Disappointed in my Deere for the first time.

shoppintractors · Sep 30, 2004

I'm pretty sure the rear housings of both of my CUTs are iron..... 

hmmmm.... You might want to double check.

Don

Kyle_in_Tex · Sep 30, 2004

Gary, Sorry about your problem.

I too looked online at jd parts and axle housings were priced at some $275 or so..

PS. A few months ago, some poor fellow posted pic's of his Kubota where the whole cast iron top link had busted off the rear "pumpkin" exposing those pretty spiral bevel gears inside...
poop happens.

Bob_Skurka · Sep 30, 2004

Don . . .
Well I'm at work and both tractors are at home. But I know the Kubota is iron, and given how heavy the NH is, I'm pretty darn sure those are iron. Pretty much everything else is iron on the NH tractors so I would find it very odd if the the rear end was not. NH is not a ladder frame tractor, it is built very similar to the old AG tractors with the iron housings holding everything together. I think a lot of people don't understand how heavy the NH tractors are, that is one reason why I didn't load the tires on mine. I know several comments have come from folks commenting on how light they are, but the little NH tractors are within a few hundred pounds of the little Korean tractors in terms of weight. And for that matter the little NH is within a few hundred pounds of my larger Kubota.

Now again, I suppose I might be wrong and the NH might be a lightweight alloy, but I don't really have the desire to drive all the way home to double check.

 A few months ago, some poor fellow posted pic's of his Kubota where the whole cast iron top link had busted off the rear "pumpkin" exposing those pretty spiral bevel gears inside...
poop happens. 

Kyle, I remember reading that. I'm not sure if he was boxblading in reverse and hitting things, or if someone else had done that? There was some question of abuse and some question of possible warrenty coverage. It was a heck of a mess, the gears were all visible and in tact, but the housing was simply cracked right off. And I guess further proof that iron can break just like aluminum.

slowrev · Sep 30, 2004

Was not targeting you Bob, Just had your post up last. Sorry for any misunderstanding. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif Would have quoted you and named you if picking on you /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Ben

Bob_Skurka · Sep 30, 2004

Was not targeting you Bob, Just had your post up last. Sorry for any misunderstanding. Would have quoted you and named you if picking on you

Ben 

Well I didn't take any offence, but I did think you were responding to me. No harm, no foul.

RobS · Sep 30, 2004

The guy with the hole in his Kubota was running a logging winch if I recall.

Seems there was another guy with a broken Deere axle housing in the past year. I'll try a search.

And Gary, very sad to hear of your tractor troubles. I know exactly how it feels when a prized tool bites the dust /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

RobS · Sep 30, 2004

Here's a fairly recent one...

MY JD 4400 axle housing

Here's the one I remembered...

4300 repeatedly breaks turnbuckle

Again Gary, best to you in your solution /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Hey BTW, if you want to take this on yourself I'd be happy to help make it a TBN-Midwest chapter get-together. Nothing like a good project to rally around /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

QueBota · Sep 30, 2004

Here is the link to the Kubota with the cracked case. Ouch!!!

Kubota L4610 Cracked Case

Dave

keeney · Sep 30, 2004

The problem with attempting to repair an aluminum part by welding it is not the welding, its the heat-treating. Unless you have an annealing oven, you are unlikely to be able to restore the welded area to its originally tempered hardness.

With a heat-treated structural aluminum like 6061-T6, you might have 30,000 psi strength. Once you weld it, the weld itself and the area around it will revert to the O state - unhardened. Very soft. Like maybe 7,000 psi strength.

For example, people who build bicycle frames out of aluminum typically have to heat-treat the whole frame after it is welded to make it strong enough.

Thats also the reason why aircraft skins are rivited together and not welded.

I am not so sure about cast aluminum, but I assume it can be heat treated after casting as well and that something like a housing that the 3-point arms mount to would be a heat-treated part.

So, if the part is designed to rely on the strength of being heat-treated and you do weld it, it may hold the oil in, but the weld is likely to be so soft that you will easily break it again.

- Rick

Gary_in_Indiana · Sep 30, 2004

Well, today brought me pieces of news both good and bad. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

I took the tractor to a weld/machining shop recommended to me and, after expressing his shock and horror that Deere would use this material for this purpose by the owner (who, as it turns out, has some antique tractors) that he could weld it but wouldn't want to because he didn't believe it would hold under the strain. Additionally, he said he wasn't certain he could do it on the tractor. That was the bad news.

The good news from him was that he believes he can fabricate something that will be stronger and utilize the two 16mm bolts on either side of the housing. The bad news is that, for him, this only qualifies as a "side job" and gets attention only after 6 PM when his regular clientele isn't likely to need him for some emergency. Worse than that, his "side job" board is full for the next three weeks. Nonetheless, I gave him my number and told him to get hold of me when he was able to get it in.

I got back to my office and had a message from my Deere shop manager and returned his call. He apologized for an error he made yesterday when we spoke. It turns out that the broken lobe is on a smaller, separate piece (just as was posted here last night) called the "LH axle housing" and is $245 (the RH version is $265, for whatever reason, as I recall). Also, instead of three days labor, it's more like three or four hours. That still eats up the better part of a five hundred dollar bill but it's way better than the three grand I thought I was looking at yesterday. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I'd barely hung up from talking with him when my buddy from Caterpillar called to ask what the weld/machine shop had told me. After we discussed that and I told him about the corrected Deere pricing he volunteered, "Well, just get that now and I can put it on for you." /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

As you can well imagine, I put him on hold and immediately called the Deere store back and got it ordered just under their stock parts cutoff at 4PM so it'll be there in a week with no added freight charge. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif Interestingly, this part is a different part number than the OEM piece it replaces. I can't help but wonder if it's improved or just a different supplier. I'll know next week and post what I find.

I'm meeting my buddy from Cat later today and showing him the tractor (still on my trailer) and giving him my shop manual so he can see what all is involved before the part arrives. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Quite a roller coaster ride on this deal, to say the least. The bottom line is that I'll probably be back up and running 100% with about $400 spent instead of seven or eight times that as I initially feared. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

Even with that, I'm still not thrilled with Deere on this. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif