Author Topic: Deere 2320 tire swap issue (Read 10997 times)

Sammconn · « **Reply #50 on:** July 21, 2016, 10:54:00 AM »

Those look great. I think yours will last longer than in Don's possession.

KensAuto · « **Reply #51 on:** July 21, 2016, 12:25:21 PM »

^^^^^True!

moto123 · « **Reply #52 on:** July 28, 2016, 12:56:03 PM »

Ok time to get you caught up and close out this thread since the project is complete. The rims and tires were loaded up and dropped off for reinstallation. By the end of the day they were ready to go. Again the guy somehow got them installed, by hand, without so much as a scratch to the rims. Very impressive. And for only $40, totally worth it. I think I have found my tire guy for the rest of my life.

moto123 · « **Reply #53 on:** July 28, 2016, 12:59:32 PM »

I bolted the tires back on, well tried at least. Would you believe that the tolerances are so perfect that the thickness of the paint would prevent the new center from fitting? So I sanded the paint back off the center holes and out from the bolt holes. Once again a perfect fit. The rear wheels now made the front ones look really old, rusty and dirty. Someday I might repaint them to match. Or not, it's a tractor that lives in the mud.

TexasRedNeck · « **Reply #54 on:** July 28, 2016, 01:07:09 PM »

Looks much mo betta!!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

moto123 · « **Reply #55 on:** July 28, 2016, 01:08:45 PM »

While I had it in the shop I added a light bar and managed to get the switch installed in a pretty handy spot. However, when Don posted those pictures of his lights I can assure you that they are actually 10 times brighter in real life. This thing puts out such a bright focused spot light that it instantly makes you blind to everything else that you used to be able to see around you. It's like looking at the sun, then expecting to be able to see the dimly lit objects next to your tire in complete darkness. If there were a way to tone it down I would probably try it. For installation on a truck it is probably excellent and it focuses the light onto the road ahead of you. For my application, two flood only style lights would have been a better choice. The other issue I found immediately was that it turns into a bug magnet. So with it located right above my head, I am basically operating in a cloud of bugs. Not ideal.

moto123 · « **Reply #56 on:** July 28, 2016, 01:09:44 PM »

Quote from: TexasRedNeck on July 28, 2016, 01:07:09 PM

Looks much mo betta!!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks! I should have noted that the traction with these seems to be a lot better so far. But to be fair my turf tires were totally bald.

moto123 · « **Reply #57 on:** July 28, 2016, 01:14:34 PM »

So as anyone with new wheels would, I stuck it in high gear and went flying down my road at full speed. I was pleasantly surprised to find zero vibration and no tire wobble in any direction! I am really happy with this result!

Then drove back and I hooked my bucket back on and suddenly lost all steering. Someone was watching over me I think. My steering shaft tie rod end completely let go, just minutes after flying full speed down the road. That could have been a bad day.

So feeling frustrated and blessed at the same time, I grabbed a C-clamp and limped it back into the shop again.

JR · « **Reply #58 on:** July 28, 2016, 01:47:20 PM »

Yep, someone was watching you. Nice job and thanks for many pics.

Can you imagine what would have happened is BD was driving it??

stlaser · « **Reply #59 on:** July 28, 2016, 01:50:25 PM »

Looks good, glad they worked out for ya!

Flyin6 · « **Reply #60 on:** July 28, 2016, 01:52:20 PM »

Yep, he was watching over you!

Me: Been a roll over, and with my luck, would have rolled over a van full of LBGT demonstrators who were also ACLU lawyers

TexasRedNeck · « **Reply #61 on:** July 28, 2016, 02:02:51 PM »

That would be providence.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

moto123 · « **Reply #62 on:** July 28, 2016, 02:10:12 PM »

I was hoping the repair would be as simple as ordering a new tie rod end. However in Deere's infinite wisdom, someone concluded that it was more important to make the steering cylinder as short as possible. So the ball joint is welded to the end of the shaft. The only way to replace it is to buy an entire new power steering cylinder for $350. I decided that was stupid. So I cut off the parts and drove to the store.

