I Broke It $ $ $ 3400 HST

[wushaw]

RobJ, I can see exactly how he could have broke it, I looked at mine and when you have a leverage arm of what six feet attached to it and you apply xxxxamt of force to it...something will break.
Now if he would have had a subframe for a BH then I feel nothing would have happen to the case...that subframe is a great way to beef up the tractor case from twisting and all that.

For example, I have two friends that have L4330s with FELs...one with BH subframe one without..one without will dent his hyd filter from time to time from the twisting forces applied to the tractor when he's working it hard.

 

[N80]

I get that there is a lot of leverage there, but still. Make it so something not quite as 'integral' as the axle case is the primary failure point. Mine also appears to be bolted into the axle case, not just held on by u-bolts (which might be better).

The problem is that we don't know much about this case. The OP seems to have gone. Did he hit this thing while going 20 mph? How big was the branch? Etc, etc. You hear of guys ripping out the garage door headers all the time when they forget to fold the ROPS, but you never hear of broken axle cases when this happens. So, if he' easing along in 3-lo, hits the ROPS on a big branch and tears his axle case up, I'm thinking that maybe that is a design flaw/quality issue.

 

[wushaw]

Yes N80 we don't know the little details so it is just a guess on our part.

 

[JRobyn]

I thought the TUBAs were pretty tough. Right after I first got my L4330, when I still assumed it was indestructable, I was zooming about 5-6 mph down my driveway with the boxblade skimming when I caught one of the rippers in a big ridge of the rock. It busted the ripper tooth off, bent the ripper arm, peeled the ripper mount beam all the way to the back, and bounced the front end of the tractor (w/LA853 loader) off the ground. No harm other than the boxblade/ripper. Guess I was lucky to have not cracked my tubas or worse!

- Jay

 

[Glowplug]

I thought the TUBAs were pretty tough. Right after I first got my L4330, when I still assumed it was indestructable, I was zooming about 5-6 mph down my driveway with the boxblade skimming when I caught one of the rippers in a big ridge of the rock. It busted the ripper tooth off, bent the ripper arm, peeled the ripper mount beam all the way to the back, and bounced the front end of the tractor (w/LA853 loader) off the ground. No harm other than the boxblade/ripper. Guess I was lucky to have not cracked my tubas or worse!

- Jay

That probably wouldn't have put that much stress on the tractor's tubas. The forces would have to go all the way through the 3ph and tractor frame before it got to the tubas. Plenty of places for the forces to be dissipated. Now as far as your jingle bells go. . . .that's a whole different story (thread).

 

[Soundguy]

I have seen a scut rear section damaged.. by a 3pt implement that hooked an immovable object. i forget if the thread was here on on another board. but as i remember it was an orange or green tractor.. and had a CA rear section.

it's design didn't give me any 'warm fuzzies'..

soundguy

 

[ctpres]

Sorry to be so long on up-date. Managed to break my body in the intrim. Now have to deal with brused rib. Try to cover some points. I would worry about same thing hapening to anyone else with similar design (rops bolts go directly into housing). Was not mowing all that fast. Limb big enough to not break and at rops high minus about one/two inches at point of contact.Momentum carried bota under limb adding traction to rear wheels. by the time i realized I had hit something it was all over and I was still moving forward. Mowed a few more minutes and discovered oil on ground while disconnecting mower. Price of part is amazingly low (to me) $198. considering I'd just paid over fifty for a simple tie rod! I Will be doing this one my-self, just have to wait till I can return to heavy duty work. Tried once to take pic but it didn't work out. NO WELDING, I repeat it will not be welded. I do have parts breakdown and will post along with next attempt at picture.

 

[Shimon]

I Will be doing this one my-self, just have to wait till I can return to heavy duty work.

Good for you. There's nothing like doing a job and knowing it's getting done right. Not to knock the mechanics at dealers but it's a crapshoot when you take your equipment to them unless you are very familiar with the mechanic and can trust him (applies to vehicles especially...tractor mechanics seem to be a step above). Not to get off on a tangent but it usually isn't the mechanics fault for shoddy maintenance but their management.

Have fun with the project!

 

[Bill Barrett]

ctpres, glad it as cheap as that. Will be looking for your next post. Good luck, and hope you can figure out how to post pics.

 

[CDsdad]

Glad it's not as painful as feared. Glad there's no welding.

I guess now the debate will begin on whether or not you should use loctite on the bolts, or whether they actually need never-seez. And also if exposure to either of these will cause you or anyone exposed to grow another appendage. Not to mention how you plan to jack up and secure the tractor. I'll quit before I think of anything else.

Seriously, post pics of the job if you can. Good luck with it.