T273 - Another broken driveshaft/input shaft

[ALKY]

still about $200 to much!

 

[Bud Soda]

Well got the shaft today. Does not have the bolts. It is only about 1 foot long. Does that sound like the right shaft?? Tractor is not here to look at.

 

[ALKY]

sounds like the shaft from the engine to hst

Well got the shaft today. Does not have the bolts. It is only about 1 foot long. Does that sound like the right shaft?? Tractor is not here to look at.

 

[Bud Soda]

I made mention of this topic in a couple other threads but thought it needed its own thread now.

So just over 2 weeks ago (5/30/14), I was helping my cousin prepare for a new lawn with my T273 and KKII tiller. I was approximately 95% done and upon engaging the PTO at a low RPM to begin a new row, I heard a nasty noise coming from directly below my feet. Quickly I was able to kill power to the tractor after disengaging the PTO did not stop noise. With these forums in the back of my mind, I almost knew for certain what the problem was and after laying underneath the tractor and reaching up to the input shaft, my suspicions were confirmed, the drive shaft was spinning on the splines of the HST. The shaft was not actually broken in half as some may have reported rather it was just spinning on the splines. Not a good sign, but I was not able to determine the extent of the damage at the time. Did you know that these machines don't move very far without that shaft? Fortunately I had a winch with me and was able to get it on the trailer after 20 minutes or so where it sat for a few days (and where it still sits today 6/16) before I could find time to look deeper into it.
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Reminder- It was just 5 weeks ago, I called my dealer about the redesigned drive shaft and was told that they have not seem many issues with the drive shafts in the 50 or so units they have sold, so I probably should not be concerned. This directly conflicts with what I am seeing reported here. Now I realize I should have done more to act on this.

The next morning (Saturday) I did get a hold of the dealer that I bought the tractor from to see if they had the drive shaft. Unfortunately the gentlemen that was working was not the fella who knows their TYM line. He was unsure of which part and I needed and needed to call me back but was sure they did not have it in stock. With that, I decided to call another dealer in the area who I have dealt with from time to time and he was able to find the part in stock (North Carolina) not local, so I went ahead and placed the order and called the other dealer back to let him know I sourced the part elsewhere.

A few days later I finally had some time to take a deeper look. The first thing I needed to do was remove the old shaft and to do that I had to drill a hole in the platform on the hump near where your feet rest. It had to be a pretty good size to get the job done, so the hole is around 4 inches or so. It allowed me to get the snap ring pliers in and pull apart the old shaft. All ball bearings were in tact but 2 things stood out quickly as a concern.
1. The splines on the HST are worn badly.
2. The shaft where the ball bearings belong was chipped near the bearing cavity and are likely a huge factor in the failure. What a mickey mouse deal as my father would say.

View attachment 379515
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Without the new part (Bud Soda - will get you the part # when I know) I have no idea if I have enough spline to work with so time will tell on that but it has been over 2 weeks and 2 calls to the dealer and I still have no idea when the part might be here. I was told it is somewhere between Nebraska and North Carolina but at this point, I wonder if NC actually had it or someone might have beat me to it and I am waiting for one from South Korea.

I am in hopes I can get this resolved without breaking the bank and will use this thread to post my progress. Right in line with most others that have posted, my tractor drive shaft failed at 428hrs.

For those that have put off checking their drive shaft, PLEASE do not put it off any longer!