They were able to size the ball end mounting shaft with a caliper. It was a tapered shaft, which I thought would be a problem. After trying several different off the shelf tie rod ends, he was successful. They had the exact correct tapered shaft, same size and thread for the nut even. The cup side of the joint was threaded, typical for most cars, but I didn't care since I was going to cut it off anyway. For all of $10 I was on my way. It even had a grease zerk!

When I got home I welded it to the power steering cylinder shaft, applied some paint, added fresh grease and checked this problem off the list.

moto123 · « **Reply #63 on:** July 28, 2016, 02:18:23 PM »

More pictures of finished product. It fit perfectly. I can confirm that the steering now operates much more smoothly and without all the slop that it had previously. Since this repair I have spent about 2 hours on loader work moving countless full buckets of dirt, gravel and large rocks from a retaining wall that is being torn down. So if anyone else out there finds this, I can confirm that welding to the power steering cylinder shaft can be successful.

Flyin6 · « **Reply #64 on:** July 29, 2016, 10:32:01 AM »

RMTWSSA (Pronounded "Rempt-Wassa")(Real Man Truck Works and Survival Stamp of Approval)

Congratulations, you are the first recipient!

moto123 · « **Reply #65 on:** July 29, 2016, 10:53:46 AM »

Yippee ... now just need to get HR to add it to my business cards! First recipient of an award no-one has heard about. I feel like an actor or a professional athlete that gets an award for just doing their job.

Flyin6 · « **Reply #66 on:** July 29, 2016, 11:14:59 AM »

Well, congratulations anyway!

TexasRedNeck · « **Reply #67 on:** July 29, 2016, 12:04:38 PM »

Don't forget to update your LinkedIn profile too

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

cudakidd53 · « **Reply #68 on:** July 29, 2016, 03:56:38 PM »

My father just gave out "atta boy"s and "awe sh@$"s......RMTWSSP is much more prestigious and luckily, there are no viable "smacks upside the head" in cyberspace......yet!

moto123 · « **Reply #69 on:** April 26, 2017, 01:43:43 PM »

Update on the tractor. The wheels and tires are still working awesome. Unfortunately they are helping me discover the other weak points in this tractor's design. Last night the driveshaft between the engine and transaxle came apart. I was at full RPM at the time so the result was quite dramatic. After the initial explosion the engine continued to rotate the now disconnected driveshaft for a few seconds until I could get it shut down. It was flopping around and banging into everything making quite a racket.

After further investigation, the rubber motor mounts isolate the motor from the frame and allow some movement. When the tractor is pointed down a steep hill the engine can shift forward far enough from gravity to pull the driveshaft yoke almost completely off the transaxle input shaft. Without enough spline length left, they bind up and it spits the driveshaft off. Damaged several of the splines inside the yoke but luckily the transaxle shaft appears to have very little damage. Worse yet, when the driveshaft bound up it forced the engine even further forward causing it to contact the radiator. I now have large puddle beneath the tractor and will remove the radiator to examine. I suspect it is punctured.

So what did I do wrong to cause this? I can't find anything. I was operating nose down on a steep hill and only barely creeping forward. I assumed the tractor would be designed to tolerate this operating angle but apparently not. Going uphill would be fine as the engine and driveshaft are forced rearward even further onto the splined shaft.

Anyway the only reason I bothered posting is that through some internet research I have found that this driveline is a very common failure for the 2320 model. My failure didn't follow this pattern but I thought I would post info anyway. Deere forgot to include in the service manual that these U-joints need to be greased. And the design of it all is not ideal. They are very hard to get to. Lucky for you big Don, the 2720 that you have is a different design. Yours is straight from the engine to the transaxle. On the 2320 they used two u-joints to offset the engine from the transaxle which allowed a more flat operator station. I would have gladly accepted the "hump" in the operator station instead of this driveshaft. At a minimum the part alone is $685.

Anyone else out there with a 2320 please pay attention to any increase in vibration and avoid going forward downhill. There is a youtube video on how to remove the driveshaft and replace just the u-joints. This also applies to a few other tractors, I think the 2305 and 4100 series?