John Deere 314G

Gather App
Skidsteer Forum - Bobcat, New Holland, Case, John Deere

Help Support Skidsteer:

D

Deleted member 13824

Active member
Joined
Jul 19, 2016
Messages
33
Hello everyone, I have been a member for years but seldom active. I am a Bobcat fan, but recently purchased a 314G at a good price. So I thought I would try and contribute my findings as a new owner and new to John Deere skid steers as a whole. More to come.
Best wishes!
D
 
So I purchased a 2019 JD 314G with 553 hrs. I did my best to research this model before purchase, but there were just no reviews and mostly negative comments about it. I think this model was released in 2016 as a more affordable base model, specifically aimed at rental companies.

I was a long time Bobcat owner and use a T870 quite often at work, so I was looking for full size machine for my personal use and in my price range that had not been used up. Bobcats were pretty much extinct in my area. Then right down the road this John Deere shows up for sale. Well maintained, clean and not a cedar machine, as I am in Texas Hill Country, and cedar clearing is a constant
So after negotiation and a test run it’s mine. The owner had several machines and preferred the cabbed versions, so a great deal was struck to get rid of the 314. More to come.
D.
 
The 314G series is a vertical lift 6300lb machine powered by a 4TN Yanmar turbo at approx 50hp. It is a single speed, standard flow machine with hand and foot controls. It does have a DPF system on it, but does not use DEF as its under 75hp. The machine I have came with keyless start. The engine cooling fan runs off a belt and blows out through the rear door vent. The hydraulic cooler hinges and swings away from the radiator for easy cleaning of both. Fuel,hydraulic, engine oil and coolant levels are easy to check and easy to add to if needed.
Fuel filters and oil filtersl are right at back door so easy to change, hydraulic filter access requires raising cab to change. Air filter is also easy to access. Raising the cab is by far the easiest of any machine I have used, remove the two hold down bolts and it practically raises itself and locks open. The boom can be locked in the overhead position by moving a lever behind the operators right shoulder that puts a 2” pin under boom arm when in the raised position for service ect. My machine came with a 66” bucket, 10x16.5 tires are standard.
Inside cab room is plenty for my size, I am 6’4” but only about 175 lbs, I adjusted the steer tillers to my liking and the seat has plenty of adjustment for short or tall. Lighting is very good should you need it, 2 head lamps and one rear work light are standard.
Next up will be my observations on build quality, the good and the bad, issues I have had and fixes so far in my short few months of ownership.
D.
 
So after 6 months of ownership, I would like to comment on the build quality and some issues I have had as well as areas that could be improved.
The Good.
Small frame, relatively light operating weight, can tow with 1/2 ton if needed.
Engine runs excellent, smooth with plenty of power for my needs. Very easy to perform maintenance and to service.
Compact frame makes for ease of use in tighter spaces, vertical lift and 10’ reach are very useful. 1900lb working limit with suitcase weight kit. I have moved 2000lbs without any trouble. I have not noticed need to regen yet, but I am sure it’s coming. Seat is comfortable and has plenty of adjustment. Lap bar is easy to use/smooth operation. Easy cab lift and easy boom lock for overhead service.
With cab and boom locked in up position there is lots of room to perform any task in the belly or engine/pump area. This machine has a electric fuel lift pump for easy priming when changing fuel filters. Keyless start for security. Footwell cleanouts like Bobcat, fuel tank drain that’s easy to get to, chaincase level/drain plugs are easy access. Its a Yanmar engine.
Thats all I can think of at the moment
D.
 
Now the not so good things, it’s nice to have a good dealer to help out with advice parts ect. I do not
Diesel particulate filter
Price of anything JD parts wise
Unlike a Bobcat, the rear door could allow debris to enter and damage cooling system.
Tires are rough on hard pack, they are Hulk block style tread, of course that’s easy to cure but they have worn well.
Lots and lots of side to side slop in pins. Boom arms, quick tach, all the cylinders and even the verticle lift stablizer bars.
I spent hours shimming the slop out of things and I am not done yet. I buy 1.5” washers and slide between arms or cylinders. Never seen a machine with so much slop. And this machine was maintained. I have a book, hand written with every wash, grease and service. It has almost a quarter inch of side to side movement in some places. The John Deere style steer controls are not to my liking at all, uncomfortable for my hands and awkward to use when using an attachment because of the wrist action involved. Also when raising and lowering cab they hang up passing through framework, this has damaged seat and rubber on steer controls. A very poor design as I see it. The structural part of the quick tach and booms seems robust, I have read about structural filures but have not seen any first hand. Drive motors are extremely noisy, whines a lot during turns, I read about that being common on this machine as well. Not sure if a cure exists for that or not, but on occasion when moving and using multiple bucket movements at same time loader will shudder or vibrate. Not sure why, I read that Kubota had a similar issue during their initial release.
John Deere keyless entry I do not like but that’s a personal preference.
i had 2 issues with this machine so far.
Low voltage to ecm code and
Water in fuel code.
Clean grounds on engine block and ground on frame. Clean battery cables.
Install new battery as it had original.
No codes again
Change both fuel filters and it said water in fuel the next day. So I drain tank completely install new filters with fresh fuel again. Same thing.
Replace sensor in bottom of water separator.
So far everything works fine, no codes.
Sorry for all the space I took up but I had no help with this machine and hope that some of this info might help someone else.
All in all I am happy with machine, I will work out the kinks I can and live with the rest.
Best wishes.
D.
 
