Tiller LandPride tiller shaft snapped

[madhatter]

I have a LandPride 1050 tiller that I just bought and MIGHT have one hour on it. Last night while tilling DIRT I noticed the shaft was not turning. Thinking I broke a shearbolt I discovered the main tine shaft was broke in the middle ! This is a pretty thick shaft too, I have no clue why it broke before the shear pin. Pretty pissed off to say the least. Seeing it only has an hour on and it is brand new, I am going to ask for a complete replacement instead of fixing it.... very strange. hope this is an isolated incident !!!!

[kennyd]

Sounds like the PTO shaft was to short and there was not enough overlap between the telescoping sections.

Who verified the proper shaft length, you or the dealer?

[madhatter]

No, not the pto shaft, the main tiller shaft that holds the tines.

[kennyd]

OOPPSS

I misread...

[pitt_md]

No, not the pto shaft, the main tiller shaft that holds the tines.

WOW. That sounds like a complete safty system failure. Do you have a slip clutch on this unit? Did your dealer set this piece up for you?

Did you come accross any rocks that may have been wedged in the tines?

I have hit rocks with my tiller that were to big to move and the whole unit just bounced up in the air when the tine hit the rock. Other rocks got wedged between the tine and the housing and thats when the slip clutch starts doing it's job.

[madhatter]

I too have hit a few rocks with it and it spit them out or jumped over top of them, it broke while I was in plain dirt. The shaft is pretty thick and it is solid steel, must have had a flaw in it. Hopefully seeing it only had an hour on it they will exchange the whole unit.

[MtnViewRanch]

madhatter, please let us know how Land Pride deals with this. This will let us all know if they have gotten to big for their britches.

[madhatter]

Here is a pic of the shaft. I called my dealer today and sent pictures,hopefully they can just replace the whole unit. If not, I will be sending pics to LandPride and won't be happy when I talk to them !

I wonder if the shaft was not properly heat treated after welding ???

[Skyco]

Looks like it is welded where it snapped...if so no wonder. The little bit of penetration of that weld nowhere approaches the strangth of that big of a shaft....

[RickB]

Looks like it is welded where it snapped...if so no wonder. The little bit of penetration of that weld nowhere approaches the strangth of that big of a shaft....

It is a full-length shaft. The tine flange is welded to the shaft. It isn't short sections of shafting butt welded together. The weld contributed to the failure, I would bet. The shaft should certainly be warrantable, but I can't imagine why the whole unit would be replaced. There is just as much chance of a replacement shaft failing as a shaft in another unit.