Roading a loader

[loader950G]

whats the furthest anyone has roaded a loader, we took a john deere 544h about 9 miles down the road after about 7 miles the front axle damn near caught on fire it got so hot it melted the paint off. The rental company is trying to tell me it was my fault for roading it. Just wanted your thoughts on the situation.

[Jeff D.]

whats the furthest anyone has roaded a loader, we took a john deere 544h about 9 miles down the road after about 7 miles the front axle damn near caught on fire it got so hot it melted the paint off. The rental company is trying to tell me it was my fault for roading it. Just wanted your thoughts on the situation. I've roaded farm tractors for 30+miles one way, if anything it did them good. I don't know about loaders, but I'd think they could run them at maximum speed indefinately too.:beatsme

[Wulf]

whats the furthest anyone has roaded a loader, we took a john deere 544h about 9 miles down the road after about 7 miles the front axle damn near caught on fire it got so hot it melted the paint off. The rental company is trying to tell me it was my fault for roading it. Just wanted your thoughts on the situation.

Sounds to me as if there was something was wrong with the brakes like they were dragging or something? I know of loaders that are roaded for 20 miles or more and the only ill effect being that the torque converter gets hot because of their inefficiency at high travel speed. Tires may also be a concern at high speed depending on type but generally they are OK.

[loader950G]

thats pretty much what i thought i have taken 980's and 988's loader for 20 miles or more because they are so hard to move through the city. the company i work for has a contract with union pacific railroad so we can go along the railroad tracks and make it across town with no problems.

[Dwan Hall]

Here in Juneau we only have about 60 miles of highway and I have never seen a loader on a trailer. I road one durning the winter from town to the valley every day which is abot 12 miles each way for snow removal.
eather yours had a draging brake or a bearing going bad.
It shouldnt make any differance weather it works in a pit or on a road job all day nothing should overheat.

[loader950G]

Sounds to me as if there was something was wrong with the brakes like they were dragging or something? I know of loaders that are roaded for 20 miles or more and the only ill effect being that the torque converter gets hot because of their inefficiency at high travel speed. Tires may also be a concern at high speed depending on type but generally they are OK.

We found out on a john deere the parking bake is in the front axle and they tend to drag, the valve dosent release all the way. I think the rental company thought they had a sucker on there hands, boy they wrong!

[CascadeScaper]

The DOT here roads their big Case loader all the time, I don't know Case model numbers, but it's probably equivelant to a Cat 950 or so.

[Squizzy246B]

The 938 we use gets roaded anywhere up to 30 miles, after that I will order a float. Its not really too bad roading it that distance but we have a heavy equipment curfew and I've been busted by the DOT once getting an early start...they were pretty good about it since all the lights on the 938 were working and I was getting off to the side to let the traffic past. 7 am sucks though.

[mflah87]

i ran a couple loaders 15 + miles down the highway in a snow storm, because up here you can't have a lowbed on snowpackd roads. nothing wrong came of the machines. although i was surprised one made it, because ti was an old clunker.

[murray83]

drove a 966 from the dealer in fredericton to here, its about a 45 minute drive i think,i road backhoes everyday as well.

[littledenny]

Many a moon ago, I roaded an old Michigan loader some 10 miles. (this was a machine with the steering in the rear, combine style, and I don't think it could go more than 8-10 mph. (I was really young and dumb back then.) After fighting the wobbly steering for a mile or two, I got the bright idea that it would probably steer much better if I drove it backwards. And it did. Trouble was, I had a stiff neck for a couple days afterwards. Lessons learned.

[Jeff D.]

....I drove it backwards.......Trouble was, I had a stiff neck for a couple days.......Same problem with rear PTO snowblowers on tractors.:yup

[chtucker]

I call BS. The loaders around here are NEVER lowboyed. They are driven everywhere. The Street department plows over 20 miles of road with them every storm. The county dept, drives 30 miles with it before they even get to the southern end of the county.

[RentalMan]

Our JD344 gets roaded every rental and theres never been a problem. Its also commen that the local contractors drive over in their loaders to pick up smaller equiptment like plate compactors and jumping jacks. It looks like the rental company is just looking for a fall guy.:nono

[Copenhagen]

A fellow contractor here roaded his JD 544 from Grand Junction. Thats about 300 or so miles. It took him 5 days. I have even seen the pictures that he took along the way, such as Vail and the Eisenhower Tunnel.

