886 issues

Dad's 886 is havning issues. He says that often when he engages the clutch, it takes afew moments for the tractor to move, and when it does, it jerks quite a bit. Sometimes he has to have it half of wide open to move, and it seems to be more of an issue when the tractor is in reverse. i assume there isn't much preventing the clutch itself from engaging, so i'm guessing that there is a hydraulic pressure issue to the TA, or the TA is in need of repair. The TA does slip in low, and has been locked in high for a few years. What do you guys think? Also, and most likely unrelated, he swapped the steering valve (at the steering wheel) that was leaking with one off of a 3588, and it now steers considerably harder making it too much of a workout, Is there a reason why this would happen' or is there an issue with the valve itself or something else with the hydraulic system on the tractor? Any opinions or ideas would be appriciated. Thanks- Doug

I am going to suggest that there is an air leak into the MCV pump intake side. Taking it apart will allow Oring replacement and repair, but that is not always needed. Overfill the hydraulic oil by putting at least 5 gallons of additional oil above full. It is cheap, has the desired effect of preventing air from entering, and just may make it all good. If nothing else, it was reasonably inexpensive. It should make the steering and clutch and direct clutch all work better. If the TA slips on the low side, the oneway sprague clutch is toast in the TA. This then causes the ta lockup clutch to be fully responsible for motion in TA. That TA lockup clutch is probably toast. (it is hydraulic) if the direct clutch ( also hydraulic) is also toast, the tractor would not move, or would slip in all conditions. Jim

You did not say that there was any problem with the steering other than the leak before the hand pump was replaced. If the steering was OK at idle most likely the MCV hydraulic system is OK.

Since the TA is out on the low side and the problem is related to engaging the clutch most likely the problem is a sticking TA dump valve. Even though the TA lever has not been shifting the TA what actually happens is that each time you push down on the clutch pedal to release the clutch the dump valve also releases both TA clutch packs . When properly adjusted the TA dump valve restores hydraulic pressure to the TA before the clutch begins to engage. If the low side of the TA was not out you would find that the tractor would start in the low side of the TA and when the dump valve closed it would shift up to the direct drive speed. With the low side slipping the tractor does not move until the dump valve closes. If you get the dump valve to work smoothly I think that problem will go away. If you cannot get the dump valve to close when the clutch is releasing you may be able to run the tractor without the linkage operating the valve. It is there to keep the transmission from locking up when the TA is in direct and clutch is released. With a good sprague in the low side the gears would bind if the tractor rolls backwards. In your case the sprague is so bad that it may never cause shifting problems even it the TA hydraulic clutches are not released.

The steering system on the 3588 has two cylinders, both larger than the one on the 886. For this reason the steering system in the 3588 uses hydraulic flow of 10 GPM for the steering versus the 886 which uses 5 GPM. The 3588 hand pump displaces about twice the amount of oil per revolution compared to the on for the 886. For that reason it will take about twice the effort to turn the steering wheel compared to the correct hand pump. Since you are limited by the 5 GPM for the speed of the steering so the tractor probably wont steer any faster, you just turn the wheel less revolutions to turn the wheels from stop to stop.

Thank Jim and Owen for your replies. I am going to try to overfill the oil as Jim recommended to see if that takes care of the problem. Is there a way to see if the dumpvalve is sticking as Owen suggested? Is it possible to fix it if it is withought completely going through the MCV or is a rebuild reccommended? I am going to look at it this weekend and try a few things out and will report back most likely with more questions. Thanks again guys- Doug