Tractor front axle calamity; crisis averted?

[deezler]

A few weeks back I got a text from my neighbor buddy who I share my tractor with; "rear tire is off the rim and front axle is leaking..." Umm, what the heck? Everything was fine the day before, but, stuff happens.

His pics:





Well I spent most of my day at work panicking about how our front axle, or at least the right side drop/portal axle, was probably toast. Some of those gears and shafts aren't even readily available. The pieces that are, can be hundreds of dollars.

Unfortunately (for my buddy), I was about to embark on a 3 week vacation with my family. So the tractor would have to sit.

First I had to try to get the rear tire back on the rim. Brought it over to my shop and found a nail in it. Thankfully, after plugging the hole, the ol' ratchet strap trick worked and I got it back on the rim!





So we threw the wheel/tire back on the tractor, and limped it over into my shop. I didn't want to drive it with chewed up front axle gears, but I also didn't want to repair it out in the mosquito swarm or muggy weather.



It sat for a few weeks while we pulled our camper all around the east coast. After settling in back home in early August, I tore into the front axle.

 

[deezler]

Ok, let's see what we might be dealing with in here; never repaired anything like this before.

Oh great, there's literally 75 parts in each drop axle?!?!



Thankfully it was at least easy enough to find where the leak was coming from. The oil seal where the hub driveshaft comes through was toast.



I first cleaned it all up and drained the gear oil. Lotsa of metal bits in the oil.... dang. Then it was surprisingly easy to disassemble. Just unbolt the 6 bolts that hold the case on, and out comes the driveshaft assembly.



Gears are a bit chewed up from shrapnel flowing through them. Dang. But, they are intact, and really not too bad. Should I file them all smooth, or just leave it alone?

The culprit: the "hats" on the outer bearing, that hold the 6 ball bearings evenly spaced, somehow wriggled out and then got chewed up. The bearing doesn't support anything too well when the balls are all on one side of the bearing housing.



On the bench, I pulled the circlips and bearings. They were on that shaft TIGHT.



My final order tally from messicks, not too bad, really.



Any tips for me? words of caution/advice?

 

[LittleBill21]

throw the bearings in the freezer over night, hopefully they drop in

 

[deezler]

Things I am glad about, at this point:

- that my rear tire was easily plug-able and went right back onto the rim.
- that my axle gears were not broken. No missing teeth, just some minor scuffs.
- that my drop/portal axles do NOT share common gear oil with the entire front axle. Much less oil volume to replace right now, and no contamination or metal debris could get into the rest of the front axle
- that messicks had the bearings and seals I needed in stock, arriving today (ordered sunday night).
- that I had the courage to pull everything apart and try to fix this myself. My buddy was trying to figure out how to get it flatbed towed to a shop for a little while... I wasn't gonna pay for half of that, lol.

Do you guys think that the rear tire going flat, and coming off the rim, would have sent enough stress through the drivetrain to blow the front axle bearing? He was doing some heavy digging in 4WD. Kind of suspicious how these things happened simultaneously.

HOWEVER, we both use this machine hard. I've had the rear wheels barely on the ground for MANY a load of logs/firewood, boulders in the bucket, etc myself. The front axle has certainly seen some stress... I'm tempted to pull the other side and inspect. Only 780 hours on the tractor though.

 

[dodge man]

I was going to ask if you have counter weight on the back but in that first pic it looks like you do.

 

[deezler]

Yeah, medium-duty 6 foot box blade with an extra 200 lbs of weights, does the job well. All winter long she usually only has a 6-foot scraper blade (with maybe 100 lbs of extra weights, also) that is much less confidence inspiring for heavy loader work. And winter is unfortunately when I do most of my logging and firewood moving.

 

[SPYDERLK]

Things I am glad about, at this point:

- that my rear tire was easily plug-able and went right back onto the rim.
- that my axle gears were not broken. No missing teeth, just some minor scuffs.
- that my drop/portal axles do NOT share common gear oil with the entire front axle. Much less oil volume to replace right now, and no contamination or metal debris could get into the rest of the front axle
- that messicks had the bearings and seals I needed in stock, arriving today (ordered sunday night).
- that I had the courage to pull everything apart and try to fix this myself. My buddy was trying to figure out how to get it flatbed towed to a shop for a little while... I wasn't gonna pay for half of that, lol.

Do you guys think that the rear tire going flat, and coming off the rim, would have sent enough stress through the drivetrain to blow the front axle bearing? He was doing some heavy digging in 4WD. Kind of suspicious how these things happened simultaneously.

HOWEVER, we both use this machine hard. I've had the rear wheels barely on the ground for MANY a load of logs/firewood, boulders in the bucket, etc myself. The front axle has certainly seen some stress...[[[ I'm tempted to pull the other side and inspect.]]] ] Only 780 hours on the tractor though.

I think all you need to do is jack up and check the wheel for play fairly frequently. Failure of a cage will show noticeable play on the axle.

 

[deezler]

I think all you need to do is jack up and check the wheel for play fairly frequently. Failure of a cage will show noticeable play on the axle.

Thank you! great tip, I forgot that someone did tell me to do that initially as well.

 

[Dave M7040]

Do you know that circlips (spring clips) both internal and external need to be installed in one direction?

Installed the wrong way and there is a good chance they will come off.

This issue is so important all Kubota manuals include this info.

Dave M7040

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

A few weeks back I got a text from my neighbor buddy who I share my tractor with; "rear tire is off the rim and front axle is leaking..." Umm, what the heck? Everything was fine the day before, but, stuff happens.

His pics:





Well I spent most of my day at work panicking about how our front axle, or at least the right side drop/portal axle, was probably toast. Some of those gears and shafts aren't even readily available. The pieces that are, can be hundreds of dollars.

Unfortunately (for my buddy), I was about to embark on a 3 week vacation with my family. So the tractor would have to sit.

First I had to try to get the rear tire back on the rim. Brought it over to my shop and found a nail in it. Thankfully, after plugging the hole, the ol' ratchet strap trick worked and I got it back on the rim!





So we threw the wheel/tire back on the tractor, and limped it over into my shop. I didn't want to drive it with chewed up front axle gears, but I also didn't want to repair it out in the mosquito swarm or muggy weather.



It sat for a few weeks while we pulled our camper all around the east coast. After settling in back home in early August, I tore into the front axle.

Dont make sense. You have enough money to haul a camper all over but gripe about how much parts cost for an old tractor. Kinda like me and another fella in a 300k mile welding truck did a three week job for an oilfield company. Oh they just had to have it done. Worked three weeks night and day living out of vending machines to get it done. Oh they sent it right out. It was platforms for these 15,000 psi gas valves they use to flow gas wells with. Then this fella drove up in his PLATINUM F250 4X4 with new cowboy hat, pressed shirt, creased pants, snd those pointy toed alligator skin boots, telling us how he wasn't going to be able to pay us. I hate that crap. The welder gave his truck away to settle some debts and went to be a weld inspector for Exxon in the desert southwest. He's about to lose his house. Of course I help him all I can. He's a good fella. Oilfield companies have all seemed to be trash to deal with. When they call you after a year to do something, they'll pay you for last year before we go. Then you wait on that money. Or they say they lost the ticket and cant pay anything over 90 days old. Excuse after excuse. I'm just ranting. Those guys have trucks, campers, atv's and we have neither nor any of that. Yet, they want but won't pay. My dad told me long ago. It's one thing to not go to work and not get paid, but it's a whole other thing to work all day and not get paid.