# John Deere 2030 looses hydraulics



## JohnBrown

1974 John Deere 2030, had it since it was new. Best machinery I ever owned but it lost hydraulics today. Pulling a brush hog last few days in rough conditions but that is not unusual. Fueled and greased this afternoon. Everything OK. Drove 100 feet to unfinished area, engaged PTO clutch, start bush hogging. Everything OK. Made a few external cylinder up and downs for varying cutting conditions. Everything OK. Running about 10 minutes. Then I noticed that the steering was unusually easy. I turned the steering wheel back and forth and observed front tires responding correctly but it was just unusually easy to turn. Then the steering got very hard, no power steering. Remote cylinder would not lift bush hog. I pulled out of the unmowed area and checked everything. I expected hydraulic leak but found none. Hydraulic fluid level was good. I checked the hose connections, OK. Lift arms will lift (no load) slowly, very slow. No power steering. I did not notice external cylinder moving when I pushed the control back, however the bush hog would "jerk" when I put the lift control lever back in neutral. This seems to show that there is some hydraulic pressure, just not much. I changed the hydraulic fluid and filter less than 100 hours ago. The manual trouble shooting sections says possible stopped filter or screen. I will drain and replace filter not knowing if that will fix it or not and 10 gal new fluid will cost 120.00. The manual trouble shooting sections says hydraulic pump shut off screw may be in too far but I do not find anything in the manual telling where that shut off screw is. I would appreciate any ideas on what my problem might be and how to fix it.


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## Wethay

By chance was the PTO off when you had problems? The PTO brake band wears and then breaks allowing the actuating piston to come out of it's bore. The easy steering wouldn't make sense if this is what happened but it's easy to check. Engage PTO and see if the problems go way.


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## Tx Jim

1st thing to do is check frt hyd pump coupler to be sure it isn't stripped out and frt pump shaft isn't turning. Does your tractor have the options of hyd hi-lo &/or hyd ind pto? Manual shut off screw(destroking screw) if installed can be accessed on LH side in frt of radiator. It is a shaft(parts key 6 top photo) with a roll pin in it. Sorry for LARGE photo as I have not a clue how to re-size photo to smaller photo.


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## JohnBrown

Tx Jim, I did check the hyd pump coupler and the front shaft seems to be turning. I will double check with flashlight to be sure. My tractor has hydraulic independent PTO, not hi-lo. I will carefully check the hyd pump from the front left and see if I can adjust the destroking screw and see what effect that might have. This morning I checked the adjustment on the bottome of the external hyd control valve. It had no effect. I've been driving that tractor for 41 years and have never made any hyd adjustment and was unfamiliar with the various adjustments.


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## Tx Jim

Try operating hyd's with hyd pto in both on & off position. With 3 pt raised,engine running look in hyd oil filler hole behind seat for spraying oil. Is tractor equipped with a frt end loader? If so what type valve controls FEL(scv or ind)? Does steering valve feel warmer that rest of tractor? You could cap steering supply line to see what effect that has on hyd operation.


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## jd4230ps

Tx Jim
I don't know about 2030, but does it have the transmission pump filter like the larger 30 series do, and if it does could it be a possible problem?


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## mlappin

We have a JD400 and a JD401C, not sure why the steering would get too easy, but on the backhoe what your describing is what happens when one of the seals for the power steering blows in the steering column and the priority valve is diverting all the oil there. I'd try capping the power steering supply line like Tx Jim suggested and see what happens.


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## Tx Jim

jd4230ps said:


> Tx Jim
> I don't know about 2030, but does it have the transmission pump filter like the larger 30 series do, and if it does could it be a possible problem?


Yes JD utility tractors have a hyd sump filter & screen just like the larger models. In fact on a lot of models the part number for filter & screen are the same.


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## Farmineer95

I didn't see it mentioned yet, maybe TX Jim is working his way there. There are steel tubes internal to direct oil to/from the transmission pump. These can crack. One of these steel tubes is ported to an adapter that is near the brake housing (outside), inside the transmission case. This adapter can come loose. If the pipe cracks or the adapter pops out, you lose hydraulic oil supply to the front pump. Likely the PTO won't work at all since its oil is from transmission pump.

How can you tell? Remove shift cover and use a blow gun to blow air in the two larger pipes that port into the shift cover. If it sounds like there are a lot of bubbles or a lot of air you may want to investigate further in that area.


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## Tx Jim

IMHO CC hyd diagnostics requires steps to follow as It's much easier to check sump screen for cleanliness than remove trans shift cover to blow air in the pto supply tubes. Diagnosing CC hyd failures will give one grey hair or make one bald similar to me.


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## JohnBrown

Thanks for all the help and suggestions. I am not having time to work on this the past few days but hope to get to it this afternoon. I will update this thread as I find out stuff and finally with what the solution turns out to be.

Thanks


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## JohnBrown

I did drain the hyd fluid today. The filter looks OK but with this situation, I will replace it. When I removed the plug over the intake screen, fluid came out but when I stuck my finger in there I thought I felt something like goopy grease that came out. I am hoping that was the problem. I do not remember ever cleaning the intake screen. I will go to town tomorrow and get more hyd fluid and a filter and then fill the tractor and see what happens.

