730 5th gear

Three questions, what is the cost, parts availability, and difficulty of converting a 730 row crop diesel to the high speed 5th gear

Russ, if memory serves, the gear can be changed without disassembling the transmission. Instead, the gear in question is behind a cover located behind the flywheel. Keep in mind, there are various speed changes available for the 730, so I could be wrong. There is also a faster 6th gear, for one, and there might have been a change that effected multiple gears.

As for cost, that would be up to what you can scrounge at a salvage yard. Something else to consider is if you put in the high speed 5th, you can either change the gear shift quadrant, or re-identify the gears, as the locations will be in a different sequence.

Hope this helps.

john

I own three 730's. Two LP's and a diesel. All three have the high speed 5th gear. We didn't plan it that way, so it must have been fairly popular. The neighbor has a 730 gas (why yes, I'm keeping an eye on it), I should see what his has for a 5th... Sounds like a good excuse to stop by and visit and see if he's ready to sell...

Interesting question indeed. If you change a gear behind the cover behind the flywheel, seems both gears in that compartment would need to be changed to physically match up. Then if 5th gear is changed, 3rd and 6th gears would have to change too. Or am I thinking all wrong?

You are correct... both the gears need to be changed.

And I could be wrong, the ones behind the cover could be the 6th gear... it is the road speeds behind that cover on the older As and Bs.

When you make this change 1st & 3rd need to be remarked as2nd & 5th, 2nd and 5th become 1st & 4th you do not half to change 3rd and 6th

Was there a specific use or reason for the high speed fifth?

when you switch to the high speed 5th you loose creeper first. what is your 2nd now will become first, second becomes 1/4 mph slower than your current 3rd, 3rd becomes a shade faster than your current 4th, what is your 5th will become 4th and then 5th becomes 8 mph, 6th and reverse remain the same.

to switch to the high 5th flywheel and timing cover come off and then you switch the sliding gear on the bottom shaft with a smaller diameter one and then slide gear over the existing gear on top shaft that is held on by a thick washer and 2 bolts on the end of the shaft. and then the quadrant needs to be switched or relabeled, and they aren't hard to change either and should be available for around $100 not sure what the gears will run you, last one i did i got the whole top shaft with the gear on it and the bottom sliding gear and some other small parts for $200 from a private guy that was parting one out, plus $100 for the shift quadrant from a different guy. really a simple project as long as everything comes apart like it should.

now if you wanted to ad the faster 6th speed then the whole transmission and both sides of the tractor have to come apart. i did that with my 720 and i actually switched the gears from another tractor that i had and sold so i had to do two of them at once, and have been in a couple others since, though not quite that far. i have no regrets of putting the faster 6th gear in mine and if i had it to do over again i don't think i would hesitate to do it again, maybe would cough up the money to buy the gears from a salvage yard so i didn't have to do 2 at once but other wise i wouldn't hesitate the job

on these tractors with the standard slow speed transmissions the gear behind the cover is actually the 1st and 3rd gear and the 4th and 6th gear is smack dab in the center of the transmission. i have a nice diagram of the different shift quadrants and their respective speeds saved to my computer that i got off this very site but can never figure out how to post it when ever this topic comes up.

What is the advantage to doing this?