ArkCivEngr
Silver Member
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2004
- Messages
- 182
- Location
- Russellville, Arkansas
- Tractor
- Kubota L3400DT, John Deere X495
Volnavy, you\'re not alone
I was digging a moat around a particularly nasty Sweet Gum stump last Sunday. This stump was about 2 feet from the edge of my driveway, and some of the roots ran directly under the driveway. That soil was really hard-packed, so I had to clean off the top and under the roots and then cut them with a chain saw to get them out--the bucket curl wasn't near enough to budge them, much less break them out.
After getting the roots out and getting the moat down about 4 feet, I proceeded back to the other side of the stump to "poke" out some dirt between some roots I'd already cut through the day before (this one stump was a 3-day job).
Just as soon as I started pulling the bucket in towards me with the dipperstick: "BAM!" It sounded like a rifle had gone off right beside my head. I knew instantly what happened, and sure enough, the dipperstick piston was slightly bent and snapped completely through.
After looking at it for a few seconds (and fighting the urge to puke), I realized that the only possible way the piston could bend that way was to be put in compression; and the only way to do this would be to push away from the tractor with the dipperstick. Once the piston was bent, digging with it towards the tractor put it back in tension; but since it was bent the axis of the load passed outside the body of the piston and put a fairly large moment on it, which of course it isn't designed for.
The kicker is that I didn't hang up on anything in that trench that I'd dug right before the piston broke. I was VERY careful with this stump (like I said, it took 3 days) and all my motions were exceedingly slow.
Questions:
1. For you others who have popped this piston, did yours break because you'd pushed on something and put that piston in compression? Or do you think that this is more of a fatigue stress issue causing these breaks? My tractor has 42.5 hours on it and exactly 32.5 of them have been hoe work hours.
2. I'm assuming (and praying) that this will be covered under warranty? I read through it the other night and it mentioned that abuse, etc. were not covered. I can't imagine the work I've been doing being called abuse; but just for the sake of argument, if it could be called abuse, why did it take 30 hours of use to break the piston?
3. Volnavy, I seem to recall that your dealer wound up getting you a whole new backhoe. I assume all of your hassle was covered under warranty? And how has the new hoe done for you? I don't expect a new hoe because it took mine so much longer to break than yours; seems like just replacing the cylinder and piston should be enough.
I'll be taking mine back to Fiser on Saturday. Hopefully I won't have to write another post Sunday and vent.
I was digging a moat around a particularly nasty Sweet Gum stump last Sunday. This stump was about 2 feet from the edge of my driveway, and some of the roots ran directly under the driveway. That soil was really hard-packed, so I had to clean off the top and under the roots and then cut them with a chain saw to get them out--the bucket curl wasn't near enough to budge them, much less break them out.
After getting the roots out and getting the moat down about 4 feet, I proceeded back to the other side of the stump to "poke" out some dirt between some roots I'd already cut through the day before (this one stump was a 3-day job).
Just as soon as I started pulling the bucket in towards me with the dipperstick: "BAM!" It sounded like a rifle had gone off right beside my head. I knew instantly what happened, and sure enough, the dipperstick piston was slightly bent and snapped completely through.
After looking at it for a few seconds (and fighting the urge to puke), I realized that the only possible way the piston could bend that way was to be put in compression; and the only way to do this would be to push away from the tractor with the dipperstick. Once the piston was bent, digging with it towards the tractor put it back in tension; but since it was bent the axis of the load passed outside the body of the piston and put a fairly large moment on it, which of course it isn't designed for.
The kicker is that I didn't hang up on anything in that trench that I'd dug right before the piston broke. I was VERY careful with this stump (like I said, it took 3 days) and all my motions were exceedingly slow.
Questions:
1. For you others who have popped this piston, did yours break because you'd pushed on something and put that piston in compression? Or do you think that this is more of a fatigue stress issue causing these breaks? My tractor has 42.5 hours on it and exactly 32.5 of them have been hoe work hours.
2. I'm assuming (and praying) that this will be covered under warranty? I read through it the other night and it mentioned that abuse, etc. were not covered. I can't imagine the work I've been doing being called abuse; but just for the sake of argument, if it could be called abuse, why did it take 30 hours of use to break the piston?
3. Volnavy, I seem to recall that your dealer wound up getting you a whole new backhoe. I assume all of your hassle was covered under warranty? And how has the new hoe done for you? I don't expect a new hoe because it took mine so much longer to break than yours; seems like just replacing the cylinder and piston should be enough.
I'll be taking mine back to Fiser on Saturday. Hopefully I won't have to write another post Sunday and vent.