He went broke in Grand Junction and could not afford to have it hauled out. He even hooked up a tow bar and brought his pickup too!!

[tuney443]

A fellow contractor here roaded his JD 544 from Grand Junction. Thats about 300 or so miles. It took him 5 days. I have even seen the pictures that he took along the way, such as Vail and the Eisenhower Tunnel.

He went broke in Grand Junction and could not afford to have it hauled out. He even hooked up a tow bar and brought his pickup too!!

I guess you have to do weird stuff sometimes but that really is insane.I wonder if he had a catheter strapped on going into a ''Little John'' to relieve himself.:bouncegri :bouncegri .I thought 20 miles roading my TLB was far.

[Dwan Hall]

Try 15 miles in a bobcat.

[CascadeScaper]

I roaded a rental 242 skid steer about 10 miles one day. That was fun.

[334 lawn co]

furthest ive roaded a skid was 12 miles in missippi after storms. road our new holland ts 110 farm tractor 2-3 miles every few days.

[Lashlander]

I once roaded a D9L 38 miles into a gold mine in central Idaho. It was a long day.

[heymccall]

The axle on a 544H does not have the park brake in it. The reason the axle gets hot is two fold.
1. There is a recirculator for the front axle oil and the screen is a point of maintenanced that even the dealers tend to overlook. (If it doesn't have recirculators on the axles, someone at Deere didn't do a no charge to the customer update that tractor.)
2. The brakes have a residual drag by stupid design. Axles coolers need to be installed for severe duty use (anything beyond truck loading) and with them installed, on a 90degree day, the axles run 150F after 10 hours, vs. 230F after 2 hrs. Deere says no more than 190F continuous for best performance and durability.

BTW, the park brake is in the round sealed drum between the two piece front driveshaft. And the electronics are integrated as such that not only will the transmission not engage, but a damned irritating alarm will sound when gear is selected and the park brake is on.

How do I know these things? I sent my TC54H to auction with these problems occuring too frequently. I nailed the problems and fixed them and the new owner is still laughing all the way to the bank (not a Problem on them since:Banghead .)
And I had to install axle coolers on both 544J's just to keep them from self destructing their axles. 3000 trouble free hrs on each now.

[OzDozer]

I've roaded loaders for many dozens of miles .. but there are two things that are important.

1. Many loaders overheat in the transmission, in moderately warm ambient temperatures, because of excessive torque converter slippage at high speed. This problem varies between brands, and models. Generally, single stage converters will overheat with excessive roading, whereas 3 stage converters are better at speed.

2. Severe variations in tyre size will see axle 'wind-up' on hard surfaces, which creates great stress in drivelines, as the difference in rotational speed between front and rear axles is too great. This leads to heat buildup, and can even cause driveline component failures in worst-case scenarios.
The immediate answer is to stop every few miles, and do a couple of circles in reverse on loose ground to ease the drivetrain wind-up pressure.
The long term answer is to ensure that any loader/grader/or any 4WD, with no compensating third differential, has evenly matched tyres.

[jimmyjack]

theres a big company around here they road there 980 and 318 rubber tire excavator every day, sometimes 50+ miles a day.I know both operators they say it makes a long day having to be at work at 330/400am to have enough time to be on the job for 700.

at the last company i worked they rented a 980G for a few months, they drove it on the road a couple of times, the operater said it sucked in traffic it had that half wheel (pilots yoke) very touchy:eek: :Pointhead

[heymccall]

I've roaded loaders for many dozens of miles .. but there are two things that are important.

1. Many loaders overheat in the transmission, in moderately warm ambient temperatures, because of excessive torque converter slippage at high speed. This problem varies between brands, and models. Generally, single stage converters will overheat with excessive roading, whereas 3 stage converters are better at speed.

2. Severe variations in tyre size will see axle 'wind-up' on hard surfaces, which creates great stress in drivelines, as the difference in rotational speed between front and rear axles is too great. This leads to heat buildup, and can even cause driveline component failures in worst-case scenarios.
The immediate answer is to stop every few miles, and do a couple of circles in reverse on loose ground to ease the drivetrain wind-up pressure.
The long term answer is to ensure that any loader/grader/or any 4WD, with no compensating third differential, has evenly matched tyres.

