John Deere direct drive gearbox?

[Cmoran]

I’m looking at a 2013 R series in my local garage but it a direct drive gearbox what are they like?ive only ever had power quad and they are bullet proof

 

[daveydiesel1]

Dont get a good reputation. Some clip comes of inside wreckin havoc and oil leaks

 

[Cowabunga]

Goodness! Has Direct Drive been available for that long? It's like yesterday it was launched on an unsuspecting world.

Direct Drive is a dual clutch two shaft robotised manual synchromesh transmission of a similar design as that used in some VW, Ford and other cars. I'm not a great fan of the concept due to the shear number of delicate precision and wearing mechanical parts involved. However I will admit to running one myself and very good it is too. This first dip of my toe in the water will end well before its warranty ends just in case.
Just to be plain though, I have no evidence whatsoever that these things are any less reliable than a conventional automatic/power-shift or CVT. It's just a suspicion of the 'new'.

 

[Andrew1983]

7500h on a 2014 150, only issue was a gasket in the transmission at 4000 hours causing oil leak. Otherwise we liked it.

 

[benny6910]

I had a 2014 direct drive and it had to be split 3 times in 4000hrs. First to check some studs inside,second for the gasket leaking and third as a bearing was failing on the input shaft. To drive it I thought it was the best powershift box I’d ever been in, but for reliability I didn’t replace it with another one.

 

[livestock 1]

They have a weak circlip on some of them. A set of gears can drop off a shaft and end up a mincing machine. Jd know about the weakness but aren’t keen after warranty. A freind has one maybe 190 or somewhere near that size just been in for the circlip 16k

 

[4440]

I drive a 6195r DD sometimes, it's not a bad box.
The tractor has now done over 5000 hour and never been a problem.
The main problem I have found that the gear spread over 10kph is quite big .
Not much of a problem really.
When new it was about the same money as the Auto Power tractor.
Much easier to drive and hold the second hand money better.

 

[livestock 1]

Contractor lads prefer the auto power ones for driving and say they have been no bother

 

[ford 7810]

We have a 6145on a2017 plate with the direct drive box silky smooth to use i’m very crisp change. It was recalled about 18 months ago to upgrade that said cerclip biggish job.

 

[Cmoran]

Thanks for all the info I should have said there was a warranty job done on the gearbox at some stage as my local garage sold it new!! There’s high hours on the tractor which wouldn’t bother me if it was power quad most thing that drawing me to it is price

 

[Chae1]

They have a weak circlip on some of them. A set of gears can drop off a shaft and end up a mincing machine. Jd know about the weakness but aren’t keen after warranty. A freind has one maybe 190 or somewhere near that size just been in for the circlip 16k

This. I wouldn't buy one for this reason. Had a contractor here last week and they don't buy DD anymore due to repeated failures. All AP now.

They run them to 20k hours so should find any weaknesses.

 

[lostdog]

Local farm to me has a 2016 190 and it has just been in for gear box issues. Apparently its a take the gear box out, remove everything and replace it job. With some other work, a turbo and cab suspension was mentioned, it was a 25k warranty job. It went in last summer and had to be split for something gear box related as well although no where near as serious as this. That's with 3.5k hours.

Just to be clear I'm not knocking the jd. I think up until last summer it had pretty much been faultless. Although I would say it's not done big hours.

 

[daveydiesel1]

Thanks for all the info I should have said there was a warranty job done on the gearbox at some stage as my local garage sold it new!! There’s high hours on the tractor which wouldn’t bother me if it was power quad most thing that drawing me to it is price

Theres a reason its cheaper as no1 wants them second hand out of warranty. Just get 1 with the crowbar gearstick

 

[Chae1]

When I was looking at buying a new one the salesman was really pushing DD. They must have been on some kind of commission for selling them. I priced a AP anyway.

 

[DrDunc]

CNH have their dual clutch gearbox (active 8 or something they've branded it?). I had one of the first production versions it on demo. Very smooth shifts but few actual gearing variations and a needs a creeper 'box for does work, exactly the same as the Deere DD.

