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.
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.
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!
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. 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.
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!
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