B2400 Front Spindle Assembly

[Pks]

It appears that one of the oil seals (part 060) on the front spindle (part 010) has grown a leak and needs replacing. The picture from the parts book shows a relatively simple arrangement. It looks to me like removal of the 4 bolts holding the spindle to the axle, will allow the spindle to drop easily away without additional tools (especially special ones).

Has anyone opened up this assembly before? Is it as straight forward as it appears?

 

[B2400]

Do you have the work shop manual or just a parts manual? I have the WSM and it appears(as always) that it's a rather drawn out procedure to replace that seal. If you send me a PM with your E-mail address, I'll attempt to send you the two pages out of the WSM that show the disassembly. They do appear to be rather vague in showing how to do this but You can see how it all comes apart.

 

[Pks]

Thanks for the offer of the pages from your Work Shop Manual. I have one, but have not had a chance to look at it yet. I have 2 parts manuals, one as a PDF file and the other is a hard copy.

So it looks long and drawn out eh? I was hoping for once, it would be simple. Luckily it doesn't leak very much. But it's going to be replaced sooner rather than later.

 

[boluca]

I just had the same seal start leaking on my 3 year old B2410.
I started to repair it myself but because of the poor pictures I took it to the dealer.
The good news is they repaired it in 2 days.
Total $127.
2 1/2 hours labor at $35/hour, the rest was the seal, oil and tax, etc.

 

[B2400]

It's probably not that bad, but If I tried to explain it you would fall asleep before I got to the end! /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif Apparently there is a snap ring at the bottom of spindle which must be removed to access the seal, so the ring gear and housing must be separated from the spindle holder( terms used are not those of Kubota!!!) Good Luck and let us know how you made out.

Mike

 

[Pks]

I haven't been able to figure out when to perform the repair yet. I suppose it will get done before the end of May. I'll keep everyone up to date.

Thanks for the assistance.

 

[canuk]

Funny, I just took my Kubota B1700 in for the same seal repair. The dealer claimed that the problem is usually caused by a failed bearing which allows the seal to distort, thus causing the leak. They said that removal and reinstallation of a press fit object (presumably the bearing) needs to be done so they didn't recommend that I attempt it myself. They've been good in the past and I don't have time to do it myself, so it'll be interesting to see how much it ends up costing.
My machine has reached 550 hrs and usually does most of it's work in the winter, plus I've been moving a lot of heavy stuff, so a bearing failure wouldn't be surprising.

 

[Pks]

Last summer I was moving many yards of sand, some of which I think got into the seal. In a few instances, I was upto my front axle in sand.

After I fix this seal, I'm going to cobble up a rubber boot for the spindle to help keep the sand out. Thanks for the input. I'll be sure to double check all three bearings and shims in that system.

 

[canuk]

In case someone is interested the cost to repair the leaking front spindle on my B1700 ended up at $360CDN. That included replacing essentially all of the bearings and the two shafts enclosed in the lower housing. The cost was split about 1/3 parts, 2/3 labor. The suspected cause is dirty oil, even though it's been changed yearly and not used in a signficantly dirty environment.

 

[Pks]

Dirty oil? What were the symptoms that led to the repair?

 

[canuk]

The right front lower axle housing was coated with and dripping oil. I only noticed it when the snow finally melted and I could see the drops on the ground. During the winter the front hubs would get warm and melt any accumulated snow, thus appearing wet (or ice covered) all the time. The dripping oil would melt through the snow and then get covered up by the next snow fall.
There was no evidence of the problem during operation.

 

[Pks]

That's somewhat similar to how I found my leak. I could only see the slight trickle of oil when it fell on the garage floor. In the snow, it just disappeared from view.

And of course, this is one more reason I need a bigger garage. "Oh wifey-pooh, can I have a bigger garage...PLEASE" /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[canuk]

I suspect my leak was mostly caused by the large hole and terraces I'm excavating in my backyard hill which will accommodate my future garage! It's amazing how much soil my little tractor will move over a few years at 5 cubic feet per bucket load. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Warren

 

[Pks]

I did something like that too; but twice. I figure I put 200 hours in the saddle just moving sand around.

The first job was at the old house for a 30x50 barn. I had to dig into the hillside in order to get enough floorspace. The second job was to remove a 40x80x4 hill in the backyard in order to make the yard more useable. We plan to install a garden and fruit trees.

I think I'll create a new maintanance policy: hose down the tractor each time I'm finished digging for the day. Maybe that will help keep the sand out of the gizmos.