HD4

I just bought a HD4 crawler. Don't have a manual so I'm learning by looking. There is a oil fill cap and dip stick under the floor that is very low on fluid, doesn't even read on dip stick. What is this for and what kind of oil do I use for this.

Type A, suffex A - check when hot  Should have some directions stamped into stick 

COULD BE THAT THE PRESSURE TO CLUTCH PACK WAS LOST DUE TO LOW ON TRANSMISSION FLUID. ONCE YOU FILL IT TO WHERE IT SHOULD BE, IT SHOULD WORK OK. 

Down between your legs under the seat is a 3 speed transmission box - on your left hand side on machine is the fwd/rev lever for the shuttle clutch which is hyd controlled .

I have [ will confirm today ] original AC HD-3/HD-4 service manual, no parts book. I would take $40 for it, it is in a generic binder, but pretty sure it is bound so you could remove. Ive never had a use for it, but looking over it has all info required If i remember correct. 

$1200 for the bull gear / $400 for the drive gear ,  20 + hours to replace , machine case if bearings hatch $400, axles $300, that is IF you can find anything besides used and worn parts . In fact that is used parts price I ended up paying to repair one side of my HD4

Edited by Coke-in-MN - 17 Apr 2014 at 6:54pm

There was no decelerator on this machine. It was a bucket loader with the weight pack. Say what you want, but it was bought new by the company I worked for. I ran it for 7 years starting in 1978 and it was around for many years after that.

There are plenty of machines out there that were meant to shifted at full throttle. I agree that throttling down would be easier on it, but you will have to show me in the owners manual where it says, you must. The only thing I ever did was make sure the machine was stopped before changing direction, if it won't handle that, then those parts will more than likely fail under load regardless.

We can go the other way on this to. Heat is built up in the torque converter and shuttle every spool up. Throttle linkage will last longer if left alone. The engine and components such as governor weights will last longer. Lets not forget the extra step on the operator. The shift never was harsh as long as you stopped before changing. Tell me why the decelerator was optional on the loader model. Like I said... show me in the operators manual where it says you must. Speed gained by not having to throttle down was a sales pitch by many of the manufacturers and they put modulators in the shuttle to add lag and smooth the transition out. The HEF forum has a discussion on this as well. You are correct, to each his own. The fact remains that it wasn't the original design intent of the shuttle on the loader model HD4.

Randeleky if you have not sold Manuel my old dad can sure use it

A few decades ago I had a H3 loader/backhoe, my first experience with a crawler tractor. I always ran it close to full throttle when back-filling trenches. I was very careful about feathering the forward/reverse clutch pack so that there was no shock to the final drives. I never ever had any issues with the final drives

cmsmoke wrote: I ran a 1966 HD4 for many years and others ran the same machine before and after I did. We never throttled down to change directions and never had an issue.