Oh, man. That sounds like the same kind of failure I've seen already on my
L3240. Maybe Kubota hasn't learned how to build a stout enough front axle yet? It's only been 14 years since my '05 was built.:confused2:
Yep, that's the one. ONLY six days? You're a regular busy beaver! Even if it took me twice that long, I'd still tackle it. Being retired, It's not about wages, but what it would cost to have someone else do it (if I could even find someone to actually do it right) vs. what else I should be doing with my time. And you make it look so easy!
That's the same ballpark I'm seeing now. I've heard some folks get the dealer to come off suggested retail by 15%, but I'm only seeing half that.
Are you happy with the traction with the R4 tires? I'm gettin' nuthin' but a runaround from the local dealer and Kubota corporate on fitting R1s for better traction on my 20%+ hillsides.
As an aside, I was late to dinner tonight because I was helping a neighbor repair the torn up loader arms on his Cat backhoe. They'd failed in exactly the same way as those on my LA724 Kubota loader, circumferential cracks around the stiffener tube welds between the two arms. But now he wants to repair another failed set of arms, this one had a pin back out on the forward end with a full bucket, which broke the weld holding the opposite pin housing and slightly twisting the arm. But at least the pivots were bushed, so once we cut the housing off the arm and weld it back in place, we can clean up the weld distortion in the housing and get a bushing back in so it'll work again. That is until the stiffener tube welds crack.
I guess you names yer poison and takes yer chance...
