What would cause the Hydraulic lever on my JD 3020 not want to move forward or backward and the 3pt is stuck in the air.

John Deere mowers, for the most part, use hydrostatic transmissions. These use an oil of some type (they vary by model) in the transaxle to provide hydraulic pressure to move the tractor. Older tractors will eventually experience some oil leakage over time due to seal wear. If the level gets too low, then you fail to move. Check the oil level in the transaxle. The location of the reservoir varies from model to model. If it is low, after determining the correct oil to use, fill to proper level. Then, start the tractor and work the hydrostatic drive lever forward and backward slowly and continuously until you get full speed operations in both forward and reverse. This can take a few minutes until all the air has been purged from the system.

Sound like a safety switch has gone bad. Either the clutch or seat switch are bad.

Hi, don't know if you have checked this but anyway if you hydraulic oil filter is clean there may be another sintered bronze filter in the sump of the hydraulic tank this could be patially blocked> don't know this particular machine but if it is partially blocked it may be that you will clean that or there is air in the hydraulic system. Hope this is of some help.
Steve

Hello, a week ago the small second hand (not long chrono second hand) got stucked and my irony swatch just stop moving. Although the chronometer could be running if started... The small hand just didn't move.
I tried different tricks, like removing battery, pull out main wheel and use chrono buttons to reset arms. Etc.
Today I noticed that when turning the wheel backwards a couple of times (one or two hours back) the little hand moved one second back... Pushing wheel back to On possition made the small hand move forward one second and get stucked again.
Then I did this procedure a couple of times, at some point I turned the wheel back for a while (may be 5 full turns) and noticed the small hand moved more than one second (5, 10, 15 seconds backward)... when I noticed it was moving freely I pushed wheel to on position and noticed the small second hand was running normal.. I hope it works for some of you. Greettings from Canada

check the lever on the rear of the tractor used to puch the unit when not running then check the belt

Hi. How many beeps between pauses? This is a fault code.
A couple of problems might cause this fault. Is your free-wheel lever in the correct place. These levers operate a switch, that tells the controller that the brake is disabled, this stops the controller from driving the scooter with out brakes.

Might also be caused by a stuck brush in the motor. This is usually caused by the caps that hold the brushes in, not being tight enough. Check the brushes, make sure they slide in and out smoothly, retighten the caps. Be carefull because these caps can crack easily.
Good luck. Neil.

In regard to the problem - JD 4020 Row Crop Tractor; No power Steering
What was the problem and how did you fix it I'm having a simlar problem

SOME JD TRACTORS HAVE A FREE WHEEL VALVE THAT TAKES THE TRANS OUT OF GEAR SO WHILE YOUR PUSHING OR TOWING IT WILL NOT HURT THE TRANS. THERE SHOULD BE A LEVER THAT YOU PULL OR PUSH TO REINGUAGE THE TRANS

sounds like shifter cable busted... pop the hood and look at drivers side, have another person move the shifter so you can locate the cable... then find the arm coming off the transmission move it all the way one direction it will be either park or low range and that should get you moving again...