When you replaced the pins on the Mahindra what did you use? Did you lathe some up or find a size that worked? Have you compared the pins on the Mahindra with similar pins on your Kubotas?
Apologies in advance for pelting you with questions, but my curiosity is up now, and will probably stay that way until we know a lot more about the design and materials used in these pins. The problem with trying to figure out a fix is that pins could could look very similar and not even be close to being similar in performance and material.
rScotty
Out of curiosity what would you expect these pins to be made out of? Like a 4140 or 4150, same as gun barrels? And I guess the chrome finish is like an acid treatment or nickel?
This specialness in the pin is all done for convenience in lubrication. To provide this convenience the pin is compromised in the worst possible way. 1st, to do this at all invites copying because every greaser likes it. There is demand even in the face of seemingly random failure. By physics the design is unsound. By physics also, refinements can be incorporated to alleviate the unsoundness. However the fundamental modification is inherently bad and its unsound nature cannot be eliminated. So, since we have the motive to "copy" we open the likelihood of bad copies. They all will last for awhile; add strength blending, material and post fabrication sophistication, and then
pure beef and they last longer. One may even think the problem is overcome. ... Well maybe - but at extreme comparative cost to simply using a solid pin.
,,,,Or maybe, right at the point the problem is "overcome" an antiwear plating is added. These are harder and more brittle than the pin. That stress riser still lurks inherent in the design. The parent metal by virtue of the augmenting refinements has been doing ok. Now tho it has a hard brittle plating which cracks and serves to start a crack in the parent metal.
Hersheyfarm - IF your chrome or nickel plating extends across the groove it is a contributor to the failure. - After all this work to make inherently sabotaged pins function. - As you know, the true cost of your pin failure is huge compared to the still faulty replacement pin.
,,,,rScotty Yes, I have compared. ... The L2550 uses 1" pins, some of them drilled. They may or may not be grooved. The L3450 has a WOODS loader. It uses 1.25" solid pins.
Huge in context.
-- The Mahindra, a monster by comparison, uses 1.125" Gr5 bolt blanks for pins - some drilled and grooved. This represents one example of a bad copy. ... The fact that 1-1/8 solid is
plenty strong does not extrapolate to success on an equal pin having just a tiny bit of metal removed at the most strategic sabotage point. I used the
undrilled variety supplied by the mfg for other loader pivots to replace all the drilled pins on the SK carrier. I would like to have gone to a larger pin to increase bearing surface as well, but that is a lot more difficult. They too would have to be solid.
Bolt blanks tend to be expensive so Iv bought some loong 1-1/8
Gr8 bolts so I can use the shank if any more of the drilled pins fail. The long gr8 are cheaper than the replacement gr5 pins from Mahindra.