There doesn't seem to be any issues with the CNH design in comparison to Deere, however complex they both are. CNH evolved from Ford, which had the well earned reputation of needing "Fixed Or Repaired Daily", yet they have engineered a reliable dual clutch gearbox when it seems Deere have not.

The Deere direct drive, as well as lacking ratios for field work and lacking slow speeds, is also very harsh for PTO work where gear shifts are required, such as mowing. When shifting up there are large and fast engine speed variations down the driveline. It was awful listening and watching my neighbour cutting grass with the demo they had (was it really near 8 years ago!?!) I was waiting for the mower to go bang it was that savage!

I have to say that it is a lovely gearbox for transport work though. Much faster and smoother shifts even than the very good auto quad. It is also a very efficient design with far fewer power losses than the auto power vario.

With much in life, you get what you pay for in my opinion: If you're willing to take the risk, DD it's a lovely machine for road work, but they're "cheap" second hand for a reason.....

 

[Cmoran]

So basically it needs to be bought really cheap and hope for the best!!

 

[livestock 1]

CNH have their dual clutch gearbox (active 8 or something they've branded it?). I had one of the first production versions it on demo. Very smooth shifts but few actual gearing variations and a needs a creeper 'box for does work, exactly the same as the Deere DD.

There doesn't seem to be any issues with the CNH design in comparison to Deere, however complex they both are. CNH evolved from Ford, which had the well earned reputation of needing "Fixed Or Repaired Daily", yet they have engineered a reliable dual clutch gearbox when it seems Deere have not.

The Deere direct drive, as well as lacking ratios for field work and lacking slow speeds, is also very harsh for PTO work where gear shifts are required, such as mowing. When shifting up there are large and fast engine speed variations down the driveline. It was awful listening and watching my neighbour cutting grass with the demo they had (was it really near 8 years ago!?!) I was waiting for the mower to go bang it was that savage!

I have to say that it is a lovely gearbox for transport work though. Much faster and smoother shifts even than the very good auto quad. It is also a very efficient design with far fewer power losses than the auto power vario.

With much in life, you get what you pay for in my opinion: If you're willing to take the risk, DD it's a lovely machine for road work, but they're "cheap" second hand for a reason.....

There was a very cheap one in euro auctions a while ago or it seemed cheap until you hear of the repair which it could have needed.
JD don’t appear to want to stand by this problem out of warranty. It is either a soft circlip or shallow groove but I have heard it’s the circlip.
Any gearbox in this day and age shouldn’t be doing this.
I had a similar experience with another brand years ago and I managed to get some discount on the parts. A recognised fault but they didn’t want to get dragged into thousands of out of warranty claims. There’s always ways to do things

 

[livestock 1]

This. I wouldn't buy one for this reason. Had a contractor here last week and they don't buy DD anymore due to repeated failures. All AP now.

They run them to 20k hours so should find any weaknesses.

They also reckon ap is good and reliable?

 

[balerman]

CNH have their dual clutch gearbox (active 8 or something they've branded it?). I had one of the first production versions it on demo. Very smooth shifts but few actual gearing variations and a needs a creeper 'box for does work, exactly the same as the Deere DD.

There doesn't seem to be any issues with the CNH design in comparison to Deere, however complex they both are. CNH evolved from Ford, which had the well earned reputation of needing "Fixed Or Repaired Daily", yet they have engineered a reliable dual clutch gearbox when it seems Deere have not.

The Deere direct drive, as well as lacking ratios for field work and lacking slow speeds, is also very harsh for PTO work where gear shifts are required, such as mowing. When shifting up there are large and fast engine speed variations down the driveline. It was awful listening and watching my neighbour cutting grass with the demo they had (was it really near 8 years ago!?!) I was waiting for the mower to go bang it was that savage!

I have to say that it is a lovely gearbox for transport work though. Much faster and smoother shifts even than the very good auto quad. It is also a very efficient design with far fewer power losses than the auto power vario.

With much in life, you get what you pay for in my opinion: If you're willing to take the risk, DD it's a lovely machine for road work, but they're "cheap" second hand for a reason.....

The CNH one hasn’t been around long enough yet to be making that kind of assumption...

 

[Chae1]

They also reckon ap is good and reliable?

Yeah no issues