Broke my side-link.....AGAIN

[LD1]

Was bushhogging this morning and went to raise the cutter and herd a bang. Looked back and only one lift arm was raising. Yep, broke a sidelink again.

Both have been broken before, and re-welded. Last two were broke when doing some blading.

Luckily, I was only about 10 minutes from home, and was able to run home and fix. Total downtime from the job as 45 minutes, which includes running home, fixing, returning, and re-leveling the cutter.

I have an old toplink that I think I may make a spare or two out of. That is one for sure way to never break another one. These kubota sidelinks arent made nearly heavy enough IMO


Ground the thread rod to almost a point, but I didnt show that. I also added a 1/4" x 1" x 3" long strap to the one side to help strengthen it.

 

[ovrszd]

Bummer. Looks like the strap will help, long as you don't need to shorten the link past that point. curious to see if this stops the problem.

 

[LD1]

Well, its only broke twice now in 6 years, and I am pretty hard on my hitch.

Just not a very strong design IMO. The threaded rods are too small, and the solid link on the other side is only like 3/4" diameter.

I will make something stronger I think.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Maybe you could use a top link and modify it to work, something like from a Cat 3 top linkage. You could sleeve the top to fit the Kubota top linkage.

 

[mikehaugen]

When I bought my tractor the threaded rod was very stiff in the threaded tube... I could not turn the crank. I took the whole thing apart and loosened them in vise with a pipe wrench. It weakened the threads a lot and eventually the threaded rod pulled out of the tube and dropped the right lift arm. I welded it in place at equal length to the lefr arm, but now have no adjustment.

Not counting the cost of the valves, it will be cheaper to get a tnt from fit-rite than repair the lift arm. That is probably what I will do.

 

[GManBart]

Time to order a side link from Fit Rite!

 

[Coyote machine]

It's obvious why it keeps breaking- look at pic 2 where you used purple bubble gum to hold it together!:laughing:

What do you do that stresses them enough to break them?

 

[k0ua]

Well hey, the good news is, it ain't no "thang" for a man with a welder.:thumbsup:

James K0UA

 

[k0ua]

Ha!.. dang 'bota's held together with Purple Bubble Gum... what is the world coming to

 

[LD1]

Maybe you could use a top link and modify it to work, something like from a Cat 3 top linkage. You could sleeve the top to fit the Kubota top linkage.

That would be overkill. Just a standard cat 1 toplink from TSC is about twice as big as my side link, and has the right sized hole already. I'll go snap a picture of a TSC cat I link next to my side link....

When I bought my tractor the threaded rod was very stiff in the threaded tube... I could not turn the crank. I took the whole thing apart and loosened them in vise with a pipe wrench. It weakened the threads a lot and eventually the threaded rod pulled out of the tube and dropped the right lift arm. I welded it in place at equal length to the lefr arm, but now have no adjustment.

Not counting the cost of the valves, it will be cheaper to get a tnt from fit-rite than repair the lift arm. That is probably what I will do.

I'd have over a grand invested by the time I got two remotes installed, and then the TNT kit. Dont really want to spend that much on something I would rarely use. I am sure I would use it more if I had it, but I dont think I would see a grand worth of time savings and use out if it for quite some time.