Sorry about hijacking your post. Thanks for posting, if you had not I probably would not have changed my shaft until damage was done. I just put in the new shaft. No problem at all. Cut a hole in the floor with a hole saw, used snap ring pliers, removed snap rings. Removed and replaced shaft. Laying on the ground under the tractor with brakes locked I bumped the starter until the bolt heads pointed down and I tightened them up with a socket wrench. My splines look like new so I am glad I caught it in time. I have over 600 hrs now. Looking at your splines you may be ok if you slide the shaft as far as it will go on the bad end. The bolts will grip the shaft tight. If you don't get your shaft soon let me know and I will give you the name and phone # of the guy at TYM in Wilson NC that shipped me the part.
Bud

 

[Bkjohns]

myyazz33 - sorry to hear about your TYM shaft failure. My dealer had warned me a couple of years ago that the original would fail at some point any time after 250 hrs. He gave me the new style shaft ($185 at the time per the sticker) as a warranty item and I installed it myself. My 273 had been modified by the factory rep in the area to include the hole in the hump for access. Has been working great. The bad news for you is that when my dealer told me about the shaft problem, he said if it failed it would take the hst shaft splines with it and that was about a $1300 fix - they have to split the tractor and disassemble a bunch of it. If you can get the splines you have left to work you would be lucky - it doesn't look too promising from the photos. I don't think the splines are too soft, it is just all the power and rpms of the engine working against you when the shaft goes that destroys it.
Good luck with it.

 

[myyaz33]

Finally had some time to report in, unfortunately the news is not exactly positive.

So it has been 4 weeks now and I still do not have the replacement part. Unbelievable!!! (I am glad Bud Soda got his though) Ever more unbelievable is the STORY I was fed on why I don't have the part yet. I will save you readers some of my pain in the conversation and make this long story shorter. After numerous follow-up calls in the last 3 weeks which provided absolutely no information on my order status, I finally was able to make contact with my dealer again last last week and motivate him to try a bit harder to make another call to NC. This time he called me back and said he NOW was able to talk to the right person to get the new shaft ordered and the phone number he had previously was not the right one. Are you serious?, this one for me is tough to believe as I think any TYM dealer should have the contact info to the ONLY TYM distributor in the USA. Right? I am just dumbfounded here. So as it sits now, I am supposed to get the part this week (which is exactly where I was 1 month ago). Something just doesn't add up here and the whole thing has put a sour taste in my mouth.

BKjohns- I really like the fact that your dealer proactively let you know about the known drive shaft issues and you got it corrected right away but what puzzles me is that the dealer I bought my tractor from gave me the impression I should not be concerned about the drive shaft failing.

Bud Soda- Could you please forward me that TYM contact name via PM?

TYM Tractors- I would love for you to input on this thread.

 

[myyaz33]

Some good news.

Got a voice mail from the dealer today saying the part was in but unfortunately this thing called "work" got in the way and I was unable to get back in touch with him before they closed for the day. This dealer is only 30 miles away and I will reach out tomorrow morning to see what the initial damage ($) is gonna be. I say initial because I have a feeling the drive shaft alone won't suffice and the input shaft on the HST will be the real fix. Once again, fingers crossed..

 

[myyaz33]

Better news- I got the drive shaft installed and I think it will do the trick. The drive shaft telescopes an inch or two which allowed me to slide it past the wore splines onto the good splines of the HST input shaft. I definitely should have cut the hole bigger in the floor as tightening the bolts was more difficult that it should have been. Anyway getting going again reduces some of the sour taste of being jerked around. I will post some pictures after the weekend.

Bud Soda- The part number you posted is what I received. $240ish total.

Happy 4th of July!

 

[Gregster613]

myyaz33, Great news to hear! I'm glad to learn that you just might make it out of this mess without a huge repair bill, and on the 4th of July no less! I sure hope all works out for you. Greg

 

[myyaz33]

Just wanted to give an update on the broken drive shaft and follow-up with a picture to better detail the solution as I had promised. It has been a couple weeks since the fix but I have only had limited use of the tractor. That said, I really think it will solve the issue permanently as long as I got the bolt tight enough to ensure the shaft does not slip back towards the worn splines. As you will see from the picture I was able to slide the shaft on quite a ways but still leave room for a little flex if needed. One other thing to note that somebody had brought up a few years back is that the tractor does seem to be noticeably quieter without the pinging/rattling noise.