All good info, but in this case, it was **** poor engineering and the defect started in the H model Deere's and carried into the J models. John Deere knows of the problem and authorized our dealer to keep upgrading parts on our H model 'til I gave up. The switch from single wet discs per corner to multi-wet discs per corner is where it all started. The brakes are poorly engineered, period. The J models have recirculators standard now, but the coolers are a $$$ option. If you do more than load trucks, it's not only recommended by me, it's mandatory.

[Dusty]

a few years back we had a huge snow ice storm and i was sitting at a light and i heard what i thought were tracks and up pulled a track loader running down the road we had so much snow they were using anything that would move snow

[OzDozer]

heymccall - Thanks for the excellent, detailed, 1st hand information. Sorry to hear of your bad experience with the JD loaders .. once again, a classic example of a company using customers as a test bed, rather than doing the necessary research and comprehensive factory testing.

[DirectTech]

I had to drive one of these for two miles for the logging show that we have in the area, very fun lever steering is great. :Pointhead

[atgreene]

DirectTech, the Bangor logging Expo? Good show.

I road my kubota 4150, I've done 30 or so miles in a day pushing driveways back. Got pulled over once by an irrate trooper. told me to travel the shoulder and I, being tired having spent all day on it told him in not so many word to pound sand. As it was registered, and Maine law allows farm tractors to travel from farm to farm without question, and I was. He spouted off and got back in his car as I wished him a nice day. He was soooooome po'd.

The old hugh loader I ran we always ran in reverse as it had rear steer and that big 6 cyl. gas engine. Brakes never worked, so we used forward to stop:eek: . I used to drive it 8 miles or so to the pit now and then, one heck of a ride!:rolleyes: My bosses didn't care, as long as it got there and got us through another day. It used to over heat and blow steam out the radiator fill, they'd see me sitting there waiting for it to cool off and jump up with 5 gallons of cold brook water and dump it right in, looked like Old Faithful. That thing was a horse.

[komatsukid]

hi guys,
i road the 966f series2 that i operate at least once a week during the summer. the pit we run does not have any clay and we must go to a different pit to load clay. i drive about 20 mi round trip. we change the transmission oil every 1000 hrs. (i think it gives the boss alittle piece of mind.) i have never seen the trans/torque gague get hot.

[heymccall]

heymccall - Thanks for the excellent, detailed, 1st hand information. Sorry to hear of your bad experience with the JD loaders .. once again, a classic example of a company using customers as a test bed, rather than doing the necessary research and comprehensive factory testing.


I didn't even include the fact that the pinion bearing goes long before the lining goes and even before my SOS sampling intervals. The experience wasn't a total turnoff though. We bought 2 new 544J's 3 years later. I couldn't convince the Boss to spec axle coolers, or the dealer for that matter. Soooooo, when the brakes developed a 5 second delay from application on them, I won and put $1300 worth of cooler kits on them both. Been impressed ever since. Oh, and I almost forget the intermittent steering shudder only took 800hrs on each machine before the dealer revised the circuits.

[DirectTech]

atgreene, Yeah it was the Bangor logging Expo sorry, yeah it is a great show, and the overtime is great also.

[HeyUvaVT]

you all aint got nothin on me!! I roaded my statesman 12.5hp riding mower all OVER when I was about 13!!!! :cool2

Seriously tho..only thing I have taken down the road in my "adult" life is our forklift and that was only about 5miles

[OKYLE]

Try 15 miles in a bobcat.


:Banghead :Banghead :Banghead

[RollOver Pete]

I once roaded a Cat988A 41 miles from Palm Springs Air Port to Oasis. Think I was about 15 yrs old. ***

A few months ago I did a job for So. Cal Gas Co.
I repaired 47 miles of service roads with a Cat 966F.

I started @ I-40 at the Colorado River and ended up in Essex, Ca. 4 days later. I replaced the bucket teeth on Tuesday and again on Thursday. :beatsme
I felt sorry for the Gas Co foreman who followed me.
4 days @ 12 hrs a day....I'd have gone crazy..:Pointhead
:cool2