A little disappointed with Kubota

[fried1765]

Maybe you could fill the oblong hole with weld and use a debur to resize.

This seems like the obvious fix to me.

 

[newbury]

Those are stud piloted not hub piloted wheels, a pia. Too late now to do anything as the wheels are pooched, you won't be able to keep them tight. Thinking out loud, wondering if you had used conventional wheel nuts, tapered seat which would have kept the wheel centered on the stud.
Lockwashers are crap IMHO, only time they come into play is if the nut comes loose that is if they don't break first. The Jinma that I had used them everywhere, I changed the bolts and nuts out to 10.9, used 10.9 flats and Loctite..............Mike

The manual shows what I consider "standard" conical faced lug nuts.

And lockwashers are not crap, crap has value as a fertilizer. NASA did a study showing lockwashers are useless.

Maybe you could fill the oblong hole with weld and use a debur to resize.

HARD weld, then use the oem lug nut.

/edit from the Nasa study - https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19900009424.pdf

The lockwasher serves as a spring while the bolt is being
tightened. However, the washer is normally flat by the time
the bolt is fully torqued. At this time it is equivalent to a solid
flat washer, and its locking ability is nonexistent

.

And Lock Washers Useless? : AskEngineers points out that lockwashers can split, thus making things even worse.

 

[jeff9366]

Consider Nord-Lock washers. Note two washers are required, one under bolt head, second under nut. I buy Nord-Locks off eBay.

LINK: Nord lock washers - Google Search

 

[oosik]

You are trying to keep the wheel/nut tight with a flat nut. I don't think that will be possible. Your experiences are an example of the results.

All the nuts on all four of my wheels have a conical side that meets the hole on the wheel/disk. As the nut is tightened to its required torque value two things happen - the torque value holds the wheel on the hub - the conical portion of the nut will center on the hole and keep it from moving/wobbling, etc.

Thirty eight years with this exact situation - never a problem such as you are experiencing.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I have to tighten wheel lugnuts on my L3940 also.

 

[bdhsfz6]

This is of little help to you but for what it's worth, five of the six Kubotas I've owned (3000 hrs combined) use this type of wheel nut. BH and FEL on all with moderate to heavy use and I have yet to see this problem. I run R4 tires though which may break traction before there is enough strain to cause movement under the wheel nuts.

 

[SirMaxwell]

I think if mine were coming loose, I'd probably get a couple nuts for the studs, build up/grind a slight taper. (Like a car lug nut for centering the wheel). Are your studs double-nutted?

 

[tomplum]

On our little LS tractors, some had the nut / washer combo. When I installed a set of spacers, I brought longer bolts through from the back with conical 16mm nuts. It worked well. It is a bummer that you may be dealing with wheel repair. BTW 16MM x 150 nuts are used on the old Range Rovers too.

 

[KTAC]

Jeff9366 - Based on what I've read, this isn't covered by KTAC. KTAC is property damage insurance and does not cover wear and tear or mechanical breakdown. This appears to be an equipment issue not something caused by hitting something.

 

[Deere Dude]

If your nuts are seating properly, I would definitely use blue locktite to keep them tight. I had a bad nut and wheel experience because I was going to wait until 50 hours to retorque them. Luckily I caught it before the wheel was trashed. I bought new bolts and nuts, locktited them and torqued them and never touched them again in 800 hours of moderate to heavy use.