I was using my 314 this weekend and it beeped and showed exhaust clean icon, so I cranked up throttle to 2600rpm and within 15 minutes it was done. This is first time it has regenerated in my ownership.
I am around 560 hrs. I tend to not run it at high rpm due to being used to older non emission machines. All is well so far, has not burned any oil, oil is pretty clean since I changed it several months ago. Using 5/40 synthetic diesel oil.
D.
 
So I am going to change the hydraulic oil and filter in the 314, I did some research on hydraulic fluids looking for suggestions.
Seams JD fluid has gold in it, but after reading lots about it I decided to break down and pay big $ for JD Hydrau as the owners manual suggests.
Mother of pearl I am glad I won’t change it too often.
I will drain and refill later this week, and let you know how it goes. Using a 5 gallon bucket to refill is going to be fun I can already tell you, but 6 gallons is listed capacity, and five and one were cheaper than 2.5 gal. Jugs so I was told.

D.
 
Got the hydraulic oil and filter changed out this week on the 314G. Slow to drain, but, with a hose off bottom of tank, pull hose through opening under machine, remove cap and let it go. The filter is somewhat difficult to get to as it’s kind of hidden by hoses mounted behind hydraulic tank if looking through rear door. I wound up lifting cab and crawling into compartment to remove it. There is no way to absolutely get all the oil out of tank unless you get a siphon and suck it through fill opening, which I did not do. I jacked machine up from front until rear frame touched ground. Got most of it out. Old hydro oil did not look dirty, it was somewhat darker than what I put back in but it ran out without any visible particles. It was original oil with 568 hrs on it. I put 5.5 gallons of JD hydrau after buttoning it back up. I used a oe JD hydraulic filter, and JD hydrau which is what it came with.
With a large funnel refilling from a 5gallon can was easy. Tank has a large opening and a removable screen to catch any debris.
Machine is headed to west Texas to build fence next week. Be its first real workout since Feb.
best wishes.
D.
 
Well I spent 9 days out west. pushing up mesquite and other brush. I beat on 314G pretty hard.
Bucket is a JD factory 66” tooth bucket, I flexed it pretty good, pried on mesquite and cedars pretty hard, ripped rocks.
machine seems good so far.
Starts and runs great at about 4500-5200’ elevation,at my location, with no more regens while I was out there.
I will head back in a week or so and start my fence job with it.
The drive motors are the noisiest things of any machine I have ever operated. I wear ear plugs because of the loud whine.
I have no clue why they would be so noisy and what could be done about it?
So far so good with all operations of machine.
Best wishes.
D.
 
Kenskip1 said:
Have look at this one.

https://heritagetractor.com/Used-Equipment/John-Deere/314G/656725
Click to expand...
High kenskip1, looks similar to mine. Like the suitcase weights.
Mine is doing fine, but….. it has the noisiest drive motors I have ever heard.
I have changed all fluids and filters, nothing looked dirty or contaminated but this thing whines unbelievably loud and makes other weird noises when turning, all coming from drive motor operation.
If you get it going straight and with little load it will be quiet as a mouse.
But turn climb or push and it’s noisy as all get out.
Runs perfect, hydraulic operation and strength are good . I guess if it has something wrong I will find out. So far it works/runs good. About 600 hrs.
Running 5w40 syn diesel oil.
All JD filters and hydrau fluid for hydraulics.
Best wishes
D.
 
DSTEVENS said:
High kenskip1, looks similar to mine. Like the suitcase weights.
Mine is doing fine, but….. it has the noisiest drive motors I have ever heard.
I have changed all fluids and filters, nothing looked dirty or contaminated but this thing whines unbelievably loud and makes other weird noises when turning, all coming from drive motor operation.
If you get it going straight and with little load it will be quiet as a mouse.
But turn climb or push and it’s noisy as all get out.
Runs perfect, hydraulic operation and strength are good . I guess if it has something wrong I will find out. So far it works/runs good. About 600 hrs.
Running 5w40 syn diesel oil.
All JD filters and hydrau fluid for hydraulics.
Best wishes
D.
Click to expand...
I am no expert on these things however, it sounds (pun intended) as if you may have a bearing going south. Ken
 
Kenskip1 said:
I am no expert on these things however, it sounds (pun intended) as if you may have a bearing going south. Ken
Click to expand...
Hi Ken, you maybe right?
I have only owned Bobcats in my lifetime , my first JD.
I have looked at all fluid levels, colors, filters. Everything seems normal in that respect. But it sure is noisy. I remember my old 763 I could idle it around and make very little noise.
If you don’t give the JD some throttle it screams even more.
I am still using it. Working fine so far with ear plugs installed.
I have seen older skids with mismatched tires, some even had pickup tires on them. Not a good idea either way.
Best wishes.
D.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top