull started it til he traded it off on a brand new Ford 6600... he died a year later, so I ran that tractor more than I care to think about anymore... LOL

The Case had a foot throttle and it was pretty handy. Our Ford 5200 Row Crop and the 6600 never did. When I finally traded off the old 5200 for a 5610S, it came with a foot throttle... forgot just how handy those things can be! Then a couple years later we traded off the 6600 for another 5610S, again with foot throttle.

Sometimes I catch myself trying to find the nonexistent foot throttle in the BIL's 2290, 2390, and 4890... would be nice to have.

One thing I REALLY like on the 90 series is the diff lock-- I was chiseling in some pretty wet ground, and BIL warned me NOT to hit the diff lock if one tire was already spinning-- (learned that lesson the hard way a couple decades ago when I split a diff pinion hitting the diff lock on the 6600 one time with one wheel spinning-- never again!) Hit the diff lock, and it STAYS LOCKED until you tap the brakes (one, the other, or both). I could turn around on the end rows and then drop the tool, hit the diff lock, and away I go to the other end, spin or no spin-- tap the brakes right before raising the chisel, and make my turn.

The Fords do something similar by accident not intent-- the diff lock pedals on all our Fords are rather stiff-- stomp them down they stay down-- you have to pull them up by hooking your toe under them and lifting the foot lever... LOL Sometimes have to wiggle the steering wheel a bit side to side to make sure the lock pin pops out too...

Shouldn't be too hard to rig up a foot throttle on one of those 90 series...

Later and good luck! OL JR


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## Coondle

Had a few Cases in my stable over the years Started with a 930 (old style sit out the back) then an early round mudguard chain drive 930 Comfort King ( they lied about the Comfort), an 830 (832 Western Plains, square mudguard bull gear drive) Comfort King, an early white painted power shift 1070 Agri King and a 2290 at present plus a 1490 Case (really a David Brown).

Be careful about fitting a foot throttle to 90 series.

There is a reason why the 1490 and 2290 do not have one.

Both of my tractors are turbocharged and their turbos do not like regular changes in revs. Work all day at set revs but the turbos will soon fail if bumped up and down the rev range which happens with a foot throttle.

My 1070, non turbo had a foot throttle and I loved it.

Graduated to the 2290 and no foot throttle, very disappointed. Wanted to fit one and my big brother, a mechanic specialising in Case since about 1970 told me not to because of the turbo.

Though easy enough to fabricate and fit a foot throttle, my advice is DO NOT; but it is your choice.


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