B7800 - Busted Axle at 441 hours

[gerford]

My BX 23 manual it says "rear ballast must be added to the 3 point hitch " when operating the loader. Adding ballast into the rear wheels doesn't help lower the load on the front axle when the loader bucket is full. Did this ever come up in your discussion with the dealer? Are you suppose to have rear ballast on the 3 point hitch when operating the loader? If you were suppose to, that might explain the failure.

 

[RobJ]

Let me be brunt and to the the point.

Do you expect a Lifetime Gurantee.?

I guess I sort of agree with this...where is the cut off. A 10YO tractor might tick me off just the same but I wouldn't expect anyone to pay. Its just one of those rubs. And yes probably the first thing I would do is start checking into parts and prices, after getting shell shocked by the prices I might give someone a call if it was only 4 years old.

My front axle almost came off my L2500, I caught the movement and found the problem. 7 years old, 1300 hours. I just took it apart and welded it and went on. It's stronger now than it was before!

Take the free parts and run, be sure to ask about a warranty on the repair...might as well!

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/parts-repairs/109723-my-front-axle-almost-came.html

 

[DELInstallations]

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.



jk

Similar to what happened to one of my fleet vans, carrier went out in rear end, took out ring, pinion, axles, spiders and chewed up the case, in a work truck with about 60K highway miles. Used but not beaten. SOL, out of warranty and also extended warranty denied because considered "abuse" since the truck was modified by a third party (factory authorized upfitter, Adrian Steel). which changed the curb weight of the vehicle, as labeled on the door sticker they put in.

 

[KennyV]

I'm thinking of making a sticker with your busted axle picture, putting that sticker on my windshield just in front of my steering wheel. (Just to remind me, stuff will break.)
I have extra wide turfs all the way around and I try not to turn the wheel without first being in motion. Lots of strain on that spot when turning right or left, with or without a load in the bucket. KennyV.

 

[nostep]

Having weight in the rear tires does not unload the front axle. Actually having the tires filled and not adding rear weights may have caused the failure. Follow this logic.

If you made the rear tires weigh 1 million pounds, then all the weight of a loader would press on the front axle as the rear tires will never leave the ground.

If instead, you put 1 million pounds on the three point hitch, the front end would be off the ground no matter how much weight was in the bucket. I.E. no load on the front axle. (You can now adjust the actual weight for your application).

The moral of the story is, weighted wheels will keep you from tipping forward, but they do not unload the front axle. You must have rear weights, period! Consider this after your repair.

 

[Gator6x4]

In my opinion Kubota has been more than fair. The dealer has been outstanding. The question I have in my mind is will the dealer or Kubota be as willing to assist or help again if an out of warranty problem arises for this person.

 

[irwin]

Any machine can break. That's why warranties are offered when you buy something. When it happens to me..no, I'm not happy... but it was made by man, hence not perfect.
Having said that.. I'm in agreement with the "ballast on the 3pt" crowd. To take the load off the front axle there must be weight behind the rear tires. As was already stated by several posters.

 

[crbr]

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?

I tend to agree with your contention. I'd expect the same. However, Kubota continues to show their demise in customer satisfaction and product reliability. It speaks for itself to those that read about these type of incidents. I think Ray Charles could have seen that this was (apparently and evidently) a case of less than quality parts during procurement of said component. The orange continues to fade from bright color.

 

[westcliffe01]

What I'm surprised no-one has mentioned is that this is a safety critical part. The government makes manufacturers recall product if it has a safety critical systematic failure. Out of warranty or not makes absolutely no difference. All it requires is for a certain % of safety related failures to occur before a recall is triggered.

Maybe Kubota can get away with this since the tractor is operated on private property. But if a wheel falls off a tractor mowing the grass verge on the highway and kills someone, the incident will take on a whole different meaning.

If nothing else, it would be good PR for Kubota, who wants to stay in this business, to request registered owners to inspect their hubs for similar defects and bring them in for replacement when found. And go back to the drawing board and use a forging or malleable iron casting instead of a grey iron casting.

Safety related failuere are always unacceptable. Normally overloading can be determined after the fact by a metallurgist, as compared to a brittle fracture.

Glad to hear you were unhurt.

 

[milkman]

Glad there wasn't a bus load of orphan kids going by when it broke.