Snowblower Snowblower driveshaft carnage! photos

[Von]

I put my front mount snow blower on my Kubota B2710 last Thurs. and I fired up the PTO with just the one drive shaft hooked up. It runs from the mid PTO to the stationary shaft on the snow blower mount frame. Last year I had quite a bit of vibration from the shaft. I thought it was because I had the shaft out a ways, because this blower is made for the shorter wheel based B7500-B2410. So this year I changed the solid shaft to a longer piece. So when I fired it up the shaft still had a wobble to it, and when I took it up to full PTO speed,......BAM! the shaft let go! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif (See the photo!) From what I can tell is the shaft tube had a bend or dent in it, and is made of such thin stock, it could not take the stress anymore. This pipe is so thin! I think electrical conduit is thicker! Yes its that thin!....I could not see any damage as it was covered with the plastic guard. So now I an going to use some 1/4" walled pipe and weld the ends back on. This should solve this cheap piece of crap! I'm just glad it happened now and not when I'm up to my waist in snow!

Von

 

[beenthere]

If it had been thicker, would something else more expensive have broken?
I didn't follow what all took place (sounds like your new longer shaft broke) but wish you good luck in repairing it and keeping it repaired. Always something to be working on to make it better. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[hazmat]

<font color="blue">If it had been thicker, would something else more expensive have broken? </font>

Good point. I'm assuming there is a shear bolt in the system somewhere?

That seems to be very thin wall tubing for an "agricultural" application... Not like it's a race car.

 

[theonlybull]

that looks to be standard driveshaft tubing. i've seen thinner tube on dodge 1 ton trucks.
if you go to pipe, you may have trouble finding the right id to fit your ends, and if the ends are not true, and the yokes not inline, you will get another viberation, although at 540rpm, it shouldn't be a big problem

 

[RickB]

Untrue yokes can be problematic at 540 RPM. Mid PTO's typically are faster which allows equal torque to be transmitted with lighter components. Out of square yokes at 1000RPM will fail something fairly quickly. I would look for the source of the shaft failure and resolve that. Looks like a twist failure to me. Shearbolt too hard??? If a DIY repair is attempted remember to phase the yokes.

 

[ronjhall]

The Mid-PTO rpm on a B27-2910 is 2500 at 2600 engine rpms. That should make it go boom quick as Von found out. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
Making the tubing out of 1/4" may be a little heavy. 1/8" may be a better choice. Especially on a drive shaft that is over 4' long. May need to be balanced for that high rpm.

 

[Egon]

Just curious; is the blower meant to run at that RPM?

Coud a vehicle driveshaft of the proper length be found at a wreckers?

Egon

 

[Von]

OK, I got the new shaft welded up last night! Have not tried it yet, hope to this morning. I had the machine shop down the street make up the tube, the squared up the ends and milled it to fit the yoke ends. Remember there was no load on the other end of the shaft. I didn't even have the blower on the tractor! Just had the shaft. So I will let you know how it is. Von

 

[RickB]

But you rerported experiencing vibration last season. Doubtful this happened all at once.