Gotta split my B3200 to replace a $7 seal, great....

[kuboman]

Oh holy crap. All that because some engineer could not engineer a drive shaft to come off.
Glad everything has worked for you so far. :thumbsup:

 

[Verticaltrx]

Darn shame you had to split it just for that seal. But glad to hear everything is working out so far.

Oh holy crap. All that because some engineer could not engineer a drive shaft to come off.
Glad everything has worked for you so far. :thumbsup:

What's a real shame is they used a roll pin that was a 1/2" too long which caused the problem in the first place.


One other thing I have to add on this situation is the WSM (shop manual). While generally useful, despite the terrible English/grammar, there are somethings they tell you to do leaving me scratching my head wondering WTF? Like in the section on splitting the tractor to access the clutch, they have you drain the radiator, and engine oil, and remove the hydraulic cooler and radiator over flow jug. All that is completely irrelevant to the splitting of the tractor for clutch/transmission work.

They also claim you need a steering wheel puller to get the wheel off, but the wheel is made of rubber, lol. Not sure how well that would work, luckily after removing the nut mine slid right off.

Anyways, not a big deal, just a reminder to think about what the manual is telling you to do before doing it. Not sure if some of the stuff was lost in translation or what, who knows.

 

[Johndeere3720]

Thanks, it was a fairly large job, but when you just start tearing it down one part at a time it's fairly straight forward.

Glad it is all working out. I too am working on a bit of a project, I'm re-powering an Allis Chalmers 610 lawn tractor with a 15 hp Briggs. :thumbsup:

Allis Chalmers 610 re-power - TractorByNet.com

 

[dntfxr]

I had to replace the same seal on my b7100, and it was the same ordeal had to split the tractor. The previous owner left it in the weather and the seal was dry rotted on mine. The bad thing is I was able to get almost enough play to remove the shaft but not quite enough to avoid splitting the tractor. The experience sure helps to learn more about how everything works though!

 

[crazyal]

Since you have done this much work to it are you going to put a shorter pin in it or have you looked into making a simple shield to keep grass from getting in there to begin with?

 

[herringchoker]

Glad you got 'er done, but what a major piece of work to correct a stupid problem. Now, preventive work is on my proirity list so this doesn't happen to my B7800. Thanks very much for posting this. :thumbsup:

 

[Verticaltrx]

Since you have done this much work to it are you going to put a shorter pin in it or have you looked into making a simple shield to keep grass from getting in there to begin with?

Already done, see post #16.

Glad you got 'er done, but what a major piece of work to correct a stupid problem. Now, preventive work is on my proirity list so this doesn't happen to my B7800. Thanks very much for posting this. :thumbsup:

Good idea, I'm hoping that people will see this thread and fix the pin problem before it causes them as much grief. It should be an easy fix, just drive the pin(s) out from the bottom, grind/cut them to the right length, then drive them back in. There is plenty of room to do that under there, just not to get the shaft out. Also, really only the roll pin at the engine end is the culprit, the one at the HST end is well protected from any grass. One thing to note, you'll need a couple properly sized punches to get the roll pins out, they are in there pretty tight. Also, it is actually a roll pin inside another, drive the inner one out first, then drive the outer one out. Not sure why the were so concerned about pinning the shaft so well, considering that it's impossible for it to come out.

 

[Don87]

Already done, see post #16.



Good idea, I'm hoping that people will see this thread and fix the pin problem before it causes them as much grief. It should be an easy fix, just drive the pin(s) out from the bottom, grind/cut them to the right length, then drive them back in. There is plenty of room to do that under there, just not to get the shaft out. Also, really only the roll pin at the engine end is the culprit, the one at the HST end is well protected from any grass. One thing to note, you'll need a couple properly sized punches to get the roll pins out, they are in there pretty tight. Also, it is actually a roll pin inside another, drive the inner one out first, then drive the outer one out. Not sure why the were so concerned about pinning the shaft so well, considering that it's impossible for it to come out.

Spinning at 2800 rpm's, trust me, if the roll pin came out the shaft would come off. Probably take a lot of splines with it also.

 

[jakell2010]

At least you didn't have to do it outside,,,,,,

 

[KDD]

Good idea, I'm hoping that people will see this thread and fix the pin problem before it causes them as much grief. It should be an easy fix, just drive the pin(s) out from the bottom, grind/cut them to the right length, then drive them back in. There is plenty of room to do that under there, just not to get the shaft out. Also, really only the roll pin at the engine end is the culprit, the one at the HST end is well protected from any grass. One thing to note, you'll need a couple properly sized punches to get the roll pins out, they are in there pretty tight. Also, it is actually a roll pin inside another, drive the inner one out first, then drive the outer one out. Not sure why the were so concerned about pinning the shaft so well, considering that it's impossible for it to come out.[/QUOTE]

Sorry for your problem, but thanks alot for the heads up as I also have a B3200. Would there be a problem with cutting them off while the pins are still in the shaft?

 

[Verticaltrx]

\
Sorry for your problem, but thanks alot for the heads up as I also have a B3200. Would there be a problem with cutting them off while the pins are still in the shaft?

If you could get a little tool in there to do it it would be fine. Maybe a little dremel tool with either a cut-off wheel or a grind stone. Just be sure not to grind into the CV joint/shaft too much, the metal is pretty soft.

 

[jnjpream]

How much more did the yoke have to slide down the shaft before it would clear and come off the transmission shaft?

