B7800 - Busted Axle at 441 hours

[kennyd]

As far as the rear ballast - filled tires add approximately 400 lbs to the rear. It is listed as an acceptable rear ballast in the manual, and was recommended by the dealer. What does your Deere suggest regarding weight for the rear ballast?

I don't have the numbers handy, but they definitely want weight on the 3PH to balance to load. Having weight there is more beneficial since it is farther behind the rear axle moving the fulcrum point away from the front axle.

 

[Ob1kubota]

I have had my B7800 for 4 years and a day as of today (8/3/09)! Last week, while cutting my yard, my tractor dropped to the ground and my right front wheel kept on going! I was amazed, disappointed, and pissed off - all at once! I got off the tractor & was shocked to see the axle hub snapped! I attached a few photos of the damage to share with you folks. I called my dealer (Golden Eagle in PA) & the first thing he asked was if I was injured. He was great with me on the phone & assured me that things would be taken care of. He sent a truck out to pick it up & check things out.

When he got the tractor to his shop he also pulled the left front wheel & noticed that that hub was cracked too. He stated that you could tell the crack was old on the right wheel from the rust on the crack. He had a factory rep come in to evaluate it. The reps first response was that it was out of warranty & nothing would be covered. He then agreed to cover parts only.

I spoke with the Kubota rep (Jeff Svec) today who seemed troubled by my call. He didn't understand why I expected anything more than Kubota covering the parts since it was out of warranty by "more than a year". I explained that I wasn't complaining about a burnt bulb or a mower belt - the AXLE BROKE! I guess I am a little odd in the fact that I expect the axle of the tractor to last a bit longer than 4 years - especially since the axle had been cracked for some time according to the dealer. Needless to say I am a little disappointed when I consider that I also own a $1,000 Craftsman tractor that is 5 years old & I have had no major issues with it. Again, I expect a bit more from an $18,000 piece of machinery. Maybe I should have held on to the 50 + year old Farmall & Ford 8N tractors that I had. They managed to last that long without breaking.

I then spoke with Jim Carroll (fantastic demeanor & very professional) who stated the same - parts, but I have to pay labor. He agreed that the issue didn't come from abuse, otherwise Kubota wouldn't agree to pay anything. I don't agree with his decision, but I give him high praise for how he does his job. I asked him to split the labor costs, which he denied.

Am I nuts? Again - I know I am out of warranty, bt I consider the following:

- invest 18K for tractor, loader, mower
- tractor maintained & NOT ABUSED - admitted by dealer & rep
- major malfunction in drivetrain - broken axle hub on one side & cracked on the other
- dealer stated the cracks have been there for quite some time

The labor cost is going to be over $500.

I put it to you folks - do I expect too much?

Thats a casting defect from the day it left the foundry. You are a careful operator or it would have failed long before now. I'd like to see more photos but from what I see it's not shockloaded. These days with margins tight Kubota will only come to the party with parts. You are lucky and KennyD's plan about getting your hands dirty makes it fun to learn more about your B series. Even a four year GREEN warranty would only offer parts at this point in the units 400 plus hours and age. Believe me the grass isn't GREENER on the other side when stuff like this happens.....

 

[twodogs]

I have a B3030HSDC with just over 400 hours and have had two problems and each cost me a little over $500.00 to have fixed. The tractor was off warrenty and I paid the bill no questions asked. One was the electronic controller and switch and the other was a broken line from the hydraulic pump running back to the 3pt hitch.

Wow! I would be extremely disappointed in my tractor if I were in your shoes. I bought a Kubota because it is supposed to be reliable. $1000 in repairs with only 400 hours sucks. How old is the tractor?

 

[Sparkyca]

Had a similar situation myself with a differnt color (Green), carrying a log in the bucket, hit a ditch and cracked both front wheels. I doubt if there were ***two*** defective wheel units on your tractor that ***both*** failed the same time. Odds are against you on that. I suspect you had a similar situation to what I had where I paid the $1,000 because it was my own stupidity.

You may not even remember the situation, or it may have been the one time you loaned your tractor to your neighbor.

 

[Charlesaf3]

Had a similar situation myself with a differnt color (Green), carrying a log in the bucket, hit a ditch and cracked both front wheels. I doubt if there were ***two*** defective wheel units on your tractor that ***both*** failed the same time. Odds are against you on that. I suspect you had a similar situation to what I had where I paid the $1,000 because it was my own stupidity.

You may not even remember the situation, or it may have been the one time you loaned your tractor to your neighbor.

That's an interesting point...

I have a thousand pounds in my rears. Still carry the box blade for more rear ballast doing loader work. Kubota pushes having weight on the rear pretty hard per what I recollect from the manuals as well - not just deere. THe physics follows all tractors, as mentioned above.

Broken hoses (b3030 above) certainly happen. 500 to repair seems high. I lost a hose on my m59 - messicks sent me a new hose, turned the wrench and fished it, and it was all good. A pain, but hose fittings sometimes don't take, or hoses get pinhole leaks. Worst thing was diagnosing it.

 

[twodogs]

Had a similar situation myself with a differnt color (Green), carrying a log in the bucket, hit a ditch and cracked both front wheels. I doubt if there were ***two*** defective wheel units on your tractor that ***both*** failed the same time. Odds are against you on that. I suspect you had a similar situation to what I had where I paid the $1,000 because it was my own stupidity.

You may not even remember the situation, or it may have been the one time you loaned your tractor to your neighbor.

Sparky -

How long did you own the tractor before you broke the axle? How many hours were on it?

Both wheel hubs didn't fail at the same time - one did, the other is cracked & failure is emminent. I won't sit & say that I remember every hour that I was on the tractor, but I can say with all certainty that I never abused that machine. I used it, but I took extremely good care of it - as my dealer & factory rep attested. I believe that there was a defect in the product, otherwise it wouldn't have failed. I do believe that one should expect an axle to last MUCH longer than that. I would bet that landscapers & other professionals beat the tar out of their machines & they don't fail with so few hours or years on them - unless there is a defect.

From reading the posts of others, I guess I should be happy that they are covering parts. I can't help but think that one should expect more given the circumstances.

 

[Sparkyca]

4 1/2 years old, 133 hrs.

 

[twodogs]

4 1/2 years old, 133 hrs.

OUCH!

 

[powerstroke444e]

I would agree Kubota treated you very well. I would ask do you haul your machine on a trailer and chain it down with binders? (IE over tightended the straps/chains) Then hit a big bump? Just think of the stress you put on the axle when you go over board secureing it to the trailer with over sized chains and binders, then hit a big pot hole or let the trailer hit a curb.
$500 in repairs in a year would be cheap for anything I run/own.

 

[jk96]

I can understand your frustration as I had a similar situation with my Ford F250. I think parts is fair. Its a written warranty with specific terms of length. Considering Kubota has no idea what has been done to the tractor (you may have taken care of it but they have no way to verify), I would say your pretty lucky to get parts covered.

My 05 F250 blew a transmission at 105,000 miles. Happened backing up, snap ring slipped and knocked a hole in the case. I couldn't even get a core fee back because of it. Ford had a service bulletin as it was a known issue for the 05 model and was a relatively easy fix. The bulletin only went out to those who had a snow package because of the constant forward and reverse usage. Since I didn't have the snow package, I didn't get the bulletin (the rest of us don't use reverse often ) and it was never fixed. It technically was not a recall either so no coverage by Ford. Had to shell out $3,700 for a transmission that was never abused and only 5,000 miles out of warranty. Too late to make a long story short but take your parts and count your blessings.

jk