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Can you run engine without any oil in trans?

4

400D Guy

Member
I want to run the engine on my 400D for about 10 minutes, but I have no oil in the transmission. Reason: I drained most of the oil out to remove the seasonal disconnect plate, which has many cracks around the bolt holes, causing continuous leaks, so I am having a new plate made.

Will it hurt anything in the transmission, PTO, TA, etc., to run the engine and move the tractor about 30 feet out of the barn and back in, all in about 10 minutes? Or should I wait until the plate is completed and the trans is full of oil?
 
Start it , drive it out, shut it off until ready to
drive back in, no problem. That should be more like
3 or 4 minutes and not continuous.
 
To run the engine would be completely fine if you had your foot on
the clutch, though that wouldn't address your moving needs. I have
heard people recommend draining the gear oil in an H or an M and
putting kerosene in and driving around without load to slosh the
case clean, but I think that possibly the IPTO if you have it and the
TA might be more sensitive, though I do not know for sure.
Zach
 
In my experience, running a motor without oil in the transmission is wonderful way to make you rebuild the transmission sooner rather than later. As IH printed on their booklets "The most expensive grease and oil is cheaper than spare parts".
SadFarmall
 
My main reason for doing this is to warm up the engine looking for coolant leaks, and not wanting to smoke up the barn. I guess it would be OK then to block the clutch pedal, and warm up the engine (and therefore settle for stinking up the barn). If I block the clutch pedal open, then it's OK, right?
 
Remember that even when it's in neutral, the main drive shaft in the transmission is spinning at the same speed as your engine.

So I'd run it just as long as you'd run your engine with no oil.

I'm sure in reality there will be some residual oil left in there on everything, as long as it hasn't been weeks since you drained it. And it'd probably would be fine for a quick trip... But as a friend of mine likes to say "they ain't making any new ones" - so why push it.

If you decide to do it, make sure - as somebody else pointed out - to keep the clutch depresed while idling. Then just pop it out long enough to make that short trip, then kill the engine.

And a final note - you might be surprise how easy it is to push the tractor, even a 400. Just use one of the rear tires for leverage. If you push up on the wheel to turn it, you can single handedly move the tractor pretty easily across flat ground. (have somebody sit on it to stop/steer it of course).

A lot of people don't realize how easy it is to do.
 
The IPTO is not clutched at the flywheel. It is directly coupled and the shafts, gears, and bearings rotate until you get to the clutch in the IPTO rear unit which has its own oil. If I am counting correctly, that would leave 6 ball bearings and one roller bearing running oiless for ten minutes. I am guessing that you will slide rather than roll a few ball elements.

The drive train parts would be OK for a total of 60' provided you blocked the clutch when not moving. However, one has to wonder if the throwout bearing would suffer under the prolonged loading.
 
This puts a whole different slant on this if you
want to warm up the engine. I would not recommend
running it that long. Better wait until you can put
the oil in the transmission.
 
Wardner's right... Even if you block the clutch pedal down it is NOT okay because any time the engine is turning the PTO driveline is turning.

Bad idea, all around.
 
(quoted from post at 19:00:19 04/09/12) For 30 ft, Id just push it, or I guess you could use the starter, with the switch off, and the lever to gas side.
Click to expand...

That's a good way to burn out the starter.

Besides, you're still turning the transmission gears the same number of revolutions to move it that 30ft as you would with the engine. What's the difference?
 
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