No 9th gear on selectospeed

Tiger Joe

Member
Ended up switching tractors around and now mainly using my 871 to drive between my dads house and a storage building.

About a month ago I got on it and had no "coasting gears"- 5,6,and 9. All other gears worked fine.

I drove it in 7 and 8 doing what I needed and then later 5 and 6 worked but still no 9.

Since then, I try to let the transmission warm up a little before I drive it. Drove it again this past Friday and I have all gears except 9.

Most of the troubleshooting I have seen for the SOS seems to always mention multiple gears going out, not just one.

Only thing I can think is my trans isn't getting warm enough?

When I brush cut with the tractor in July you could feel the heat coming off the transmission case, not now with the cooler weather.
Tractor is stored in a heated garage though so I'm not sure about that. I changed the fluid in June with carquest brand fluid which meets the ford specs.
 
After you changed the fluid, did you perform that band adjustments as outlined in the manual?

With the S-O-S, any time you have an issue, you should go through all of the procedures in the manual to check the pressures and adjust the bands in the maintenance section before moving on to the troubleshooting section.
 

Sean, this band adjustment info, is it in the standard operators manual for the 871?

thanks dave
gowen mi
JD 40/w #9 sickle bar mower
ford 8n/w arps tracks and loader
ford 8n/w arps tracks and sherman combo
ford 871
ford 960
 
(quoted from post at 10:38:45 11/30/15)
Sean, this band adjustment info, is it in the standard operators manual for the 871?

thanks dave
gowen mi
JD 40/w #9 sickle bar mower
ford 8n/w arps tracks and loader
ford 8n/w arps tracks and sherman combo
ford 871
ford 960


I think the band adjustment is in the service manual not owners.

I did check them when I changed fluid but I can check again. I needed a better gauge to check pressures so I never did
 

My guess is, Tiger, that your ORC is not stellar! That would start to show up from the top down as speed ratios are tighter there and it has to work harder. Therefore you have 9th and sporadically 5th and 6th issures.
 
If it is under load like holding the brakes while driving you may find more gears than 9th do it, write down which ones do not work right
including any reverse.
 
You'll probably notice it acting up in R1 too. Like
some others said it's probably the over running
clutch. Not much you can do by adjustments. Talked
to a SOS guru and said he likes to use some sea
foam transmission additive. He said it helped one
acting like yours years ago.
 
(quoted from post at 00:00:50 12/01/15) You'll probably notice it acting up in R1 too. Like
some others said it's probably the over running
clutch. Not much you can do by adjustments. Talked
to a SOS guru and said he likes to use some sea
foam transmission additive. He said it helped one
acting like yours years ago.

Yes now that you mention it I had a few issues in r1 also. It only happened once actually. Tractor just wouldn't back up. Has never done it since.

Think it's worth changing the trans filter and fluid again? Or just dump the seafoam right in.
 
(quoted from post at 07:34:23 12/01/15)
Think it's worth changing the trans filter and fluid again? Or just dump the seafoam right in.

Your issue is mechanical. Since fluid is fairly fresh and I'm assuming filter is too, changing these will not help.

I don't know about the seafoam theory, so can't comment on that. In my opinion, however, when a Sprague clutch starts to lose it's zeal, there's little to be done other than replace it.
 
(quoted from post at 09:45:17 12/01/15)
(quoted from post at 07:34:23 12/01/15)
Think it's worth changing the trans filter and fluid again? Or just dump the seafoam right in.

Your issue is mechanical. Since fluid is fairly fresh and I'm assuming filter is too, changing these will not help.

I don't know about the seafoam theory, so can't comment on that. In my opinion, however, when a Sprague clutch starts to lose it's zeal, there's little to be done other than replace it.

Larry is the over running clutch inside the transmission? It's not in the bell housing area is it? I assume it would require complete disassembly to change?

I do have a spare trans I bought, it's a later model that does not have the coasting gears. I may try swapping it in the tractor.

Don't have my manuals in front of me so apologies for all the questions
 

Yes! You are correct. the ORC is in the transmission and not one of the first things that can be removed in a rear split.
 
I agree that it may not do much but might be a help. It does seem to good to be true. Most of the fix in a
bottle stuff isn't much. The guy was just telling me about it the other day and said he thinks its good
stuff and the tractor he did it to never came back. He has worked on select o speeds for years. It was
like this one and had just started acting up. We have a 971 that is acting just like this. Misses a couple
times and then might work all day long.
 
Now let ask this random question- could a SOS trans "act up" more when it's cold than when the fluid is up to operating temp?

Reason I ask this is when I got the tractor it was summer and much warmer and I also used the tractor for brush hogging so everything was nice and hot.

When it acted up this past weekend I got on the tractor and drove it to our storage building, used it, then back to the garage. Maybe 10 minutes run time total.
 
(quoted from post at 13:48:20 12/01/15) Now let ask this random question- could a SOS trans "act up" more when it's cold than when the fluid is up to operating temp?

I would suppose that is possible for a Sprague clutch. Slightly thicker my add a bit of resistance to movement.
 
Used my SOS today for a few hours hauling a load of wood.

Drove to my storage, hooked up my splitter, split wood, got my trailer, loaded it hauled it up to stack. Took about 3 hours with the tractor being started and stop.

Trans never skipped a beat today. 5 and 6 worked perfectly fine and I didn't try 9 till late in the day but it worked like it should.
 

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