B2620 Mower deck problem.

CJBOTA · Jul 8, 2012

We bought a new B2620 with a 60" mower a couple months ago to use primarily as a mower. About 3 weeks ago after my wife finished mowing I noticed the left front anti-scalp wheel bracket was broke. The weld joint broke on the end nearest the wheel. (not where it welds to the deck) Upon closer inspection I made two observations, 1) It is not a great design, 2) It was a bad weld. The reason I say it is not a good design is because it necks down at the wheel. The bracket is stout at the deck but since it necks down, it is not nearly as strong at the wheel. The reason I say it was a bad weld was because of the way it broke. There was absolutely no weld fusion at the joint. It broke clean all the way around the joint.
Anyway I scolded my wife for not being careful, and paid my dealer to weld it back on.
So yesterday I was mowing and all of a sudden I heard a big cabang and saw the the wheel on the other side shoot out from under the mower deck. Upon inspection I found it was the same failure we experienced on the other side. I am 99% sure I didn't catch the deck on anything seriously severe.
I work for a heavy machine builder. (rolling mill equipment) I am going to show this failure to one of our certified weld engineers and ask for his opinion. I will probably have our weld shop weld it on correctly. I will probably tell my dealer and Kubota about the problem but I am not looking for a fight. I am 62 years old and most of the fight is out of me. I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this problem. I am ony my 5th Kubota tractor and overall I am more then satisfied with Kubota. However, this is about my third minor problem. My dealer is great and they fixed the other two under warranty. Do you think I should just fix this or ask my dealer to correct the problem?
CJ

V1Rotate · Jul 8, 2012

It depends on which is more convenient, taking it to the dealer or taking it to the shop where you work.

s219 · Jul 8, 2012

Is it possible that the brackets are intended to break that way to prevent more serious damage if a wheel hangs up? The way you describe the bracket, it almost sounds like they intentionally made a weak point. Just a thought.

Gator6x4 · Jul 8, 2012

CJBOTA said:
We bought a new B2620 with a 60" mower a couple months ago to use primarily as a mower. About 3 weeks ago after my wife finished mowing I noticed the left front anti-scalp wheel bracket was broke. The weld joint broke on the end nearest the wheel. (not where it welds to the deck) Upon closer inspection I made two observations, 1) It is not a great design, 2) It was a bad weld. The reason I say it is not a good design is because it necks down at the wheel. The bracket is stout at the deck but since it necks down, it is not nearly as strong at the wheel. The reason I say it was a bad weld was because of the way it broke. There was absolutely no weld fusion at the joint. It broke clean all the way around the joint.
Anyway I scolded my wife for not being careful, and paid my dealer to weld it back on.
So yesterday I was mowing and all of a sudden I heard a big cabang and saw the the wheel on the other side shoot out from under the mower deck. Upon inspection I found it was the same failure we experienced on the other side. I am 99% sure I didn't catch the deck on anything seriously severe.
I work for a heavy machine builder. (rolling mill equipment) I am going to show this failure to one of our certified weld engineers and ask for his opinion. I will probably have our weld shop weld it on correctly. I will probably tell my dealer and Kubota about the problem but I am not looking for a fight. I am 62 years old and most of the fight is out of me. I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this problem. I am ony my 5th Kubota tractor and overall I am more then satisfied with Kubota. However, this is about my third minor problem. My dealer is great and they fixed the other two under warranty. Do you think I should just fix this or ask my dealer to correct the problem?
CJ

I am not familiar with the middle mount deck that attaches to the B2620. Is it a "Ground Contact" or a "Float" deck. It sounds like the deck is carrying the weight of the tractor and when you are mowing and go over a slight indentation in your lawn the deck trys to raise or go up and cannot causing damage at the weakest point, anti-scalp wheels. Park the tractor on a level source, lower the deck and turn the tractor off. Try and raise the deck with either your hands or a wooden pry source. Will the deck raise or is it locked in the down poisition? If you do not have freedom of upper movement the deck is not installed correctly and you will continue to crush the deck and damage the anti-scalp wheels with the weight of the tractor. A large un-even area could also cause suspension damage.

s219 · Jul 8, 2012

Gator, the B series decks are floating.

zook · Jul 9, 2012

I have this same setup and have hit the wheels on stumps and such with out any problems with them falling off..Mine is a few years old.

CJBOTA · Aug 19, 2012

My dealer welded the bracket back on. That was about a month ago. I have put 100 hours on it since then and both front wheels have busted off. I am going to talk to my dealer on Monday. Not sure what to do. I think maybe I bought the wrong machine. I knew we were going to mow a lot, but I wanted something that I could also use as a 2nd tractor. Personally, I think Kubota should replace this deck. I used my 3205 cub cadet for 10 years and never lost a deck wheel.
I am going to ask them what they think about taking the wheels off? Since they don't support the deck it should work without the wheels. The reason I think they should replace the deck is because they keep breaking at the weld joint. The design is not that good because it is a highly stressed point. When you add a poor weld on top of that you will get failure every time. The welders at work tell me the weld should be as strong as the parent material. The material is not bending or breaking, the joint is breaking clean. I must say I expected better on a $14000 lawn mower
Cj

AceDeuce · Aug 19, 2012

I had the exact same thing happen to my bx a few years ago. And I agree about the weld quality... I know i didn't hit anything, it failed from what i would call normal use. Apparently Kubota has had this problem for a while. The dealer claimed there was nothing defective about the weld but I know better. Had them weld it back and it has held since.

I look at my tractor as a swiss army knife. It can do a little bit of everything but nothing really well. If all I needed was something to mow I would've gone with a z-turn. The mmm gets the job done. Still, no excuse for bad manufacturing quality.

GPintheMitten · Aug 19, 2012

I noticed one of my front deck wheels was "out of alignment". Upon closer inspection it was due to the weld breaking. I pounded it back in place and welded it. It's holding strong now.

I think your dealer should re-weld these for customers but I don't think they should replace the whole deck.

Matt_Jr · Aug 31, 2012

I try to mow with the deck wheels just off the ground. I don't really think they're there to support the deck, but to stop scalping when mowing over uneven terrain. since they don't swivel it puts a lot of strain on them as they dig into the dirt while going around turns.