L2800-L3400 PTO Making the right choice
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tiredkubotadude
New member
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2009
- Messages
- 2
Well I got my l3400 hst in fall 2006. pto cable failed after 1.5 hours of tilling. Today the cams must have failed as i can stop pto shaft with my hand. This is outrageous that Kubota will not make good on these issues. i have 134 hours on my tractor and only 5 hours on pto.
I have been ripped off.
I will never buy another Kubota.
I will ba dmouth them every chance I get.
I will do everything in my power To talk people out of buying a Kubots.
I will back up my badmouthing with links to this and other threads on the internet with this issue .
very very upset mad disgusted
I have been ripped off.
I will never buy another Kubota.
I will ba dmouth them every chance I get.
I will do everything in my power To talk people out of buying a Kubots.
I will back up my badmouthing with links to this and other threads on the internet with this issue .
very very upset mad disgusted
Harvest Moon
Gold Member
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2007
- Messages
- 357
- Tractor
- Kubota L3400 HST-F
Hey tiredkubotadude, I almost know how you feel.
Read your other post too, it doesn't sound like you are positive yet that your cams are wrecked. I hope you're wrong.
One thing that seems to happen over and over again with this system is the cables and levers corrode stuck or stiff and the cable often stretches and needs to be tightened.
When my PTO is disengaged, it spins freely by hand. When I had my bracket replaced my only active problem was the lever on the transmission was very stiff. If I recall, it's de-activated by a spring and the spring wasn't strong enough to return it to the disengaged position. I had to craw under the tractor and manually disengage just to get the PTO to stop turning.
If you have any doubts, take a closer look and make sure all the external components are moving smoothly, especially if your machine has seen some weather... like, plowing snow. Make sure the PTO lever is doing something on the other end, preferably moving the lever on the transmission through it's full range of motion. There is a fair chance that your PTO linkage is not working properly on the outside of the machine. I think if your cams failed it would have happened while in use and you'd know it.
I've spent quite a bit of time browsing this topic and to date I still only recall one confirmed, documented cam failure, well I guess there were two? but it was on the same machine. There may be more, but not too many. There are THOUSANDS of these machines out there.
Good luck. Keep us posted!
Read your other post too, it doesn't sound like you are positive yet that your cams are wrecked. I hope you're wrong.
One thing that seems to happen over and over again with this system is the cables and levers corrode stuck or stiff and the cable often stretches and needs to be tightened.
When my PTO is disengaged, it spins freely by hand. When I had my bracket replaced my only active problem was the lever on the transmission was very stiff. If I recall, it's de-activated by a spring and the spring wasn't strong enough to return it to the disengaged position. I had to craw under the tractor and manually disengage just to get the PTO to stop turning.
If you have any doubts, take a closer look and make sure all the external components are moving smoothly, especially if your machine has seen some weather... like, plowing snow. Make sure the PTO lever is doing something on the other end, preferably moving the lever on the transmission through it's full range of motion. There is a fair chance that your PTO linkage is not working properly on the outside of the machine. I think if your cams failed it would have happened while in use and you'd know it.
I've spent quite a bit of time browsing this topic and to date I still only recall one confirmed, documented cam failure, well I guess there were two? but it was on the same machine. There may be more, but not too many. There are THOUSANDS of these machines out there.
Good luck. Keep us posted!
Altex
Silver Member
Not sure what you mean by this. Like Harvest Moon said, when it's disengaged you should be able to turn it and stop it with your hand. How else would you line up the splines with the PTO Driveline for the implement?
But, if it is the cams and not just a cable problem, 8226hamer stated a couple times earlier in this thread (a lot to read) that the cams falls under the Powertrain Warranty which is 3 years. If you got your tractor in the Fall of '06, Kubota should replace the cams under this warranty, if the cams did actually fail.
Check with your dealer and keep us posted.
cville97
New member
Just found this thread. I got an L3400HST (used S/N 56897) a few years ago and just put a tiller on it for the first time last weekend. After about 5 mintes of use I heard the grinding noise and the tiller stopped. I tried adjusting the PTO cable and it got a little better, in that it could run the tiller when it was only a few inches deep, but when I dropped it deeper into the ground the grinding was back.
I continued to adjust the cable, and eventually it broke. I just replaced the cable and now I get the same grinding noise even when I try to run the bush hog. The PTO can't seem to handle any load at this point.
I'm heading to the dealer today to see what they can do. My hope is that the new style clutch cam (P/N TC220-99990) will do the trick.
It doesn't look like the new design provides the overrunning clutch feature. If I switch to this new cam, will I need to get an external overrunning clutch? I suspect I would not need one because of the HST, but perhaps there is something I'm missing.
Anyway, I just wanted to provide another data point, and see if there was any update on this problem.
