another 4300 design flaw!

[Chilly807]

You're not alone, defed. I looked under my 3400 Kubota after reading your thread, and it's similar to the 4300. I use mine reasonably gently, but it still gets used. Mine was caked with dried mud...

Which when scraped away looks like it has a metal disc pressed in place, but it does also appear to have a lip to keep it from going in too far, as well as a cutout to help in removing the disc.

All it would take is a decent sized rock in the mud to hit the wrong place (at least in your case, not sure how durable the Kubota design is) and the disc would be displaced. With mine, the rim protects the bottom of the bevel gear drive from most impacts, but it could still happen under the right conditions.

I think you've got more of a parts design flaw than a tractor design problem. They likely corrected a leaky seal issue only to create another problem in the process. It's little things like this that cause a manufacturer to design new front ends and eventually a whole new tractor to go around it over time.

Something to keep in mind when working in deep mud..

Sean

 

[defed]

that looks like the original cap on the side that i have not had to work on. i agree that this is now more of a parts flaw than axle design flaw (tho even w/ a better cap, it's still a suspect design). but initially, i thought that the rubber lip seal was original equipment. after some searching, i found the metal cap was original, and better as far as contact w/ debris. i have to get over to the dealer and see if they know anything about the part change.