It is not broken on the end it is broke underneath wher it comes out of the splines , not on the splines but where it widens out to come over and go down to the rod that moves the deck up and down . No i have never had the mmm. on with the backhoe. as far as the tractor itself i really like it , its just the little things, like the cover on the battery. It is way ahead of the old one in ways , the fel. is alot simpler to put on the 2200 was easy but this one is really easy. I have no clue as to how this was broken . i was mowing when i was done i was taking the deck off and found it when i was haveing trouble. I talked to the dealer and they are going to fix it as a warranty isue. As for the creep i guess i can deal with it , the salesman and mechanic said kubota didnt want it adjusted out, dont know if thats B.S. or not, anyone else ever heard of such a thing.