You did the right thing by fixing it correctly regardless of the work involved. And too, I got to see how you split a tractor.
That was my feeling, especially on a machine that is so new I just couldn't bring myself to do any cutting or modifying on it. It did take a long time, but why risk something going wrong by rigging something up.
My neighbor suggested cutting the HST driveshaft and fitting it with a sleeve with pins or screws in it for easy removal. Not sure how much torque is on this driveshaft but it seems like it only turns a pump in the transmission...
That shaft is actually the one that powers the entire tractor, transmission, PTO, everything, so it does see quite a bit of stress, basically how ever much torque the engine can put out.
You guys are better mechanics than me. I wonder what that would have cost to have the Kubota dealer fix it? This sounds like the jet planes that are brought down by a bird in the engine. Such a simple thing as some hay on the drive shaft sounds like poor engineering for a "Tractor" that is suppose to work in the field. IMO.
Well, by the time I get the loader brackets back on I'll have 8hrs of labor in it. So I'm guessing for the dealer to do it anywhere between $600-800 in labor, plus parts (they would probably mess up some other stuff in the process), plus 'shop supplies'. I'd bet the bill would be close to $1000. I actually do have Kubota insurance on it still, so I probably could have gotten it done for free, but in all honesty I don't trust any dealer mechanics enough to work on my equipment. More than likely it would have come back in worse shape than it started.
So an update on the progress:
I got the tractor completely back together today minus the loader frame. Started it up and everything is working well, only leak I have is a fitting at the HST filter where the hyd. cooler line goes into it. Some how I lost one of the o-rings (it is supposed to have two back to back) so after I pick up a couple it should be good to go. One other thing I found that I thought was unusual was the wires to the dynamo are both blue, on both the male and female ends. I guess it doesn't matter which way you hook them up since they use the same connector and have no markings? Didn't say anything in the shop manual about it, and everything seems to work, so I guess I got it right, IDK.