FordTractorMan
Member
So...going to the field Monday night, went down a hill w/the M2 hydro, 3rd gear, and it jumped out of high range. Scary for a second, but the transmission brake is pretty good, so it stopped. Went back into high and got to bottom of hill. Shifted to 2nd because I had corn in the hopper and it doesn't like hills in 3rd (or 4th) w/any extra load on it. Went up the hill, down the other side, turned onto the gravel lane to the field and after about 100 yards, transmission clattered for a few seconds, then it stopped dead. Hydro whined like it wanted to move, but wasn't budging in 1st or 2nd. Finally worked range lever into "high" and went to field in 3rd. Got it into low finally, and it made more noise. Put it in 3rd, went back home. Tue. morn. - slipped it into low range and it drove around the driveway in 1st just fine - no noise. Put it in shed, hauled corn, then got it back out to dump it on truck - drove fine in 1st. Drained oil. About a teacup ran out, no filings on magnet or screen, but what looked like pieces of a shim ran out in the bucket. Noticed there's a 1/2" bolt and plug (part #71317628) below the pump that's missing - end of the intermediate shaft, it looks like. That shaft runs through a bearing held in by a snap ring and the plug covers it. I put in the bolt today and the plug will be here Friday. Filled up w/oil, and it dripped out through the bearing. Dripped about 24 oz overnight. Ran it for an hour in corn today (topped tranny off first) and the drip became a small stream when the oil warmed up, but it ran like a champ. Question: does that plug actually act as a seal, or is it just a dust plug? The parts breakdown doesn't show an actual seal anywhere, and it looks like the bolt and plug have been gone a good while.
