bryan wann :: binary fury

Off to the dealer

I haven’t ranted about the 328 skid steer I also inherited from dad. On the surface this thing should be great for clearing brush, fencerows, moving stuff around; it has a heater, A/C, roll-up cab. We have several shear and grapple attachments for just that. This thing has been a giant, multi-year pain in my ass. I think it worked precisely for two weeks, then sat for a few months and fell apart. This is the first piece of heavy equipment I’ve ever been responsible for, and I’m learning as I go along. And oh what a learning experience it has been. It’s a pretty pricey piece of machinery so I’d like to keep it working for the day we do sell it when I’m done with it.

Battery replacement saga

The first issue was that over one winter two years ago the battery had completely died, would not hold a charge at all. The problem here is that in order to physically remove the battery, the boom must be raised to create enough clearance. Without being able to start the engine there’s no way to raise the boom, and there was no conveniently located tree to winch from. Being a hefty diesel engine, I learned you can’t just throw a battery charger with a 100 amp boost on it nor can you use one of those lithium ion boosters. Neither delivers enough juice when the main battery is dead-dead (in fact it probably works as a short and consumes load).

This leads us to an external battery. I got the new battery, wheeled it over, disconnected the old battery, and used some Harbor Freight “heavy duty” 1 AWG jumper cables to from the battery cables to the new battery. This didn’t work either, and in fact the starter current draw got the cables hot even after I cut them in half. Admittedly they were copper-clad aluminum cables so they were crippled to begin with. Looking at the arc burns on the battery posts, it’s clear the jumper cable clamps weren’t actually making much surface contact, just a few points where the teeth were biting and throwing sparks. Further it was clear very little cable was actually making contact with the inside of the clamps and only one set of teeth were actually connected to the cables. It’s like just a few millimeters of contact were trying to carry hundreds of amps of current. It’s all a sham, I would not recommend these.

Homemade 1000 amp jumper cables

Because I only have so much time to devote to issues during trips, I was going to solve this once and for all on the next trip. I used some leftover 1/0 pure-copper cable from truck amplifier work (actual welding cable), ordered some expensive, mega-sized 1000 amp battery clamps from a outfit in Alaska, and built my own booster cables. It was shorter, larger gauge wire, both sides of the jaw carried load, the cable was bolted to the clamps, and had less aggressive teeth. I put some old terminals on the new battery posts to provide more surface area for the clamps to bite, and clamped the other end to the loader’s battery terminals.

328 started from external booster battery

It worked! On the first try I was able to start the skid steer completely off the new battery using the new mega booster cable as it sat on the ground next to it. I was finally able to raise the boom and put the new battery in its rightful place.

It was super frustrating how many people (who should know better) told me “why can’t you just use a battery booster” and “why can’t you just use starter ether”.

The thing definitely now has a battery tender hooked to it all the time, I’m not going through this again.

Stuck boom

The next problem was the electro-hydraulic controls. At some point (I think before battery change) it developed a HCU 91.03 “throttle sensor out of range high” code. I could drive the unit around all day no problem, I could curl the bucket/forks up and down all day long no problem. I could raise the boom up … but could not lower it.

As soon as I commanded the joystick to lower the boom the status board would immediately beep and display “Check service code”. I could raise the boom up even more, but still not lower it. If the unit sat for days and days the boom would gradually bleed off and come down under its own weight.

Video of control failure:

The fact that the curling worked and there was no jerky behavior lead me to believe this was probably not hydraulic related. In fact, there for a while if I cleared the codes and ever so gently nudged the joystick down, I could occasionally lower the boom, some times slowly, sometimes bit by bit; go too fast and the code warning would pop up. My hunch was the boom control was software linked to the throttle sensor, without a good reading it wouldn’t work.

Because the boom was stuck in the air I was hesitant to call somebody to come get the thing to work on as it might be too high on a trailer, and didn’t know of any mobile mechanics that could look at it.

