L4310HST Air Cooled Transmission

   / L4310HST Air Cooled Transmission #1  

HCROW

Member
Joined
Sep 21, 2015
Messages
31
Location
Cadillac, MI
Tractor
Kubota L4310HST
I was out Sunday cleaning up a bit in the horse pasture and while backing uphill, I heard a loud crack and the sound of fluid pouring out of the rear of the tractor. I had the back blade attached, but it was in the full up position and no other load. Any idea on what caused the issue seen below? Any chance that either piece can be successfully welded? Any words of advice besides hiding by belt and shoelaces?
 

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   / L4310HST Air Cooled Transmission #2  
Sorry but looks expensive.One question;have you been "pushing" with your back blade rather than pulling?
 
   / L4310HST Air Cooled Transmission
  • Thread Starter
#3  
Sorry but looks expensive.One question;have you been "pushing" with your back blade rather than pulling?

No. I just got the back blade and have only pulled some frozen horse crap with it.
 
   / L4310HST Air Cooled Transmission #4  
I was out Sunday cleaning up a bit in the horse pasture and while backing uphill, I heard a loud crack and the sound of fluid pouring out of the rear of the tractor. I had the back blade attached, but it was in the full up position and no other load. Any idea on what caused the issue seen below? Any chance that either piece can be successfully welded? Any words of advice besides hiding by belt and shoelaces?

Wonder if it is possible that the internal rockshaft assembly got out of adjustment- and at max lift the internal hydraulic ram broke the housing??

Looks like you could source a new rockshaft top plate and try and have the rear axle top piece welded or brazed back into position, but the cause really needs to be determined first.
 
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   / L4310HST Air Cooled Transmission #5  
G'day OOUUCCHH sorry to see that I think I would be looking for a wrecker somewhere that might have a rear end I reckon for it to be welded correctly it needs to be all stripped down first and then I would be very suspect on the parent metal not cracking right next to the weld after it has cooled or worse 10 mins after you start using it again. Whatever you do good luck with it and if you manage to get it welded please pop some pics up afterwards I would be very interested to see it.


Jon
 
   / L4310HST Air Cooled Transmission #6  
When you were backing up the hill did you hit a bump and bounce the back blade?
 
   / L4310HST Air Cooled Transmission
  • Thread Starter
#7  
Wonder if it is possible that the internal rockshaft assembly got out of adjustment- and at max lift the internal hydraulic ram broke the housing??

Looks like you could source a new rockshaft top plate and try and have the rear axle top piece welded or brazed back into position, but the cause really needs to be determined first.

I had that same thought.

Would a dealer take it as-is on trade?
 
   / L4310HST Air Cooled Transmission #8  
I go along with sd455dan the feedback not set right.
 
   / L4310HST Air Cooled Transmission #9  
Based on what you said, I vote defect in materials and workmanship.
 
   / L4310HST Air Cooled Transmission
  • Thread Starter
#10  
The tractor has just over 2,100 hours, of which I have put on maybe 50.
 
   / L4310HST Air Cooled Transmission #11  
I noticed that two separate castings broke here. The lower case and the top cap / shaft bearing.

And look close, there is a crack at the left bolt mount in the second picture. Can't see if there is a corresponding crack on the right side.

For different pieces to fail, and for cracks to appear around that bolt mount in a separate location from the big cracks, it suggests to me that some extreme load was applied to the 3-pt. More than it could handle.

If I saw just one crack or cracks in one place, I'd think material defect. But to see multiple cracked pieces and some cracks in separate locations, that has to be from an extreme load.

I don't think the internal 3-pt hydraulics could do damage from the inside -- shouldn't they go into relief long before the mechanism has enough guts to break itself apart from the case? So that makes me think this was an external load or shock.
 
   / L4310HST Air Cooled Transmission #12  
I suppose a possible scenario is that something broke and came loose inside the case, and then was forced up into the case by internal gearing/rotation, and blew the case apart.
 
   / L4310HST Air Cooled Transmission #13  
Did any of the first 2,050 hours of use involve a 3pt mounted backhoe?
 
   / L4310HST Air Cooled Transmission #15  
Sorry to see this, HCrow. This most likely resulted from some form of overload or shock loading on the 3 point toplink. In fact, there was a Grand Lxx10 that had exactly the same failure in a thread here on TBN a dozen or so years ago, complete with pictures looking nearly identical to yours. That one was from misuse of a logging winch, I think, but a 3 point backhoe would certainly be another attachment prone to such overloading of the toplink, and it's certainly possible to put extreme loads on the toplink in many other ways also. I wish I could locate that old thread.

Since I own the same tractor and used a logging winch, it certainly got my attention, and I've always made sure that pulling forces from the 3 point were as much as possible directed at the lower arms and not the toplink. It's water over the dam now, but Kubota offered toplink reinforcing kits for their B, L and Grand L models, which I also installed on mine, to minimize the chance of such failures. The early 2000's, when these tractors were sold, was the time when higher horsepower compacts were increasing in popularity and I've often wondered if this design - used on standard L tractors from the 1980's up to current models, was really adequate for the heavier Grand L tractors. When the next generation of Grand L's came out (the Lxx30's in 2003), there was a completely redesigned, much heavier 3 point mechanism.

I think a full repair would be well worth its cost, simply in re-establishing a decent sales value for that tractor. Some detective work at some salvage yards might turn up a replacement.
 

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