Thank you!
I continued to adjust the cable, and eventually it broke. I just replaced the cable and now I get the same grinding noise even when I try to run the bush hog. The PTO can't seem to handle any load at this point.
I'm heading to the dealer today to see what they can do. My hope is that the new style clutch cam (P/N TC220-99990) will do the trick.
It doesn't look like the new design provides the overrunning clutch feature. If I switch to this new cam, will I need to get an external overrunning clutch? I suspect I would not need one because of the HST, but perhaps there is something I'm missing.
Anyway, I just wanted to provide another data point, and see if there was any update on this problem.
Thank you!
Chilly807
Elite Member
I believe the HST is the only model of this tractor that has the over-running clutch, the DT model (gear drive) definitely doesn't. My understanding is that it's there to prevent damage to the HST transmission.
Sean
Sean
ccsial
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2005
- Messages
- 1,678
- Location
- NorthWest Illinois
- Tractor
- (Kuboto L3400) (Ford 1900 4WD w/FEL) (Deere X748SE) All bought new
I would doubt that only because Kubota is replacing the cams with non-over riding cams. I would not add an external one. I would however, be sure that the tiller has a operating slip clutch. Tillers can be very hard on PTO's.
I should mention that I have almost 400 hours on my L3400 now. Almost all using the PTO for mowing and a little snow blowing with no problems so far. Tilling goes to my 1910.
Cville, Please let us know what the dealer finds and does to correct it. Thanks.
k0ua
Epic Contributor
Sean, let me ask you this, when you are operating a rotary cutter with a lot of rotating mass, and you push in the clutch, doesn't the stump jumper and blades keep on spinning and it makes a clicking sound in the PTO area as the blades spin down?. But this energy stored in the rotating parts does NOT push the tractor forward in any way, right?.. This is the way my B7500DT worked as soon as you pushed in the clutch you heard a rapid ratcheting sound that got slower and slower as the parts spun down. I believed this to be a one-way overrunning clutch, able to be driven from the tractor end but would ratchet when the stored energy would attempt to keep the PTO sped up. So isn't this an internal overrunning clutch?
James K0UA
Chilly807
Elite Member
Mine has no over-running clutch at all. It has a 2-stage clutch however. The way it works is, the first half of the pedal travel coming off the floorboards engages the PTO clutch and spins up whatever implement you have attached. The second half of the travel is dedicated to engaging the drive wheels. Using a rotary cutter as an example, all your maneuvering can be achieved by depressing the clutch halfway and never disengaging the PTO clutch at all.
This is the way I operate now, for the first little while I wasn't used to using the 2-stage clutch and wasn't confident I was using it correctly. What I didn't like about using the rotary cutter without using the 2-stage clutch was that you were always engaging and disengaging the PTO clutch and slipping it quite a lot due to the high inertia load. Since the engine went back to idle every time you made a 2 point turn, re-engaging the PTO clutch on a quickly spinning cutter would wear the clutch disc more than I wanted. I'm all about taking it easy on things like clutches.
Now when I have to stop and turn, I use only the first half of the clutch pedal to make the turn, leaving the cutter spinning and engaged while the tractor ground speed may be nil. The engine acts as a very effective brake to bring the cutter speed down. If I plan to stop for a while and disengage the PTO, the cutter is turning at idle speed within about 3 seconds of releasing the throttle. The L3400 has enough torque to spin the cutter back up to full 540 PTO speed from idle within about 2-3 seconds as you finish your turn.
There is never any ratcheting sound at all.
There's a definite "step" in the clutch effort you can feel as you're about to disengage the PTO clutch. Very easy to drive once you get a feel for it.
Sean
This is the way I operate now, for the first little while I wasn't used to using the 2-stage clutch and wasn't confident I was using it correctly. What I didn't like about using the rotary cutter without using the 2-stage clutch was that you were always engaging and disengaging the PTO clutch and slipping it quite a lot due to the high inertia load. Since the engine went back to idle every time you made a 2 point turn, re-engaging the PTO clutch on a quickly spinning cutter would wear the clutch disc more than I wanted. I'm all about taking it easy on things like clutches.
Now when I have to stop and turn, I use only the first half of the clutch pedal to make the turn, leaving the cutter spinning and engaged while the tractor ground speed may be nil. The engine acts as a very effective brake to bring the cutter speed down. If I plan to stop for a while and disengage the PTO, the cutter is turning at idle speed within about 3 seconds of releasing the throttle. The L3400 has enough torque to spin the cutter back up to full 540 PTO speed from idle within about 2-3 seconds as you finish your turn.
There is never any ratcheting sound at all.
There's a definite "step" in the clutch effort you can feel as you're about to disengage the PTO clutch. Very easy to drive once you get a feel for it.
Sean
