Guys raised the front wheels off the ground slowly turned the wheels and nothing. Checked the differential housing and it was low on fluid 1 1/2 quarts. The steering knuckle gear box both sides was at the bottom of the treads at the inspection plug which was full. UDT in all three places which means factory shipped wet. The noise only occures under the weight of the tractor at speeds 1 to 2 mph can't hear it beyond that rpm due engine noise. Probably still there.....
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M9540DT front 4x4 axle noise
- Thread starter Ob1kubota
- Start date
- Views: 4506
txhog
New member
Patiently waiting for the verdict?
Okay here's the latest.... My Dealer came to the house and listened intently at the right side of the axle. He heard it but didn't know what to think. We tightened the wheel lugs ( both studs and rim depth retainers) okay, nothing loose. We checked the differential and steering knuckle fluid levels, okay and he said the M series are shipped for Georgia wet anyway and checked again at PDI. Levels were perfect! We raised the wheels off the ground and slowly rolled the wheels over...absolutely no noise! @)(@^@%^^@**(@_&*%$@)@ Dealer makes me put in writing to Area Kubota Service Rep what I think is wrong...... Huh! Okay here goes.... extremely low hours and running out of warranty by time because I'm afraid of additional damage if I continue to run it. Rep says run it! It's not broken in yet.... I say, is there any friction modifier additives in the differential. Rep says ... WHAT? I say I've never seen a lock up axle without it..... Conversation starts going South if you get my drift at that point. So (being the mechanic I am ) it going to get Chrysler's friction modifer added to the UDT whether Kubota likes it or not and purchase an electronic stethscope and roll along side it on a creeper until this THING shows up. Remember it sounds like a tire cracking thats low on inflation setting in bright sunlight heating up as it rolls along at 1 mph. Like the tire is developing a zipper! Guys it ain't the tire inflation its perfect.....
art
Super Member
It would be interesting to pull it apart! I think it still sounds to me like a bad bearing cage or damaged one. I don't believe you need to add the chrysler fluid at all, and I wouldn't recommend it, it would be nice to hear it.
Art I haven't added the friction modifier, I called it Chrysler but it's manufactured for Dana axles, Eaton, Etc., I don't believe it will hurt but it may not help the noise. Here's the Deal, at 15 hours on the unit Kubota says they won't pay for the trip to the Dealer ( 100 miles round trip, twice ) plus if they find nothing inside, I get to pay for everything including the labor. Wow what a warranty! Wife says get a lawyer, I say run it to the point of destruction or until it clearly shows its ugly self as for what it is. I own six kubotas and to be honest, I have had something wrong with all of them straight out of the box. If I didn't need them I'd sell them all and move to a garden home. Stay tuned this will be a good one to tell all. Kubota says they have had no warranties on these axles, you bet, I'm waiting to hear from others. I'm sure this is the one in 10,000.... right. Sad thing, not a lot of Kubota owners even know about this Forum to report it.
Getting down to the wire now on warranty and getting desperate to find this noise. I purchased a TUMLD 300 Amprobe utrasonic detector and safely rolled back and forth under the tractor with the wife rolling backward and forward with shuttleshift in the seat to take readings hoping to find the bad bearing but here again nothing to report. Wife gets brain fart and says let's swap the tires (LOL) I said their R1s and directional ( Titan 12.4 x 24 for an 11" rim Tru-Grip Lug) Guess what, we swaped the complete wheel rim with tire left to right and the noise followed. It was a good brain fart she had because we found it! Okay we swapped them back and I checked the Disk bolts one more time and all were around 200 ft Lbs so here again I can't explain the noise but we sure are glad it's not internal on that big 'A' axle. One odd note I like to make to close out this post is that the Tire is for an 11" rim but mounted on a 24 x W 10. I'm going to research this back on the original specifications to see if this is the standard tire rim combination and attempt to put to rest the tire creep noise, I initially heard from the seat almost two years ago now. Why isn't the other wheel/tire combination making the same noise? They are exactly the same. Talk about a freak thing, just my luck. ole Ob1....got to go, R2-D2 at it again, mowing my back pasture with a John Deere.... Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
art
Super Member
It wasn't but about ten years ago we found that a wheel center piece was forged wrong! It worked everything including the rim to get it bend to it's shape. Broke two rims before we knew what was going on, we replaced the first with the thoughts of the loader destroying the front rims from use. The second time after installing while operating at a slow speed you could watch the tire moving from side to side while driving.
With a bent rim etc, you could be hearing it working the bolts while moving. Double check to see if all is straight across the flange areas.
With a bent rim etc, you could be hearing it working the bolts while moving. Double check to see if all is straight across the flange areas.
Thanks Art!!!! What a tip here, yes I will check it out with a dial indicator for out of round asap. I told my dealer what I found and he could have cared less and all he was worried about was his cost to replace or some type of warranty claim. I calmed his fears and said thanks for all his help and well read between the lines, I won't go back! Its the Dealer not Kubota. I've learned my lesson leaving my county for a deal that my local dealer would have found months ago with due diligence on the complaint. And oh yes, the wife did so good thinking out side the box, she gets two new machines out of this. A mega deal on a ZD326P-60 and a GR2110-54 for helping Kubota realize we need the 0% for 42 months to keep on tractoring..... thanks Art again for your wisdom.