Does the fluid go through the intake screen before or after the filter? I'm guessing before but I don't know for sure. The intake screen did not easily come out and since I don't how to remove it, or if I should, I left it as is. I am also assuming that the direction the fluid flows is from the plug side thus the trash build up would be accessible immediately when the plug is removed.

Thanks for the help.


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## Tx Jim

IIRC fluid enters screen before going to hyd filter BUT I have no JD utility tech manual to check oil flow. You NEED TO PULL screen and inspect/clean before installing new hyd oil. Screen should just come out the hole on RH side of trans case. If possible post a photo of debris(goopy grease).


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## JohnBrown

I have removed the intake screen. It was very dirty and clogged. I expect that is the problem. Now that I know the problem I can figure out a solution. I washed the screen with gasoline and a tooth brush. It is clean now but shows two small tears. Dealer has one for me to pick up in the morning. The intake screen is a 1 inch cylinder about 10 inches long that lays across the floor of the trans housing. The plug holds the intake screen in on one end and I figure the other end (not visible) fits over an intake pipe or hole. It was difficult to get out probably because there was a lot of trash on the outside of the screen now laying on the floor of the trans housing. I want to get all that trash out of the trans housing before I put the new screen in. I would appreciate suggestions on how best to get the trash out of the trans housing. The only access I have now is a hole about 1.25 inches wide where the plug screws in and secures the intake screen. My idea is to filter the oil that I took out and pour it back into the tractor, then remove the intake screen plug and let the oil carry the trash out the hole as it exits. Another idea is to make a small tool shaped like a garden hoe with maybe a 3/4 inch blade, stick the hoe into the plug hole and rake the trash out the hole as I retract the hoe. This may not be as good as might be done in a shop but the tractor is not in a shop. It is in a blackberry brier patch. (the briers don't scratch so bad if they are covered in oil. I consider myself lucky as I have seen no rattelers or copperheads in that area this week.)


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## Tx Jim

I'm glad you got screen out. You're method for cleaning debris from trans sounds good to me. What type debris do you see? Did you see any fibrous material with brass flakes? I will also suggest to check hyd filter relief valve that's located just in frt of hyd filter to be sure it's not stuck open.


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## JohnBrown

I got a bright narrow beam flashlight that helped me tell what was where. I was able to clean out the catch basin that the intake screen lays in. The gunk is mostly just very fine residue that settled out of the oil and the volume was maybe 2 ounces (volume). No coarse pieces, steel, brass, or otherwise. The stuff is so small it would be difficult to identify. I reassembled the intake screen and plug and move on to replacing the filter.

I am checking the interior of the hyd filter housing. There is a port / hole on the near side (I'm a horseman, make that the tractor's left side) that lets oil into the area on the outside of the filter. There is a port allowing oil on the inside of the filter to exit out the top. Lets call this the inside top port. There is a port on the outside of the filter in the front of the filter housing (tractor's front).

There is a piston, valve or something I can see across the inside top port. It looks like this would have to open to have oil exit the interior of the filter. There is a plug on the tractor's right side, same as the intake screen plug, I have unscrewed that allows access to this piston / valve but I cannot move this plug / piston. What should this inside top port look like?

Tx Jim, I cannot see the outside front port but when I stick my finger into it it seems open. Is this the filter bypass valve? How do I check it? I don't see any plug to remove to get access to this port.

When I change the hyd filter, I don't see trash or residue, just oil. I don't really see that the filter is dirty but I don't see that the engine oil filter is dirty either. I just assume they are dirty. Should the hyd filter be conspicuously dirty?

I am going to try to get some pictures. (I am sure camera people would consider a coolpix covered with hyd oil to be a dirty camera.)


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## JohnBrown

Tx Jim, Do you have access to drawing of the off side (right side) of the trans housing. I think you posted the one from the near side (left) and it seems to show a plug with a valve and spring on the right side (26, 27, 28) but I can't make out where it is from that perspective.

BTW, where do you find these drawings / schematics?


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## Tx Jim

JohnBrown

I post photos I find on the WWW such as Google & JDpqarts.com hoping that I can help the less knowledgeable persons to solve their tractor/equipment problems. In this photo parts keys 4-6 are the hyd filter relief valve components.







equipment problems


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## JohnBrown

Hydraulics are working! I want to thank the HayTalk community for being here and providing answers, suggestions and support.

The trouble must have been the hyd pump intake screen. I checked a lot of stuff and looked at a lot of things but the intake screen is the only thing that I changed. I did not know if it was going to work until I cranked it up. I've been driving the tractor for 41 years with no care to the transmission and hydraulics except changing the oil and filter. I'd like to drive it another 40 years. I know now there are several things that need to be checked and fixed that involve separating the engine and trans. I can now take my time and find a good qualified mechanic for my John Deere.

It surprised me how much better I felt when it was fixed!

Thank you HayTalk


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## Tx Jim

Thanks for update & I'm glad you got hyd's back to operating with something as simple as cleaning the sump screen.
Jim


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