2011 Kubota L5740 stuck in 4wd. Shift lever not working

Bpbolde

New member

Equipment
2011 L5740HSTC
Jun 8, 2020
5
0
1
Whitehall, MI
I tried to shift my tractor out of 4wd after spreading some dolomite. I put gentle pressure on the lever and turned slowly to relieve the pressure on the drivetrain. The lever came up fully, but the front wheels are still engaged. The lever does nothing and moves full travel with very little resistance. It is still attached to and moving the pin that goes into the side of the transmission just above the mid PTO. I pulled the mid PTO off to see what I could see. It's pretty tight, but I did see the inner portion of the lever moving while my buddy actuated it. Problem is, I couldn't see what, if anything it was moving. I didn't see ant parts or metal floating around that shouldn't be and the fluid that drained was clean. Any ideas?
 

SidecarFlip

Banned

Equipment
M9000HDCC3, M9000HD, Kubota GS850 Sidekick
Oct 28, 2018
7,197
555
83
USA
Bump...

I told this poster to come here for an answer. I cannot help him, maybe someone can....
 

D2Cat

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
L305DT, B7100HST, TG1860, TG1860D, L4240
Mar 27, 2014
13,817
5,559
113
40 miles south of Kansas City
Calling Whitetiger, report in!!! Help this man. You can go to https://www.kubotausa.com/parts and click on illustrated parts list. Then click the small box accepting terms, and click OK. Then enter your tractor model and hit open. Then look for "clutch/transmission". Then front wheel drive lever. You'll see all the components there.
 
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Bpbolde

New member

Equipment
2011 L5740HSTC
Jun 8, 2020
5
0
1
Whitehall, MI
Thanks D2Cat. I looked at the parts diagram. It looks like something internal and will need to be split. I ended up taking it in to the dealer. Last tractor I split was a '55 TO-35 :)
 

Bpbolde

New member

Equipment
2011 L5740HSTC
Jun 8, 2020
5
0
1
Whitehall, MI
Ended up being the the shift fork. The end of it looked ground off. The dealer was fair to me on labor cost. Seeing it split made me thankful I didn't try to tackle it.
 

200mph

Well-known member

Equipment
L4740-3 Cab, FEL, Fnt Snow Blower L2185, LP Finish Mower, LP Rotary Mower
Mar 3, 2017
1,228
61
48
PA
Did they mention why they thought this failure occured? It doesn't sound normal to me.

Glad it's fixed.
 

Bpbolde

New member

Equipment
2011 L5740HSTC
Jun 8, 2020
5
0
1
Whitehall, MI
No idea on why it failed. Everything else inside was very clean. My prior technique to get it out of 4wd was to drive slowly while turning and have gentle upward pressure on the shift lever until it went into 2wd. They suggested shifting while stationary, using the FEL to lift the front tires off the ground to relieve the tension so it can be shifted.

The service manager has over 30 years with Kubota, and never saw one fail like this. I'll get a picture of it when I'm out tomorrow.
 

SidecarFlip

Banned

Equipment
M9000HDCC3, M9000HD, Kubota GS850 Sidekick
Oct 28, 2018
7,197
555
83
USA
No idea on why it failed. Everything else inside was very clean. My prior technique to get it out of 4wd was to drive slowly while turning and have gentle upward pressure on the shift lever until it went into 2wd. They suggested shifting while stationary, using the FEL to lift the front tires off the ground to relieve the tension so it can be shifted.

The service manager has over 30 years with Kubota, and never saw one fail like this. I'll get a picture of it when I'm out tomorrow.
Exactly how I disengage my fwa on my M9's. Lift the front end off the ground while turning the wheels back and forth and they come right out. Remember, the FWA gears are straight cut with no synchromesh so when they are meshed. they can be difficult to separate.

When I bought my open station M9 (used) 2 years ago, I don't believe it was ever in 2wd. It came from a diary farm and was used (I think ) to pile cow poop. There was cow poop everywhere on it and in it and everywhere else. Even under the dash...lol It was delivered to me in FWA and I had a hell of a time disengaging the FWA. Serious pulling on the lever with the front end lofted and if finally broke loose. Never had it back in FWA since. I really have no need for FWA and it's a lot easier on the front tires in 2wd as well. Think the only time I use FWA is plowing snow in the winter and I put chains on the front tires then as well.
 
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