# John Deere 5320 dumped all hydraulic oil



## MaineDeere (May 4, 2016)

All,

I own a JD 5320 and was working over the weekend, both days, with the tractor. There was never a problem and i perform annual service on it. at the end of the day on Sunday, i suddenly felt the the steering jumping and the bucket was jumping like it was low on oil. I immediately stopped the tractor and shut it down to check if there was a broken hose of pipe. The hydraulic oil was pouring out from under the tractor, but I didn't see anything broken. So I waited until yesterday when it was cool to crawl under it, i saw a bolt up at the top of the transmission case where it was just sitting up there and i could see the threads. Usign a wooden dowel rod i touched it and it fell into my hand. It was a primary bolt 3/4" housing bolt. I removed the floor and cover to see it had backed out of the transmission housing and the oil just pumped out of the oil. I checked the other bolts and they are all loose, like finger tight only...I have no idea why or how this could have happened. I use the tractor and never have any problems. I am going to change the filter while it is empty and torque them to the proper specs. I contacted the previous owner to see if it ever had any dealer work or other wise to see if perhaps they were not done before. But i don't have a clue. Any ideas?

Walter


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## pogobill (Jan 31, 2012)

Are the threads stripped?


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## MaineDeere (May 4, 2016)

Not at all! It is like a brand new bolt. I went to the local JD dealer today and got a new filter, since it’s empty I might just as well replace it, and purchased 20 gallons of HY-GARD and a few other items I needed. I check the specks on this and transmission is attaching to the wet clutch with ten of these bolts. They are supposed to torqued at 105 pounds. Each of them is only finger tight. I just don’t get it. So I am going to first make sure it is fully drained and then start replacing the filter and top her off with fresh oil. 

Walt


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## jd110 (Nov 23, 2015)

I am sure that by tightening the bolts, the leak will slow considerably, but there is supposed to be sealant between the 2 halves to seal it properly. It uses anaerobic sealant. Both sealing surfaces need to be totally dry and clean for the sealant to work properly. I suppose with patience and couple of floor jacks, you could back off all the bolts about a half inch and separate it enough to wash down the surfaces with Brakleen and put a bead of sealant in there to try and seal it properly. Good luck in your repair.


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## MaineDeere (May 4, 2016)

Thank you JD110, the two halves do not seem to be separated at all, the oil came out of the bolt hole where the bolt came out. The remaining nine bolts are in place, but just didn't seem to be torqued at all. I am going to try to reset them all to 105 pounds and go with it from there. I have it sitting in a farm lane right now and not in the barn. Since the oil covers the transmission, the wet clutch and the PowerReverser, I cant move it at this point off the dirt road. So wish me luck with $300 worth of HY-GARD and let's hope it works. 

Walt


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## Tx Jim (Jul 28, 2020)

Now would be an excellent time to check/clean hyd oil suction screen. Good luck with your tractor repair.


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## MaineDeere (May 4, 2016)

Thank you Jim

I do intend to, the pick up screen has an O ring sealing it along with a few bolts. The JD dealer was out of the rings so I hope it is I. Good shape or common enough to pick up at Tractor Supply or another local hardware store. 

Walt


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## Ed Williams (Jun 13, 2019)

How can a bolt torqued to 105 lb come loose? That's like a head coming off the motor while operating. Sounds like a major oops. Are you planning on spot checking the rest of the bolts on the drive train?


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## MaineDeere (May 4, 2016)

Ed, thanks for your feedback. Yes I checked all of the bolts possible, by removing the floor and accessing all bolts. I torqued everything to the required specks, however, as JD100. mentioned above, the two halves are intended to be sealed with anaerobic sealant. I was unable to do. that as the tractor was sitting in my field and I was not able to move it to the barn. So "for now" I have it tightened to specks but there is a drip that comes from the seam. I am not sure if i will attempt to tackle it, or if i will have to get someone else to do it. Even if i now put it into the barn that is a big job to separate it and I don't know how i would get it clean enough to put sealant in. 

As for how it happened, I have no idea. I have owned it for four years and the previous owner is not aware of any clutch/transmission work that was done on it. Both he and I primarily have used it to cut meadows and no heavy work. This occurred after me using it for three days in a row of heavy lifting. I was moving the equivalent of about 100 yards of soil. Just as i was finishing on the last day of work, it started leaking out, rapidly pouring through a bolt hole. 

To answer an earlier question, I did clean the screen and changed the filter, there was no material to speak of on them other that normal wear and tear. So i can only assume some made a big mistake at some point and didn't tighten them properly and since then is have only been moving low and slow to mow fields. This work out must have been enough to break them loose. 

Thanks everyone, I need to figue out what this would cost to have someone else do the work.


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## Ed Williams (Jun 13, 2019)

Think about using a set of jack bolts to separate the flange and maintaining alignment. You only need to separate it about 1" to clean with spray brake cleaner and a brush, then follow with brake cleaner and s rag. Should be able to insert new gasket. Gortex makes a rather soft teflon gasket with adhesive on one side. It comes in sizes from 1/4" to 1" wide. Just overlap the ends. Tighten bolts and you are done. This gasket is widely used in heavy industry for it's pliability, heat and chemical resistance. If interested, you can purchase from McMaster Carr or Grainger. It is widely used to replace cut to fit gaskets.


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## MaineDeere (May 4, 2016)

Ed,

very interesting thought. I have never used Jack bolts that I can recall. How do they work to separate the two components and maintain alignment.


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## Ed Williams (Jun 13, 2019)

You will need to make a set for each side. There is a base plate mounted on one side of the flange by the hole above and the hole below. 1/4" plate should work. You usually drill a small indent that centers the jacking bolt. The other side of the flange uses a similar plate that has a hole drilled larger than the fastening bolt. A nut is welded to the second plate. when the plates are positioned, the jack bolt is screwed into the side with the nut. Apply tension to the jack bolt, then loosen the plate mounting bolts. repeat as necessary to get the desired separation of the flanges. The jack bolt system can use much smaller bolts than the original fastening bolts. 3/8" should work well to separate the tractor flange, heavier if you want. The idea is to give a controlled separation of the tractor flange. I also recommend having a couple of longer full size bolts in 2 other vacant holes to maintain alignment of the flanges. We used this system in heavy industry for a controlled separation of flanges on 1000 hp centrifugal air compressors and 24-48" diameter heat exchanger heads where space did not exist to physically remove the 1000# heads. Then the gortex gasket was placed in position and the vessels bolted back together. Very seldom had a leaker using this process. Could not use a cut gasket due to the extended full size positioning bolts. On a tractor, Black or gold silicone could be used, but I am a little leary of some of the material getting to the inside of the tractor. The gortex is encapsulated teflon that stays together and will not separate like the silicon gasket materials.


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