I did eventually learn that in my particular 2009 328 unit the manual boom release was under the seat, buried under some leaves and dust. Prior to that everything I’ve seen showed a T-handle over by the left footwell which mine did not have.

328 manual boom release under seat

The boom lock is something else people suggested might be a problem that prevented it from coming down. I learned on this unit the boom lock is not some sort of hydraulic lockout, but an actual 2″ pin that slides out of the side of the cab that the boom rests on. This makes it safe to work on the unit when the boom is in a raised position, so there’s not a chance of pressure bleeding off and it coming down unexpectedly. Of course somebody had monkeyed around on this before I did and the boom lock lever inside the cab wasn’t even attached to the boom lock. I had to get in the back and carefully thread on washers and cotter pins to finally get it working like it should.

So this problem went on for over a year. I actually bought a bootleg copy of the 4″ thick John Deere 325-328 TM2191 “Operation & Test Technical Manual” to try to learn what the real problem even was and diagnose it myself. By the book, to get at the throttle sensor or even its cabling, required removing the A/C compressor and alternator, since the sensor was behind the alternator. Pretty simple operation, it operates on 5 volts and it’s either there or not.

John Deere TM2191 manual

I was wondering if the problem was just a bad connector to the throttle sensor. On one trip I had poked around at the throttle sensor cabling and actually had cleared the code for a while and the boom was working .. until it didn’t. I actually used it like this a couple days to move some stuff around, I could still tilt the forks to pick stuff up and shove it into the dumpster without needing to raise the boom.

Giving up

Eventually last fall I gave up, I just didn’t have time to tear into the unit any more and needed to get it working. My trips to Oklahoma can only last about a week and if I burn 1-2 days taking off the alternator, poking around, anticipating god knows what else comes up, that is quite expensive. I called around and found a John Deere dealer an hour away that could either send a mobile mechanic or come pick it up at a quite reasonable rate. What I thought might be a $600-$1000 job turned into something else.

First they sat out diagnosing the joystick. They said the joystick was intermittent, had to be replaced, and it would be around $4200 all said and done to replace it. Fuck that. I told them I couldn’t do it, just fix the throttle sensor issue, betting that’s probably the problem.

Then they said the throttle sensor problem was due to a sticky foot throttle pedal, and the hand throttle and foot throttle are linked together. Because it was sticking, the sensor couldn’t properly reset and would need a new foot throttle for $1200 parts+labor. Because I don’t use the foot throttle I asked if they could just disconnect it, they said it wouldn’t work that way. Fine, replace the pedal.

Between all the diagnosing labor and parts, the bill came out to $4700. $3200 of that was labor of diagnosing the joystick and then the throttle sensor. And it still didn’t fix the damn problem that started it all, not being able to lower the boom. I had asked if fixing the throttle sensor fixed the boom issue and they said it did, but I didn’t believe them until I saw it myself. Funny enough the transport fee was only $50 which felt like a bargain.

After three months they finally brought it back to me. On my last trip to Oklahoma last week the first thing I did was started it up to check it out. HCU 91.03 code is indeed gone now, but now I have new JSR 2660.14 and 2661.14 joystick codes that weren’t there before and the fucking boom still doesn’t work. Now even curling the bucket is hit and miss.

SIGH.

Oh and it has a tire that keeps going flat and coming off the rim.

Depending how you look at it, it’s in worse shape now than before I had it worked on. The TM2191 says the 2660 codes are “joystick redundancy” like there are dual X/Y axis signals it expects and if they’re mismatched it doesn’t work. It says the only solution is to replace the joystick, that’s it. Now to find a joystick. Apparently they’re sealed units, not a whole lot to be fiddled with. I am super curious to crack mine open and take a look, is it a dodgy connector, a solder joint that needs to be re-flowed, or what.

There’s not much on the internet about the joysticks. Going by FB group posts it seems the joysticks can be replaced and recalibrated without a dealer. I did find one video by Paul’s Equipment Repair that actually covers some real electrical diagnostics that I need to re-watch.

