B7800 - Busted Axle at 441 hours

[jejeosborne]

Now isn't it interesting that the photo shows a near match for the failure in the original post. That is, over half the failure happened some time ago as witnessed by the rusting pattern.

That suggests that the real failure happened and was not regarded as a significant event. Then, when the wheels fall off, the owner is puzzled by the seemingly innocent circumstances. The fact that the other side stub axle is cracked also furthers the point.

I'm with crazyal in his post #69 of this thread. It's not a casting, the break could have happened under much different circumstances than the ultimate failure. Also, I don't hold the maker at fault. **** happens.

And to the dealer's suggestion to just run loaded rears, that shows how infrequently such failures actually occur. But the internet being what it is, every failure gets LOTS of exposure.

At $300 for parts to put it back to right, I say the issue is out of proportion to this thread length ;-)

Thanks for your reply,
I do blame the maker for the fault. Wheels shouldn't fall off any tractor. They should be over engineered. My loader and hydraulics are stock and not asked to lift more than designed from the factory. I'm glad I wasn't on a hillside or traveling down the road when it failed. Would you chalk it up to **** happens if it were a personal vehicle, semi truck or my tractor and that rogue vehicle caused injury to you or your family? I expect anything that can go down a public roadways to be able to maintain control and a tractor not have the wheels fall off.

As far as ballast, I have loaded tires and always have a 500 lb box scraper on the back. If anything, a lot of ballast applies more stress to the front axle because it allows you to use the loader to Max capacity. Without ballast, I cannot lift much with this tractor.

 

[Tennessee 2710]

Exact same thing happened today. Getting ready to park the Kubota B2710 with about 600 hrs and the front left wheel fell off, sheared at the axle. The image you uploaded is nearly identical to what I知 dealing with. The comment about a series of bad axle castings seems to make sense.