John Deere 3400 front axle

[Romeogolf]

Good afternoon all,

I have a John Deere 3400 Telehandler, 2004 model. Having changed all the axle and hub oil 4 months ago, I now have a grinding noise coming from the front near side wheel/end of the axle. Difficult to precisely determine where the grind comes from, but seems to be one side of the axle nearer the wheel. Zf axles like new oil etc, and she’s looked after but worried about whether this is a UJ issue or something more sinister. Any advice on how to tackle this would be gratefully received. Reluctant to let a dealer on it just yet.

Thanks

Russell

 

[Nearly]

@ACEngineering

or try http://www.greatexportations.com/index.html

It's just a Matbro painted green.

Edit - or not.

 

[Mursal]

Grinding while steering or driving in a straight line?

You could drop the oil out to see if its contaminated, discoloured or has bits in it?
Jack up off the ground and support with axle stands or wooden blocks. With someone else in the seat, see can you localize the noise. UJ usually get noisy when the steering is turned rather than straight ahead.

 

[ACEngineering]

@ACEngineering

or try http://www.greatexportations.com/index.html

It's just a Matbro painted green.

A 3400 isn't a matbro at all.

 

[ACEngineering]

Good afternoon all,

I have a John Deere 3400 Telehandler, 2004 model. Having changed all the axle and hub oil 4 months ago, I now have a grinding noise coming from the front near side wheel/end of the axle. Difficult to precisely determine where the grind comes from, but seems to be one side of the axle nearer the wheel. Zf axles like new oil etc, and she’s looked after but worried about whether this is a UJ issue or something more sinister. Any advice on how to tackle this would be gratefully received. Reluctant to let a dealer on it just yet.

Thanks

Russell

Hello

If it was a Dana spicer axle I could help but don't do ZF axles. I would start by checking the oils and looking at the spec of oil you used in it.

 

[czechmate]

I have had two diffs go on Zf axles on 3400...
Made a grinding noise

 

[Romeogolf]

Thankyou for all your replies. As stated the 3400 is a different machine all together to the matbro, which I don’t know is a good or a bad thing. Dropped the oil out and it looks fine, no filings on the plug or discolouration. Appears to happen at any angle of steering, so suspect something more than a UJ.

A diff replacement sounds worrying, I presume having done a couple you would have a fair idea of the cost involved? Were there other symptoms that would lead to that scenario?

Thanks. Russell

 

[carbonfibre farmer]

@Phil P

 

[Phil P]

I have had wheel bearings go, check hub oils for any filings. If you even slightly suspect a bearing failure don’t leave it as parts are mega expensive for them axles!
It may sound daft but have you checked the wheel nuts?
Makes a hell of a grinding noise even if they are remotely lose.

 

[ACEngineering]

Thankyou for all your replies. As stated the 3400 is a different machine all together to the matbro, which I don’t know is a good or a bad thing. Dropped the oil out and it looks fine, no filings on the plug or discolouration. Appears to happen at any angle of steering, so suspect something more than a UJ.

A diff replacement sounds worrying, I presume having done a couple you would have a fair idea of the cost involved? Were there other symptoms that would lead to that scenario?

Thanks. Russell

Its probably the limited slip diff so I suspect your using the wrong oil in it. That's what I would say if it was a dana axle anyway assuming the ujs on drive shaft are all good and the wheel hubs are not binding up and got oil in etc.

Ah also worth saying the transmission dipsticks were wrong on many JD 3200 and 3400 handlers, they were too long so didn't hold enough oil, you would only get about 9 litres or so if you drained and refilled to the mark on dipsticks but same transmission in a matbro you would be 15 to 16 litres on an oil change and the marks on dipstick were about 5 " different to the JD if a recall correct.

Used to get a lot of transmission bearing and shaft problems in the top of the boxes!

 

[lexion780tt]

On them axels its normaly the king pin bearins failed they use sealed taper rollers once they size up they break up giving you a grinding noise its worse on full lock

 

[Ro_ja]

Its probably the limited slip diff so I suspect your using the wrong oil in it. That's what I would say if it was a dana axle anyway assuming the ujs on drive shaft are all good and the wheel hubs are not binding up and got oil in etc.

Ah also worth saying the transmission dipsticks were wrong on many JD 3200 and 3400 handlers, they were too long so didn't hold enough oil, you would only get about 9 litres or so if you drained and refilled to the mark on dipsticks but same transmission in a matbro you would be 15 to 16 litres on an oil change and the marks on dipstick were about 5 " different to the JD if a recall correct.

Used to get a lot of transmission bearing and shaft problems in the top of the boxes!

Hi I know this is an old post
I have a 3200 jd telly handler
And it's got an annoying bearing noise while driving or even idling when I disconnected the shaft from gearbox to the torque noise was gone
Would you think it was the input shaft bearing ?

 

[bernie the bolt]

we had 3200 also had diff problems and had sun gear in outer hub break up found replacement axle was cheaper to do that

 

[ACEngineering]

Hi I know this is an old post
I have a 3200 jd telly handler
And it's got an annoying bearing noise while driving or even idling when I disconnected the shaft from gearbox to the torque noise was gone
Would you think it was the input shaft bearing ?

oh that could be a chipped tooth on the gears in the converter pump housing on back of engine. seen that before, engine out and new gears. with shaft disconnected i dont think there is any load on the gears so would quiet down maybe.

 

[ACEngineering]

or you have bearing failure in top of transmission but i think you would loose drive if that happens, bearing in top of gearbox is common partly cause JD fitted too long a dipstick on a lot of them so instead of holding about 15litres oil they only had about 8 or 9 litres in them.

 

[Ro_ja]

oh that could be a chipped tooth on the gears in the converter pump housing on back of engine. seen that before, engine out and new gears. with shaft disconnected i dont think there is any load on the gears so would quiet down maybe.

I'd be more inclined to think its this one probably never cause an issue only annoying

 

[Ro_ja]

or you have bearing failure in top of transmission but i think you would loose drive if that happens, bearing in top of gearbox is common partly cause JD fitted too long a dipstick on a lot of them so instead of holding about 15litres oil they only had about 8 or 9 litres in them.

Its hard to exactly nail down the noise cos without shaft connected its perfectly quite and when connected back up it would rot ya the lower the gear the more noisy it is

 

[ACEngineering]

I'd be more inclined to think its this one probably never cause an issue only annoying

it will self destruct given time if it is teeth damage.

 

[Ro_ja]

She at it 2 year or more now working every day would you recommend doing it or wait until it stops

 

[Ro_ja]

or you have bearing failure in top of transmission but i think you would loose drive if that happens, bearing in top of gearbox is common partly cause JD fitted too long a dipstick on a lot of them so instead of holding about 15litres oil they only had about 8 or 9 litres in them.

Just wondering how it would loose drive from a noisy bearing, ?.