john deere 310b loader/backhoe checkout especially transmiss

JeffL

Member
i considering buying a used 310b loader/backhoe for $4500 with two backhoe buckets.

need to check it better before i buy. any special areas of concern for these tractors?

it looks in good shape all around considering it's age and spent a lot of time outside in texas it's really straight, just sun beat. i think the hour meter is correct at 1500 because all the normal wear points look in good shape, about how my case looked at 1500 hours

i need it for personal use of landscaping and never ending cleaning out of creek areas (consistency is like road base)

hoping this would last better than the little case backhoe and koyker loader i used before that kept cracking up as the stuff is heavy and the bottom of the creek is solid rock.

the owner never used it and i never ran one of these; i listened to what he understood about the gears and now i understand why he thinks there is a clutch issue. what he thought was first is really park and what he thought is second is really fifth.

so i know it goes faster in 5th than i ever need and takes a long time to get there if you start there.

his land is as flat as a board and my land is hilly and i drive in and out of the creek with full bucket of wet creek stuff

the brakes feel really good to me which i understand are related to the transmission.

the bucket goes up a little slow until i hit the throttle pretty hard, but the bucket will pick the front end off the ground on down-cycle.

there is a small oil drip near the front of engine
 

It would surprise me if this TLB has only 1500 hrs of use. I'd suggest to check condition of hyd oil IE is oil milky looking?
Also check for good operation of hyd's after engine has reached operating temp(200°). Also check condition(ph) of coolant as old coolant can cause engine liners to fail from cavitation(holes in side of liners)
 
good advice.

the tach doesn't work so it's possible the hour meter doesn't work either. all of the pins on the loader and backhoe where stuff usually wears are basically perfect, although backhoe controls have just a tiny bit of play in them to where if i were a professional i would start replacing the eye joints or whatever you call those)

any way you add it up this thing has spent more time sitting in a hay field in texas than anything else - so the cavitation possibility does bother me.

there is a little smoke that occasionally comes out that down tube from the exhaust

what do i do if the ph is bad, don't buy?
 

Looks like the current owner could not afford an operator's manual and/or did not care.
Try an antifreeze test strip in the coolant to check for the corrosion inhibitor . No corrosion inhibitor means she is rotting through from the inside out.
The tractor is close to being the Agicultural 2440 model.http://www.tractordata.com/backhoe-loader/000/0/0/3-john-deere-310b.html
 
Nobody in town had the strips. I put a piece of paper way down in the coolant fill tube and it has a small amount of dark green splotches and a slight brown color to the water. Can barely smell antifreeze

I figured the shifting pattern and gears seem to work as expected now that I know what I am doing :)

There is a slight growling near the mid section I will post a vedeo when I get to decent Internet. This one gets louder with rpm

There is a leak of hydrologic fluid near the front looks like coming from the shaft area that connects to the front pump

Hydraulic fluid is very clean

Engine oil is as black as can be

There is possibly another noise that does not get louder with rpm or at least I only hear it at low rpm because of growling noise further back. This noise is more noticeable near the oil pan

The loader takes 4 seconds to raise at full throttle which is close to jd spec
 
Central Texas gets occasional freeze most of the time it's just a few hours
I looked at a slightly older one at a dealer they get $8700 and it is like most of what I see in older units all welded up and oviously used a lot. I described all this to them and they thought it sounded like a good deal albeit they would like a nice repair bill

Sounds like the hydraulic leak would be over $1k to fix albeit I could get by for a couple weeks and put fluid in.

They said resleeve is over $3k. I guess that's what I risk but I would end up with a better condition externally than buying the dealer one and what to compare even?
 
The growling in the rear goes away completely when the backhoe stabilizer legs are moving up or down. Not sure what that means

Is it normal that in any low gear the tractor takes off faster backwards than forwards
 

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