Later:

Also reading more FB posts it seems the lifespan on joysticks seems to be a known problem to wear out after 3000 hours. As Paul’s Equipment Repair video pointed out just the right-side sensor base (AT345327) can be bought, $1600 from John Deere instead of the entire sensor and grip. It seems I’ll be buying a joystick in my near future for this thing.

Also learned that a place called Ag Express is known for repairing or reworking joysticks. I might ship the old one to them to check out and see what they can do with it, then keep it as a spare or sell it or something.

Tags: tractor

Diesel supply line with new flare nut

My last trip to Oklahoma was a mild disaster. Nothing going right, skid steer still not fixed after $4700 at the shop, multiple 2+ hour trips fetching parts, aggravating oil and filter changes, and more house plumbing issues. But at least I got the IH 484 tractor up and running again. Between this tractor with the front-end loader and the skid steer, I need at least one of them working to lift things into a dumpster and start seriously cleaning up around the house. Last trip I was draining the diesel tank and broke the flare nut on the fuel line while putting it all back together. The fuel line had enough play that I was able to cut off the end, put on a new flare nut and re-flare the line this trip. After I did this the tractor was up and running again, drove it around 30-40 minutes, no power issues at all! So it seems years of water/dirt/trash in the diesel tank was the problem.

All not without its problems though. I noticed not only was my new flare nut leaking but also the tank valve was leaking. I think I need to re-flare the line so it sits better, and not sure if there’s a packing in the valve I can fiddle with. I had a couple of starter issues, apparently my battery tender did not keep up over the last four months so the battery didn’t have enough charge to start the engine. It was a combination of turning over and clicking that made me wonder if the solenoid was going bad now. After a whole day on a real battery charger, letting it run through a desulfation cycle all day seems to have fixed it.

Bent neutral safety switch

At some point the tractor went from struggling to start to flat out not even attempting to start. This is when I discovered the positive battery lead has been dangling from the side of the tractor for who knows how long and was actually being pinched between the clutch pedal and the neutral safety switch. It had been there for so long that the neutral switch was actually bent backwards and no longer made contact with the pedal after I got the cable out of the way.

Then I noticed a wire had been disconnected from the starter. I sure didn’t do this, and can’t fathom how it somehow just popped off the terminal on its own. Once I put it back in place the tractor was able to start cranking again. Today looking at manuals and old photos this appears to be the neutral safety switch and it doesn’t look like it was disconnected last trip. idk.

The amusing part was the wire jacket was cut on the neutral safety leads so somebody was clearly overriding it with a jumper at some point.

Neutral safety switch disconnected

New problem!

Which leads us to the new April 2026 problem: the engine now won’t shut off when the fuel shutoff is set to STOP.

It chokes and sputters and puffs black smoke, but will keep on running, even with the throttle set to idle. It shouldn’t do that. I even tried popping the clutch to stall it. Finally I had to shut off the diesel at the tank and let it starve itself. Current idea is that the cable leading to the fuel injector got some slack somehow and is not pulling the fuel valve lever all the way to kill the flow. There’s a set screw so this should be pretty easy to fiddle with next time, I had other things to do and didn’t get back to this. I’m happy the thing at least starts and runs now. RiverValley Farm over on YouTube had a similar issue, so I think its fixable.

Tags: tractor

1979 IH 484

I’ve been working my way through fixing up vintage computers and software, so why not get a vintage tractor running?

TL;DR: good news: tractor runs, bad news, a lot of bad things

[photos: flickr – IH 484 tractor]

We inherited this 1979 International 484 from dad and it’s sat here a few years now. I slowly realized it’s no longer “that old tractor out in the field” but “my tractor” now, so I need to take care of it. Besides, the front end loader bucket would be super useful in cleaning the place up. I did not know what kind of condition it was in, if it actually “ran when parked” or not. I recalled there being some sort of problem with either the clutch or brakes. Dad had taken it to somebody to repair and they had either gave up trying to fix it or they sat on it for so long he gave up on them and went and brought it home.

