Foamed the front tires; broke the 4WD?

[Henro]

Shortly after foaming my front tires, my tractor started dropping out of 4wd back into 2wd. Now it seems that the front wheels don't engage at all even though the lever "feels" like the gear is set.
Have I overtaxed and wrecked some part of my transmission adding the weight to the front wheels by filling them with foam?

Thanks in advance.

My front tires on both my tractors are foam filled. The B2910 for about 19 years and 1800 or so engine hours, which equates to about 2200 or more actual use hours. Never had an issue. So I agree your issue is likely not related to foam filling the front tires. I keep the B2910 in 4WD 99 percent of the time.

What tractor do you have by the way? IF you mentioned it, I missed it...

 

[Zxyrthe]

I highly doubt the two are related. Do you regularly use 4WD?

I do (use 4WD frequently).
Thanks!

 

[Zxyrthe]

how many hrs on your machine? ever happen before? how long after loading ft tires did the 4wd issue occur?

Less than 250hours. Seemed like I lost power pulling almost immediately.

 

[Zxyrthe]

I once lost the 4wd on my L2550DT and found I needed to replace what I call the "coupler" in the shaft as well as one shaft running to the front axle. Like this Coupler 4WD Front/Rear MF 4000 Series | New and second hand tractor parts, AgSpares.
The splines were gone and under load it would spin. Of course I had about 5000 hours or so on it so maybe just normal wear. I only put it in 4WD when necessary but this appears to be the "weakest link".
Posting your tractor info may be helpful.

Thought this was included in with my profile pic. The tractor is a Kioti CK20HST. Less than 250 hours.

Thanks!

 

[Zxyrthe]

As other said also believe early signs wear...do you have shop manual.

Owner's manual, but no shop manual.
I'll try to internet a copy though.

 

[Texasmark]

Unrelated....However, loading is weight on the ground making for better ground contact. That means that the fronts are doing more of the work. Published tractor manual data states that the front axle is a "supplemental" driver, not your major carrier. So yes you increased it's proportion and if you do a lot of FEL work with a full bucket and don't have the rears loaded with an implement, liquid loaded, or wheel weights, you just added that much more to the front's load.

Tire ratio plays into that too. Published data states that the ratio should put a SLIGHT advantage to the fronts, meaning they are geared to pull so that the handling will not be compromised. If the rears were leading they would be pushing the front around and steering would be less precise.

 

[crazyal]

Is the front driveshaft going to the front axle exposed? If so I would put it in 4wd and jack up one front tire. Try to turn it by hand. If you can then see if the driveshaft is spinning. That should tell you if the problem is in the front axle or the transmission.

 

[ultrarunner]

Foam Fronts not recommended on my BX23 so only did rears and noticed a big improvement.

 

[RickB]

If the foam added as much rigidity as some foam products do it's entirely possible the drive failure is related to the foam filling.
foam filled tires on wheel type skid steers in conjunction with steel over tire tracks is a big no-no due to accelerated wheel bearing wear and the potential for broken axles.

 

[5030]

I've replaced at least 3 splined couplers on my M9's over the years. Easy to do and they are designed to wear instead of the prop shaft or the hypoid gear where it enters the front case (at least on the big Kubota's) I always grease the coupler and replace the roll pin too. You can always tell when they are failing. thy start ratcheting and will do it in 2wd or FWA, don't matter.