GR2100 front axle fluid pouring out

[NewEnglandCliff]

My GR2100 front axle fluid was full last I checked but when I checked it this time, after 3 hours of mowing, it was empty. Upon filling I noticed that the fluid is pouring out the opening in the bottom of the rubber boot where the front drive shaft enters the front axle. Any ideas?

 

[locknut]

Obviously the seal is blown and maybe the bearing.Time to visit your friendly Kubota dealer

 

[NewEnglandCliff]

Obvious? Is this a tractor thing? I've been working on my cars for 40 years, perhaps 30 cars including several 4 x 4 cars and trucks, and never had a "blown" seal. Do these just go from not leaking to blown? It's only got 200 hours on it.

 

[psdx]

...you asked for ideas. Apparently it wasn't what you wanted to hear but no point in getting testy. Let us know what it is after the dealer visit.

 

[locknut]

Well,if the only place it's leaking is the input shaft seal I'd check the driveshaft for a dry u-joint or frozen slip spline on the shaft.Excessive vibration could cause a bearing/seal failure.Glad you brought this topic up.I'm going to pull the front cover and driveshaft off of mine tomorrow and clean/lube it up good.Need to take the deck off anyway and put the mulch kit on.

 

[NewEnglandCliff]

Thank you locknut. I didn't suspect such a failure since the tractor gets such light use. It's only used for mowing a level yard. I haven't had the boot off yet, but I'd read there may be something akin to freeze plugs on the front transaxle of other Kubotas so thought one of those may have popped out. Hard to imagine they would've placed one in such close proximity to the drive shaft though.

 

[locknut]

I don't know why they put that boot on there.Impossible to inspect the u-joint when you can't see it.I may just leave it off.Let us know what the prognosis is.

 

[locknut]

Well,I got those little jobs done.Pulled the cover back and took the shaft off and greased the splines on both ends.The seal looks like it has a metal lip so one could maybe pry it off and drive a new one on the input shaft,providing the shaft is not wobbly caused by a bad bearing.The owners manual calls for oiling all the u-joints so I cleaned and oiled them all while I was under there.Got the mulch kit on so I'm ready to chop some leaves.

 

[NewEnglandCliff]

You don't waste any time. I've been away but back now so I'll have to crawl under there and see if I can get this repaired. The lawn is getting tall and the shop will take at least 2 weeks to get around to this. Plus my labor rate is much more affordable.

 

[NewEnglandCliff]

The seal had popped out entirely intact but something had to cause that. The input shaft had a very slight wobble so probably the bearing. Couldn't get the shaft out with reasonable force so this is in the shop. I did easily reinstall the seal and add fluid without any leaking for the short test drive, but it'll probably pop out again before long if the cause isn't fixed.

Used a neighbors Husqvarna mower to cut my lawn yesterday and, as nice a tractor as that is, realized how spoiled I've gotten with my Kubota.