JD 5420 Broken Front Axle Support

[patladner]

My 5420 2WD has about 950 hrs on it. Two weeks I was bushhoging and I ran into a sink hole in the field. There was a pretty good jolt but the tractor didn't stop. Yesterday, I was using the front end loader and noticed that the front wheels were moving backwards and forwards about 3-4 inches. After checking, I found that the large front axle support was broken. However, the break was very symmetrical about 4 inches on each side of the pivot and down were the power steering bolts onto each side. I could see if I was going 20 miles per hour and hit a solid concrete 2 ft high wall but this looks like a bad casting. Any similar experiences?

[Kubota 2350]

How old is the tractor?
Maybe the dealer will do something for you.

[patladner]

It has been out of warranty for several years. It just doesn't have many hours on it. The dealer said that he would have the JD representative take a look at it to see if there wasn't a defect in the support piece.

[mfreund]

Sounds like that will be the best course.

[wkpoor]

I've got a 5400 2WD ( not the Yanmar version) and that front trunion is huge and beafy. If your is similar it would had to have a defect. At least my front end looks large enough for 100HP tractor. Hard to imagine it breaking there from a ground hog hole. Of caurse stranger things have happened.

[patladner]

Everyone who has looked at it said that it looks like a bad casting. It would be understandable if it had broken on the right side of the pivot bushing because the right wheel ran into the hole. However, you could not draw a more perfect fault line in a perfect semi-circle around the pivot rod where this large piece of steel cracked.

[patladner]

I took it into the JD dealer on Monday and they have contacted the JD Rep. So we'll see what they think. I know there are JD tractors that are larger than mine but hauling that big boy on a trailer is really scary, especially when there is a little wind.

[wkpoor]

Originally Posted by patladner

I took it into the JD dealer on Monday and they have contacted the JD Rep. So we'll see what they think. I know there are JD tractors that are larger than mine but hauling that big boy on a trailer is really scary, especially when there is a little wind.

I haul mine all the time with loaded tires, front loader with 800lb grapple on it, and an attachment on the rear too.About 9500lbs in all. Yep its aload all right.