Broken bolts on front axle

[dirtymartini]

Just got my 4047 back after losing it in a divorce. I had a thread going on the trailers and transportation section.

Upon getting it home I wanted to give it a good grease and inspection. When I got to the right front I found this, three out of the five bolts holding the front drive to the axle were broken. Has anyone separated the drive unit from the axle? Is there just a splined drive shaft running through or is there more to it. I thought if I separated the drive I could get at the broken end instead of laying underneath and trying to drill, then easy out.
Any advice would be appreciated. Here's some pics.

 

[zzvyb6]

One of the more interesting ways to deal with this I have seen was a guy welded a new (smaller) bolt section to the broken off internal sections. The heat released the rust & corrosion and an impact wrench pulled out the broken pieces. No need to disassemble. The other option is with 'easy-outs' punched into a carefully drilled centered hole in the broken studs. But you still need to release the rust. Shock heat works the best.

 

[airbiscuit]

Any guess on how that happened

 

[ultrarunner]

Not having easy access to a welder I have had success with liberal use of penetrating oils followed up with a left hand drill bit.

As the left handed bit bites it applies force in the same direction needed to back out the bolt.

 

[Asteral]

Just got my 4047 back after losing it in a divorce. I had a thread going on the trailers and transportation section.

Upon getting it home I wanted to give it a good grease and inspection. When I got to the right front I found this, three out of the five bolts holding the front drive to the axle were broken. Has anyone separated the drive unit from the axle? Is there just a splined drive shaft running through or is there more to it. I thought if I separated the drive I could get at the broken end instead of laying underneath and trying to drill, then easy out.
Any advice would be appreciated. Here's some pics.


HERE IS A BREAKDOWN DIAGRAM OF THAT FORNT AXLE AND HOW IT COMES APART HOPE THIS HELPS.

 

[GS650GL]

I have seen broken axle bolts like this a few times, usually caused by the bolts loosening over time. Just fixed the same issue on a MT235HE. Luckily the bolts were not rusted in, thats why they came loose and caused the problem. Only the heads broke off so when the housings separated, I could spin the part that stuck out with a small thin channel lock pliers and unscrew them. I only had to drill one that broke off flush with the housing. Came out easily with an extractor. If you do need to remove the end axle housing, yes it has a splined shaft inside that slides out. Now when I service the tractor, I always check these axle bolts as well as loader frame bolts and wheel nuts to make sure they are tight. I know a few people that had these axle bolts break and there was even one bolt missing that came loose and fell out, and nobody noticed it until the others broke off. Low strength Loc-tite is a good thing.

 

[CalG]

I would pull the part after removing the wheel assembly. You are going to want to know is the bearing and shaft have suffered.
Less than 15 minutes to break it down, It will save way more time than that dickin' around.

 

[dirtymartini]

I have seen broken axle bolts like this a few times, usually caused by the bolts loosening over time. Just fixed the same issue on a MT235HE. Luckily the bolts were not rusted in, thats why they came loose and caused the problem. Only the heads broke off so when the housings separated, I could spin the part that stuck out with a small thin channel lock pliers and unscrew them. I only had to drill one that broke off flush with the housing. Came out easily with an extractor. If you do need to remove the end axle housing, yes it has a splined shaft inside that slides out. Now when I service the tractor, I always check these axle bolts as well as loader frame bolts and wheel nuts to make sure they are tight. I know a few people that had these axle bolts break and there was even one bolt missing that came loose and fell out, and nobody noticed it until the others broke off. Low strength Loc-tite is a good thing.

Thanks for the reply. I think I'm in the same boat, it looks like only one bolt broke below the surface. I'm going to give it a shot. I had a similar problem a few years ago with the loader frame bolts. I will definitely blue loctite them when it goes back together.
I usually keep a lookout for these things when I grease the machine but a friend had the tractor for a couple years and I don't think it got much maintenance love lol.

 

[dirtymartini]

I would pull the part after removing the wheel assembly. You are going to want to know is the bearing and shaft have suffered.
Less than 15 minutes to break it down, It will save way more time than that dickin' around.

Thanks, I'm going to give a try on Sunday...it's supposed to be close to 100 degrees today.

 

[5030]

After the fact but I hope you washed the crud from around the assembly before you took it apart. That sandy crud will destroy anything inside the assembly if it gets in there..