I learned how to drive on this thing long before learning to driving a vehicle, I spent many summers raking hay and many cold winters putting out hay with it for the cattle. I wasn’t old enough to run the brush hog nor cut hay with it. I knew my way around but not in any serious maintenance capacity.

First thing first was seeing what kind of shape the battery was in and if the engine would even turn over. One trip I left a charger on it overnight, it was still dead and the best I could do was get some clicks and buzzes out of the starter. In the summer working on the electrical was a dangerous activity because of how many damned red wasps had nested inside it. At the very least I wanted to get the loader bucket off the ground as it was continually full of water and starting to rust, so I got a floor jack and got the bucket up on a concrete block to keep it drained.

The next trip I came back heavily prepared, I had found on eBay copies of the IH Blue Ribbon service manuals (I didn’t even know those existed prior), parts catalogs, and the operator’s manual. Normally I don’t like giving money to people who probably just printed a .PDF file, but I couldn’t find them otherwise and at the end of the day I still needed the manuals. At least they were nicely printed and bound bootleg copies. Ironically I’d like to have both .PDF and hard copy so I’m not hauling manuals back and forth to Oklahoma.

Theres a surprisingly scant amount of videos about this model on YouTube (other than for-sale videos) for how popular it was, yet old, I don’t know if I’m surprised or not. I at least found one video where somebody was trying to turn theirs by hand to check the starter and if the engine was seized up which gave me ideas what to expect checking mine.

Battery and a diesel mess

Next trip I went by Wal-mart and bought a new battery to stick in it. After putting it in I decided to try to check the filters for water. What I didn’t yet realize that whoever changed the filters last had tightened down on the drain screw to secure the new filter. When I thought I was loosening the bowl drain of the left filter, the entire filter assembly dropped off the head and diesel started pouring out of the line!

Left filter under injector pump

I couldn’t figure out how to get the damn filter re-attached, the bolt wasn’t screwing into anything. It took a good ten minutes if not longer for me to finally see that on top of the filter head was a loose nut that connects to the bolt that goes through the whole filter assembly. The front end loader frame obstructs the side of the tractor around the filters along with the fuel injector pump and I did not see this. It also made it quite difficult to get my hand in there to hold the nut in place while screwing the filter assembly back on. Meanwhile gallons of diesel had spilled out, which most certainly got rid of the water that I initially saw and then some.

This was all before I had fully digested the parts diagrams and manuals and probably could have avoided the mess. Looking at least one YouTube video, somebody else stumbled into this trap before I did.

To my surprise, and with a shot of ether starter fluid, the thing cranked over and actually started! It ran for several minutes just fine, no problems. The tires held air amazingly. The front end hydraulics, three-point hitch hydraulics all worked smoothly, forward and reverse gears worked, brakes worked, and I drove it around in small circles to try it out.

First startup

Test drive

First thing I figured out was there was indeed a problem with the transmission. I could not shift into high-range, with the clutch pedal depressed I was getting a quick grinding feeling that shouldn’t have been there. At least low-range gears 2-3 and reverse worked which is enough for moving around the place.

Previously talking to my BIL, he remembered the PTO wasn’t working, so I gave the brush hog a try. I’ve never used one before so what could go wrong. I figured out the second problem with the tractor, the PTO could be engaged, but it was very difficult to shut it off. It was like the lever couldn’t go back far enough to disengage, it had to be worked around and held back to finally disengage the PTO.

I made a couple of laps around the field with the brush hog. As I was coming back around the engine suddenly started choking and running rough, like I was running out of diesel yet I recalled there being around half a tank.

