IH T-340 brakes

Kirk-NJ

Well-known Member
Good morning and Merry Christmas
I have a question about an IH T-340 dozer. Looking at this and the guy said;
" Brakes are locked up I suppose from sitting for awhile and prevent the tractor from moving. You can start the engine
put it in gear gives a little jolt but doesn't move."
Could this be the brakes or Clutch/tranny. What do you think would be involved it freeing it up?

Kirk
 
Merry X-mas to you. I am not sure but that machine may just have brakes used for steering. You should be able to pull back on the brake arms and feel for any movement. Sounds as though theres another problem if it moves a little then stops suddenly that could be final drives, tranny, etc. They say parts for those are extremely hard to find. Norm
 
My guess would be the brake bands are rusted to the out side of the clutch packs. The clutch packs may also be frozen, but even if they are the machine should move forward and back. So, first thing is to free up the bands. I'm not totally familiar with this model, so this requires a little speculation on where the access to the brake adjustment is on the 340, but I think their are two round plugs about 2" +/- on the rear top casting, just below the seat/battery. If you remove them and look inside with a flash light you should see the adjusting rods for the brakes. Release the pressure on the bands and with the transmission in neutral, then PULL the machine BACKWARDS with another piece of equipment. Trying to break them free with the engine puts a huge amount of stress on the transmission gears and bearings. This is how we got the last machine to move, a 500C IH, with rusted bands and clutch packs that we picked up. Again this worked for us, may not work for others.. :!: :!:
 
Could be the brakes are rust stuck. They are down on the sides of the trans case so to speak. Remove the covers and see if you can loosen them up.
Lavoy
 
Don't know what machine these guys are talking about, but not an IH T340 as i just finshed restoring one. the turning clutches are probably stuck to the Sun Disks, the Sun disks run on a planetary system that lets it turn when you pull back lever, then pull lever all the way & brakes engage for a sharp turn. The disk brakes are in the final drives next to the trans. housing and you have to pull off final drives to access brakes, they are the same discs as a Super M, mine were just dirty had broken springs, got springs from Steiners. The two pipe plugs on back of trans top is to remove the turning clutch shafts, after removing top of trans. and removing turning clutch pad holders. Turning clutch adjustment is the square head bolt on side of trans. top on each side of seat. There are no bands on a T340. Brakes are adjusted by turnbuckles on each side, by rods coming out of brake housings. The Turning Clutches are expensive to reline, mine was $425.00, if you can find factory replacements, they will be expensive too. Just remember you cannot get parts at Case/IH. When you ask for Crawler parts they look at you funny. Engine is same as 340 farm tractor. Merry Christmas Gene
 
So I'm guessing there is no easy fix and I would have to take the finals off to access the brakes to adjust the turnbuckle? Correct? How do you get it loaded without freeing up the brakes?
Thanks for your reply, Kirk
 
blueridge , thanks for setting me straight on the process/ configuration of the 340. As I said, I was speculating, the IH 500 is completely different, Kirk should get a service manual it will be money well spent :!: :!:
 
I also have a T340.

I suggest a service manual for you....it will explain everything. Jensales sells them for a reasonable amount.

These machines use a planetary type differential to steer.

You should be able to check the brakes and see if they are stuck - just pull either lever all the way back toward the seat, and look at the rods that protrude from the brake housings. They should move freely, in and out. If they stick out, you can try to tap the rod back into the housing, which may let the brake release.

I had my left brake stuck on when i purchased my T340, and i was extremley lucky to have been able to free it up using some PB Blaster and some tapping!

Best of luck.
 
As mentioned, these use a planetary differential setup with brakes for steering, then have a brake outboard of that. Both are disk type. The "clutch" is a spring applied caliber type unit that holds the sun gear stationary in the planetary on each side to drive - when you pull back on the lever it releases the 'clutch' and that track doesn't drive. If these are worn or out of adjustment the tractor either doesn't drive or has no power.

The actual brakes are the same as a 340 wheel tractor - 2 discs with a expanding mechanism in between to force them apart. No band to rust up, and nothing to really stick unless it was parked with the brake set.

I would bet that the 'clutch' brakes are worn or if you're lucky need adjustment. They're not hard to redo, though the best quote I got for relining was ~$500. Takes 1-2 hours to get them out and put back in, not near as hard as a regular steering clutch. Brakes do require the track to be split, but it's not that hard.

Nice little machines. I have a loader (Drott) T-340 and it's a great little tractor. Small enough to be easy to work on and haul, easy to drive and nimble but still got decent (IMHO) capacity. Most of the tractor is the same as the 340 wheel version (engine, trans, dash, brakes) so at least those parts are easy to get.

Look at the redpower forum, lots of threads on them over there.
 
To add, could also be the clutch/trans, but that sounds much more like slipping steering 'clutches'. If the engine clutch is slipping you'll loose PTO/hydraulic power, so that might be an easy test. Trans I'd expect to hear gears grinding.

If you actually go look at it, there are clutch brake adjusters on each side of the final drive top cover at the top more or less directly under the seat - sit in the seat and look down to each side, there's a small hex stud with a lock nut sticking out of the side of the cast final/trans top cover. about 1" below the top. Turn these in to tighten. I'd try tightening these as much as you can and see if it helps. You will need to hold the steering clutch lever back to adjust. Proper adjustment is about 2" free play at the top of the lever (you'll be able to feel it), but you can tighten further if needed to get it to move far enough to test/load.
 
Since your 340 dosent have steering clutches and it has like disc brakes I find it very hard to believe the brakes are keeping if from rolling. If you cant get it to roll free and can find some pipes you can pick it up and use pipes under the tracks to roll it with. Another way is put 2x10s under each track and pull it up on your trailer. Or if you can find someone with a large crawler/loader then have them pick it up and back your trailer under it . That's probably the safest way. Either way it wont be easy. Let us know how you came out. Norm
 
(quoted from post at 16:55:30 01/06/16) Either way it wont be easy.

Well, certainly easier than a stuck D8 would be. :lol:

One thing I like about mine is that it's still small enough to be not too hard to move/work on. Still a pain for some things but doable - I can only imagine how much pain a full size Cat must be to work on.

Mine had the slipping steering clutch issue and that's how I got it, though in my case it was still working well enough to drive around, just slipped going uphill or on trailer ramps. Actually I got lucky, someone else had bought it and was trying to load it when I showed up (owner wasn't sure who would show up so basically said show up at x time and make an offer) but wasn't able to get it up his ramps so he sold it me..... I have a 12k winch on the pickup so I figured no problem I'd just winch it on, but decided to see how far I could get it on first. Got the tractor part way on the trailer and then realized I was screwed because it picked the rear of the truck up and there was no way to unhook it now... :roll: :shock: So I wound up using the handy come-a-long to pull it on.... slowly! I don't recommend doing that, least not without a much stronger one than I had, but it worked out. Fun times.
 
Thanks for all the replies. I have not had a chance to look at the machine yet. When I do I will repost.
Thanks, kirk
 

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