In fact I fixed my front axle leak today on my M4700. If you have a loader then just pick up the front of the tractor and put some supports under it. Pull the wheel, split the tie rod (I used a wood splitting wedge)
I opted to take the whole unit off and take it home. 5 Bolts hold the entire knuckle to the axle. There is a o-ring seal so no gasket to speak of.
Once at the bench, drive off the bottom plug.
Take off 1st oring you get to and drop spline.
take off second o-ring and pull out the whole top including the seal.
Seal was bought at Kubota and they told me it would look different and it did. It is a bit more bulky than original.
Take out old seal, make sure it is all gone
Drive in new seal.
Put on top.
Replace o-ring
Replace spline
Replace oring
Put in NEW plug.
Bolt onto tractor.
Now the real story. The new seal was a real BITC$ to get in, even with a press. I had to take the whole knuckle to the Kubota tech and he said he had never seen one as tight but once in place (pressed) and the first snap ring in place (while on the press) it went together in less than 5 minutes. The tech said that they had been having a tough time getting the seals in since Kubota had changed them a bit. Can't confirm but the parts guy and the tech said same thing. I do believe them.
Nice to see some M owners out there. They sure are nice tractors. The 5cyl is a very smooth and powerful engine. I have been so pleased with mine even with small glitches. Of course it is 10 years old so what did I expect.
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