Disaster down below

[Rick_Taylor]

/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gifI have suffered a small disaster. My 425 has broken the lower front mount for the ball bushing, the main connection from the front to the rear section.

This happened while mowing a berm, around some trees, letting the PT swivel and articulate and generally 'do it's thing'. Just before it broke I'm thinking "Cool, I'd like to see your JD or Kubota do this". I had no warning, it just felt like I'd dropped a rear wheel into a hole so it took a few yards of travel to realize I had a problem. What I felt was the bottom of the seat ripping the oil tank cap to shreds.

I called PT and talked to Don. He said they'ed had a few ball bushings break before but always on older models, never on one only 1 1/2 years old, with 450 hrs. Of course it is out of warranty.

Don said the entire piece would be sent and that the old one would need to be cut off the front frame and replaced. The only crevat was to carefully measure the location before cutting. Unfortunatly he only sent the inner part so I'll have to call back Monday.

I'll try to attach a photo.

 

[Abitnutz]

Wow! That's ugly. What's the recomended way to deal with it? Is it still under warranty? If so, what do you do to fix it since there is no dealer netwwork?

 

[pajoube]

Rick,
Sorry to hear of your tractor problem. Keep us posted as to how this turns out and what you end up doing.
PJ

 

[Rick_Taylor]

Thanks for your concern. Tommorrow (Monday) will tell alot. I'm trying to be nice about this but it seems to me that when a piece of equipment breaks it's frame, and renders itself unusable, with only 450 hrs. it should have some backing from the manufacturer. We shall see. Those wondering about buying a PT without any dealer network might want to watch this space.

 

[bryce]

Rick. That looks really nasty! Did you ever find the part thats missing? I wonder how they get the ball in the socket? It looks very shiny, does it need to be lubed? Keep us informed. Robert

 

[MossRoad]

Ouch! /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Sorry to see your situation. Is the broken half on the front half of the tractor, not the side with the oil tank? If so, it shouldn't be that hard to repair. The stub will have to be cut or ground off. The bolt will have to be removed and the joint taken out of the bracket. Then, I don't know how you would choose to weld the new joint on. Should they install it with the bolt, then level both halves of the tractor and weld it on maybe? As long as you have a good welding shop around, you should be OK. Let us know how it goes, please.

 

[davesisk]

Unbelievable! Man, I've had my old 1418's rear end sticking up in the air from trying to lift too much weight in the bucket many times...I'm amazed this happened. I think I had asked on TBN once when I first got the PT if it were possible to break it in half, given the articulated joint. The general concensus was "probably possible, but highly unlikely". Looks like you've definitely proven it is indeed possible! And it doesn't sound like you were doing anything all that stressful on the machine either. I'd position this as a manufacturing defect when you talk with Power-trac, especially since the machine only has 450 hours.

Good luck!
Dave

 

[Charlie_Iliff]

Rick:
Can you get it to Tazewell? Although it looks like a fairly simple cutoff and weld job, certainly Terry or one of the others at Power Trac already knows exactly how it is mounted and can do it faster and you know it'll be right.

 

[MossRoad]

Charlie, do you think it is that critical on the alignment, as it is a flexible joint? It seems that if you were off a few hundreths either way, it might not make a difference. Am I missing something? Many of you have much more experience with repair and fabrication than I, so feel free to edjumcate me in public... /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[Charlie_Iliff]

David: I actually don't think it's critical at all. It's just that Terry can probably do the whole job in a couple of hours because he already knows exactly how it fits and works, where a welding/ fabricating shop would be learning the machine as well as repairing it and would have to spend more time making sure the bolt went through and the machine would oscillate and articulate properly. PT would also know what needed to be detached and moved aside to avoid damage from the welding process, since they would know where the hoses and wires run, etc. (Maybe nothing needs to be moved, but certainly a close look and some thought is in order before applying heat.)