If it wasn't much 1/4 or less, I would have suggested that you get a die grinder with a cut off wheel and lengthen the splines a bit to get the yoke to slide down enough to clear the shaft.

Something else that again it is too late for, and if you hadn't ground the splines already, would be to bring the shaft to a local machinist an have him tool up a slitting saw to cut the splines (equally on both ends) enough to allow the yoke to clear the transmission shaft prior to reassembling it. If it ever happened again you wouldn't have to split the tractor again.

Oh well, here's to a job well done :drink:

 

[Verticaltrx]

How much more did the yoke have to slide down the shaft before it would clear and come off the transmission shaft?

If it wasn't much 1/4 or less, I would have suggested that you get a die grinder with a cut off wheel and lengthen the splines a bit to get the yoke to slide down enough to clear the shaft.

Something else that again it is too late for, and if you hadn't ground the splines already, would be to bring the shaft to a local machinist an have him tool up a slitting saw to cut the splines (equally on both ends) enough to allow the yoke to clear the transmission shaft prior to reassembling it. If it ever happened again you wouldn't have to split the tractor again.

Oh well, here's to a job well done :drink:

The problem wasn't as much with the length of the splines, but the fact that the little CV/couplers had a bottom in them and could physically only be slide a little bit on the shaft before they bottomed out. Even with both couplers slid together as much as they could go it still lacked about 3/4" of coming off.

Let's hope it doesn't happen again. :thumbsup:

 

[crbr]

Let's hope it doesn't happen again. :thumbsup:

You did the right thing by fixing it correctly regardless of the work involved. And too, I got to see how you split a tractor.

 

[cal1]

My neighbor suggested cutting the HST driveshaft and fitting it with a sleeve with pins or screws in it for easy removal. Not sure how much torque is on this driveshaft but it seems like it only turns a pump in the transmission. Why not a steel tube that would fit over the cut ends with screws that you could remove? He is a shipyard welder by trade so his approach is to fix things so problems don't reoccur. I'm certainly not an expert but wondered if anyone has taken this approach? I haven't looked closely to see if we have enough clearance. Seems like it should have originally been designed something like this. Ordered the manuals more than two weeks ago and they just came in today.

 

[oldballs]

You guys are better mechanics than me. I wonder what that would have cost to have the Kubota dealer fix it? This sounds like the jet planes that are brought down by a bird in the engine. Such a simple thing as some hay on the drive shaft sounds like poor engineering for a "Tractor" that is suppose to work in the field. IMO.

 

[Verticaltrx]

You did the right thing by fixing it correctly regardless of the work involved. And too, I got to see how you split a tractor.

That was my feeling, especially on a machine that is so new I just couldn't bring myself to do any cutting or modifying on it. It did take a long time, but why risk something going wrong by rigging something up.

My neighbor suggested cutting the HST driveshaft and fitting it with a sleeve with pins or screws in it for easy removal. Not sure how much torque is on this driveshaft but it seems like it only turns a pump in the transmission...

That shaft is actually the one that powers the entire tractor, transmission, PTO, everything, so it does see quite a bit of stress, basically how ever much torque the engine can put out.

You guys are better mechanics than me. I wonder what that would have cost to have the Kubota dealer fix it? This sounds like the jet planes that are brought down by a bird in the engine. Such a simple thing as some hay on the drive shaft sounds like poor engineering for a "Tractor" that is suppose to work in the field. IMO.

Well, by the time I get the loader brackets back on I'll have 8hrs of labor in it. So I'm guessing for the dealer to do it anywhere between $600-800 in labor, plus parts (they would probably mess up some other stuff in the process), plus 'shop supplies'. I'd bet the bill would be close to $1000. I actually do have Kubota insurance on it still, so I probably could have gotten it done for free, but in all honesty I don't trust any dealer mechanics enough to work on my equipment. More than likely it would have come back in worse shape than it started.


So an update on the progress:

I got the tractor completely back together today minus the loader frame. Started it up and everything is working well, only leak I have is a fitting at the HST filter where the hyd. cooler line goes into it. Some how I lost one of the o-rings (it is supposed to have two back to back) so after I pick up a couple it should be good to go. One other thing I found that I thought was unusual was the wires to the dynamo are both blue, on both the male and female ends. I guess it doesn't matter which way you hook them up since they use the same connector and have no markings? Didn't say anything in the shop manual about it, and everything seems to work, so I guess I got it right, IDK.

 

[hawkeye08]

I expect that some of the fixes mentioned would effect the balance at that speed. Cleaning up the pin sticking out seems to be the best fix. Those seals should last a very long time without the hay/debris wrapping around them.

 

[NH-Rob]

I have a b3200 as well and used it to sickle bar mow some grass Wednesday and ended up with the same problem as the original poster. I am not sure what I am going to do about fixing it yet. I do have the insurance from kubota. I am sure I could do the job myself but I hate the idea of it. My tractor only has 112 hours on it.
Robbie

 

[Verticaltrx]

I have a b3200 as well and used it to sickle bar mow some grass Wednesday and ended up with the same problem as the original poster. I am not sure what I am going to do about fixing it yet. I do have the insurance from kubota. I am sure I could do the job myself but I hate the idea of it. My tractor only has 112 hours on it.
Robbie

If you are mechanically inclined enough to consider doing the job (and you have the resources) by all means do it yourself. Otherwise pick the dealer with the best service department, pay the $250 deductible and you won't have to worry about it.