Price Check Looking for selling price advice for a B21 that needs a new rear axle

[4570Man]

Why not fix this one and keep it instead of trading it for half the machine? I wouldn’t doubt if the bearing is trashed but all the other parts I have serious doubts about. You’ll need a few specialty tools but tearing down an axle isn’t very hard. I’d fix it yourself. And if you’re lucky you could get it done for $100. I think the seal would be totally trashed and pouring oil not just seeping a little of the damage was nearly that bad.

 

[VTsteader]

Why not fix this one and keep it instead of trading it for half the machine? I wouldn稚 doubt if the bearing is trashed but all the other parts I have serious doubts about. You値l need a few specialty tools but tearing down an axle isn稚 very hard. I壇 fix it yourself. And if youæ±*e lucky you could get it done for $100. I think the seal would be totally trashed and pouring oil not just seeping a little of the damage was nearly that bad.

After talking with a friend who is a very good mechanic and excellent at diagnosing (who also works his Kubota hard), I've decided not to trade it in. Like you are kind of saying, he thought it was crazy that they were quoting me for parts they couldn't even see when they took a look at it. Especially, the gears which are big money. He's convinced the axle isn't even bent, he's been around enough dealership shops to know when people are possibly getting fleeced. So, we're going to take a closer look when I get it home. We'll see...

The full ROPS, FEL, wheel and fender and mainframe all have to come off to get to it and without a shop to work in during endless rain and cold doesn't sound like a good time right now!

 

[VTsteader]

Now that I am looking at the parts list and diagrams they gave me, why would they need to replace the front wheel propeller shaft and all the corresponding parts if it's the rear axel that is "bent"??? That's at least $400 in parts plus the labor of tearing it apart and putting it back together.

 

[4570Man]

Well I have zero experience working on a B21 but I wouldn’t think the repair would be that involved. I don’t know how you’d go about bending an axel and I have serious doubts about the axel or axel housing being bent. Keep in mind in making assumptions without ever seeing the machine but I’d assume the bearing failed which then took out the seal. I have serious doubts about all the other stuff failing unless maybe it’s full of bearing metal and you’ve neglected the problem for years but I doubt that because I don’t think it’s self contained oil like a truck axel.

 

[VTsteader]

I guess once I got all that stuff out of the way it might not be so bad. Yeah, I'm not sure how it could've got bent either.

 

[goeduck]

I guess once I got all that stuff out of the way it might not be so bad. Yeah, I'm not sure how it could've got bent either.

You own it, you should know. It would take something serious to bend an axle and at 1300 hours I would not expect significant wear, properly mantained. What is the history? Do you loan it out? Use it hard?

 

[rScotty]

I guess once I got all that stuff out of the way it might not be so bad. Yeah, I'm not sure how it could've got bent either.

I can't see the tractor bending it's own axle... much less damaging the axle housing. Maybe if you run over it with a dump truck that would do it.
There used to be lots of little mechanical repair shops that would do any common repair - and that is exactly what this sounds like. It's just unbolting, replacing, and re-bolting....with maybe some shimming if it really does involve internal gears. That's bread and butter for a mechanic.
Perhaps many of those independent shops are gone now - but New England is where I might expect to find one.
rScotty