I parked and could not keep the the thing running for more than a couple of minutes every time. It was hard to start and was running very unevenly, like it was being choked of air or fuel. I actually wondered at one point if I had sucked a wasp nest into the air intake. I had the filter out while running, I was messing with the PTO when out of the corner of my eye I saw something swirling around inside the air canister that looked like a dirt dauber or wasp nest, and by the time I got things stopped it had disappeared. I don’t know if it fell out or got sucked in.

Rough idle – clogged diesel line?

Fuel dump

During the Christmas trip I decided to dump all the diesel and change the filters. This time I learned the fuel tank has a shutoff valve at the bottom and the manual actually says to shut that valve before changing the filter. Crankcase oil was a bit milky so it needed to be changed, and the radiator core was dry and needed about a half jug of coolant to top it off. I hooked up the air compressor and blew off a bunch of leaves and dust out of everything. I took a bunch of photos and measurements of things so I’d have reference later, particularly the electrical wiring behind the instrument panel.

I tried running my endoscope down the air intake to look for my wasp nest but had an annoying time seeing anything on my phone screen in the sun and getting the camera very deep. Judging by the diameter of the actual hole going into the intake manifold, it seems doubtful a wasp nest got in but who knows.

I tried to fix things up with the filters. I discovered I do indeed have the proper hollow bolt that goes through the filter for draining the water catch, I had feared the shady shade tree mechanic substituted their own part. I worked off the drain nuts that had been tightly screwed on, and cleaned out the inside so draining the bulb would work again like it should. For the life of me I couldn’t get the LH filter mounted again with the top o-ring installed, later looking at photos I saw the old o-ring at the top was still in the filter head. The LH filter had some rust stain which tells me it was sitting in water. A mirror would certainly be helpful for helping replace the O-rings and get the filter on.

The RH fuel filter was much easier to change as the front end loader frame didn’t get in the way nearly as much. Oddly I believe there was some slight differences between the RH and LH fuel bowls and packing rings, which again not sure if by design or shady mechanic. While I had it off I discovered that’s where the chassis(?) serial number plate was. I was beginning to believe it didn’t exist, it’s sure not where websites say it should be. Previously I was only aware of the serial number on the left side next to the clutch, which I believe is the engine serial number.

Interestingly while I had both filters out I had very little diesel running out compared to my first filter misadventure. This lead me to believe I had a blockage upstream somewhere which would explain why the engine was running so rough.

Lots of trash in drained diesel

I unhooked the fuel line from the bottom of the fuel tank and diesel was just dripping out into my funnel, not a strong flow like I was expecting. I whacked the valve with a wrench and just like that what looked like coffee grinds started gushing out! I wanted to take the valve out to completely drain the tank but it seemed like it was in there pretty good so I left it be. I used compressed air to blow into the valve and tank a bit and blew the fuel line out while the filter was off, so pretty sure I got rid of all the rust and crap. If I had a longer transfer pump I’d try sucking out some of the nasty stuff at the bottom of the tank.

Unfortunately while trying to put everything back together, the nut on the end of the fuel line snapped in half.

Sigh.

Broken fuel line nut

The fuel line seems a lot longer than it needs to be so I think I can cut off the end, install a new nut, and re-flare the line. I didn’t have a flare tool so I didn’t do it this trip. I am moderately confident after getting this back together, getting air out of the lines, that the engine will run better next time. Before I left I did completely fill the tank with diesel to avoid any water condensation causing problems before I get back.

Helpful resources

I’m still figuring this all out. Getting the official parts catalog has been a huge help, absolutely worth the money I paid for it. It has tons of diagrams to show how things fit together, it lets me know what the names of parts are actually called rather than “the slidey rod through the hole”. I’ve quickly learned the parts numbers mean everything when trying to find replacements or look up anything online.

Parts Catalog totally worth it

These YouTube channels had several IH 484 videos that I watched and gathered a lot from:

• https://www.youtube.com/@rivervalleyfarm482
• https://www.youtube.com/@TradesofAllJosh
• https://www.youtube.com/@JoshuaShepherd1701

Tags: tractor