cliftonbros89
Well-known member
I'm working on a John Deere 8400. The hydraulic clean oil level switch went out. It's a major pain to get to. The end of the switch is also plastic and is only made to get a 5/8" crowfoot on it. Yes it has to be a crowfoot with about a 10" extension as there is very little clearance around the switch.
This is the old switch. It came out no problem. As you can see the top end of the switch is pointed. Although it's hard to see in this picture the bottom is actually rounded. This makes it hard to get anything else to fit on it.
I started to install the new switch. However the end of it was made slightly different. I screwed it until it was snug. But, the pointed end (as seen in above photo) needs to be at a 12 o'clock position in order to function properly. The switch became snug with the point at about 3 o'clock. I regrouped and prepared to back the switch off to sit at 12. Suddenly the switch didn't want to budge. I put a little more force to it. It wouldn't budge. After finally trying a few more times the plastic started to round off. That's when things began to become bad.
You'll have to excuse the poor quality of picture. As you can some what see. This thing is not easy to get to. It's up underneath the cab and fuel tank behind multiple hydraulic lines. (You actually have to drain the differential and disconnect a hydraulic line that runs directly in front of the switch just to get to it with a crowfoot.) There isn't even room to get on to it with a stubby wrench. I've tried slipping on a 16mm crowfoot as well and it wanted to slip too. I tried to slip in a rag, towels, rubber and even small metal shims to tighten things up a bit and nothing will work. I managed to shove a strap wrench for oil filters up in and around it. But the end of the switch is almost too small to properly grip around it. Not to mention it's almost at too much of an angle and once the excess strap gets rolled up to tighten on the switch it becomes so bulky there isn't hardly room for it to move in between the hydraulic lines.
At this point I decided to try something different. I grabbed the old switch to see if I could come up with a socket to fit it. A 13/16" socket fit the pointed end the flat sides great. So I grabbed an old socket and cut part of it out to make from for the wire.
I tried it on the old switch and it was a perfect fit. I rolled under the tractor to see if it would possibly slip on to the new switch. Unfortunately, since it isn't made exactly the same it wouldn't fit. It was too big.
After that I decided I'd try a 5/8" socket. I cut it. But it was a 1/2" drive deepwell and didn't have the proper clearance to fit on the switch. So I had to chop it down and ended up cutting the end off an old 3/8" drive socket and put it on the 5/8" socket.
This unfortunately didn't work either. It just wanted to spin on the switch as well.
So, now I'm frustrated and running out of ideas. It's very limited to work space. The irregularly shaped switch end makes me want to curse the person who designed it. This switch has to be backed off just 1/4 of a turn to work properly and I can't budge it. Let's also keep in mind this is a brand new switch that cost a little over $80. I applied some thread sealant, as I'd recommend to the threads of the switch. But it was sealant, not thread lock. It also wasn't dry when it initially started to round the end either. Anyone have any ideas??
**On a side note. If anyone declares any sort of brand bashing on the Snap On crowfoot not fitting properly, neither Craftsman or Gearwrench fit the problem either. This is one of those cases where it's the "fastener" and not the tool.
This is the old switch. It came out no problem. As you can see the top end of the switch is pointed. Although it's hard to see in this picture the bottom is actually rounded. This makes it hard to get anything else to fit on it.
I started to install the new switch. However the end of it was made slightly different. I screwed it until it was snug. But, the pointed end (as seen in above photo) needs to be at a 12 o'clock position in order to function properly. The switch became snug with the point at about 3 o'clock. I regrouped and prepared to back the switch off to sit at 12. Suddenly the switch didn't want to budge. I put a little more force to it. It wouldn't budge. After finally trying a few more times the plastic started to round off. That's when things began to become bad.
You'll have to excuse the poor quality of picture. As you can some what see. This thing is not easy to get to. It's up underneath the cab and fuel tank behind multiple hydraulic lines. (You actually have to drain the differential and disconnect a hydraulic line that runs directly in front of the switch just to get to it with a crowfoot.) There isn't even room to get on to it with a stubby wrench. I've tried slipping on a 16mm crowfoot as well and it wanted to slip too. I tried to slip in a rag, towels, rubber and even small metal shims to tighten things up a bit and nothing will work. I managed to shove a strap wrench for oil filters up in and around it. But the end of the switch is almost too small to properly grip around it. Not to mention it's almost at too much of an angle and once the excess strap gets rolled up to tighten on the switch it becomes so bulky there isn't hardly room for it to move in between the hydraulic lines.
At this point I decided to try something different. I grabbed the old switch to see if I could come up with a socket to fit it. A 13/16" socket fit the pointed end the flat sides great. So I grabbed an old socket and cut part of it out to make from for the wire.
I tried it on the old switch and it was a perfect fit. I rolled under the tractor to see if it would possibly slip on to the new switch. Unfortunately, since it isn't made exactly the same it wouldn't fit. It was too big.
After that I decided I'd try a 5/8" socket. I cut it. But it was a 1/2" drive deepwell and didn't have the proper clearance to fit on the switch. So I had to chop it down and ended up cutting the end off an old 3/8" drive socket and put it on the 5/8" socket.
This unfortunately didn't work either. It just wanted to spin on the switch as well.
So, now I'm frustrated and running out of ideas. It's very limited to work space. The irregularly shaped switch end makes me want to curse the person who designed it. This switch has to be backed off just 1/4 of a turn to work properly and I can't budge it. Let's also keep in mind this is a brand new switch that cost a little over $80. I applied some thread sealant, as I'd recommend to the threads of the switch. But it was sealant, not thread lock. It also wasn't dry when it initially started to round the end either. Anyone have any ideas??
**On a side note. If anyone declares any sort of brand bashing on the Snap On crowfoot not fitting properly, neither Craftsman or Gearwrench fit the problem either. This is one of those cases where it's the "fastener" and not the tool.
