L2850 Front Axle leak and repair question

[Walter Clark]

Doh...

I took the original seal and replacement to the Kubota dealer this morning. The parts guy went back to the shop with the old one and a tech came out and asked me where the sleeve was. What sleeve? Well the original seals rode on a soft iron sleeve that fit over the end of the bevel gear case covering the machined part of the casting completely and it is probably still on there...hence my problem with size. Went home and looked closely. A 2mm thick iron sleeve WAS indeed in place and looks for all the world like the gear case casting. A little work with a cold chisel and off it came. Tada! The new seal with its rolled sheetmetal sleeve slipped right in place. Mystery solved. My WSM makes no mention of steps involved in replacing either the original style seal or replacement, which would have alerted me to that sleeve. The instructions supplied with the new style seal are quite detailed as far as installing them correctly.

The newer design, especially the new sleeeve, looks like it should be way better at keeping dirt out of the seal than the old. I think dirt working in between the seal and sleeve is what caused the old one to leak so much.

 

[dfkrug]

Yeah, you can see where the sleeve goes in this photo, from 15y ago. As I recall, all the bearings slid right in and no press was required.

 

[5030]

Look at the WHM for your tractor.
From the factory these come with UDT transmission oil in the front axle. This is for the "Break in period" only as stated in the manual.
After this, you are required to switch to 90W gear oil. This should stop all leaks.

Most all Kubota manuals state either or, not gear oil. Better read it again. It's WSM not WHM. You can get a free download of the WSM on www.kubotabooks.com Much less that purchasing a hard copy

Usually the weeping radial seal weeps because there is excessive slop in either the king pin or the kingpin bushings. The seal is unable to take up much movement in the upper and lower castings. I'd take it apart and check both the kingpin (through pin as well as the bushings for wear

 

[Walter Clark]

Yeah, you can see where the sleeve goes in this photo, from 15y ago. As I recall, all the bearings slid right in and no press was required.

It looks as though the sleeve is still in place in your photo. The picture illustrates to me just how much that sleeve looks like it is part of the housing. It did just slide off once I got it moving by tapping a cold chisel around between the top and the housing to get it started. It has been there since 1985, so it wasnt about to just fall off.