D17 ser. 4 diesel, left brake locked

Reaching out for some help. Last night while plowing my driveway the left brake "locked up" forward and reverse, happened going uphill, if I hold right brake it will unlock for a foot or two then lock right up again. Well being in the middle of my driveway and 5' banks on both sides, I did this forward reverse thing about a 100 times to get 200' where I could get it off the side. The small spring on the front of the axle is connected and has tension on it. Also the hydrologics are super slow when it's locked, 3 point and loader??? It was doing this occasionally in reverse only but as soon as I went forward it was fine, just chalked it up to sticking brake, but now she is really sticking. Please any help and hopefully good news, stranded at 8,000ft and 6' of snow!

I would jack it up and try turning it back and forth by hand to get a better idea of what is happening. The brakes are an expanding drum with bands to actuate the drum...kind of a 2 way braking system. The two pieces of the drum are held together by 2 small spring and separated by 4 steel balls that run on ramps to spread the two halves. Possible a spring has broken and the balls have come out of the ramps causing the lockup. Also check the final drive oil level...it could be a dry bearing going bad if it has run without oil...had that happen last summer. Unfortunately the final drive has to be removed to service the brakes (fender removed, tranny oil drained, seat removed, hydraulic cylinder removed)...fortunately it is the left side, which is much easier than the right. Don't force anything, parts are not cheap! Good Luck.

Oil is good, the plate on the top, by looks seat comes off then you can get the plate off. Can you get to the brakes from there? I guess it could be anything but seems like the brake.

I have a manual, haven't dug into that yet, was hoping someone else might have gone down this road. Of course it's in the worst spot, at the bottom of my driveway in a snow bank. And the being gentle went out the window last night. I did want to clarify my brake theory. Last fall, occasionally if I was in reverse and applied that brake it would do the same thing locking up, then as soon as I went forward it was fine. Also looking were the brake rod goes into the axle there are what looks like brake filings around it, the other side has nothing like that.

WOW, depressing, I want to puke!

No I'll do it, just not what I needed right now. It will not fit in my garage, so it's going to be a driveway job outside of the garage. Heck I can't even get it up to my house right now, it's going to have to be a heck of a lot warmer for this project.This Colorado winter has been kicking me in the family jewels pretty hard.

Thanx for the info, I'll get it in the spring. By the way does the hydrologic thing make any sense? It acts like it is low in fluid (it's not), pull handle and nothing, then it slowly moves but jumps, just like it would if it was low.
No looking forward to it, just such a handy tractor with the loader. My fenders are junk, so good time to get them off and replaced. Maybe I can even figure the power steering being on the soft side
By the way, I'm a Crown man....

Oh, are the parts available? And ball park on the $

http://www.ebay.com/itm/D17-170-Allis-Chambler-Tractor-Disc-Brake-Plate-Assembly-25-Spline/252194707811?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D40839%26meid%3D26325078c3754ce9bc28956333ac1d48%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D321637263081

Make sure you count the splines and the new parts match, there are both fine and course splines used.

Thanx guys, just wondering if it was going to break the bank. I will tear it down first and take some pictures so you can see the carnage and hopefully steer me in the right direction. I got this girl from my dad and brought it across county from Vermont in August, don't have the hart to tell him it's having issues. I'll bring her back to life!
Hey off topic here, but I used to be on this site back in the early 2000's, didn't remember my login name but was sure of email address. Said it didn't remember me? Was it just to long ago?

Yikes ! That type of problem in the middle of the winter is not a good thing! Looks like you have lots of folks on here that have done the brakes. Thats what i like about the site and folks have helped me a lot on my old WD's.
Stay warm and plan your attack on the 17 brakes in warmer weather.
 Regards,
 Chris

It looks like you've made the right decision. Sit by the fire with he beverage of choice. The next big decision to make is; how much is this going to interfere with my fishing? LOL

It makes more sense than the book when you see it in there. The service manual is a good help.

The brake bands need to come out in order to check  the 2.xxxx measurement to see if shims need to be changed. I would replace those linings as well as long as you are in it this deep.

Thanx Don, yep I think mine is worse, at least there is more pieces. I see you had the bottom brake linkage out. Mine seems fines and even works fine. Can't I just take the pins out on both sides of the bans and leave the rest? Eldon says it's a bare to get the bottom pin out. It looks like I can just pull the pins on both sides