Bent rear axle. Options?

SPYDERLK · Jun 6, 2014

timebak said:
Just over two weeks ago I bought a well-used BX2230 with 1500 hours. It was all I could afford, and I bought it "where is, as is". I've bought several used tractors over the years, so this ain't my first rodeo. Anyway, two days ago I noticed when mowing the one very small flat area of my yard that the left side of the cut varied up and down somewhat, or so it seemed. This afternoon I dropped the deck so that I could give it a thorough servicing and decided to check out everything under the belly of the tractor. The brakes needed adjusting so I had the tractor up on the lift to give me more working room, and I spun the rear wheels by hand.

I noticed the left rear wobbling quite a bit. But I wasn't too concerned because I thought it was probably a warped wheel, but it got to eating at me, so out comes the impact wrench and off comes the wheel. I spun the right side and watched the left side and the dang left axle is bent. Measuring off the top flange of the hub, it's got a total of 0.282" of runout in it, which equates to 0.141" of warpage in the axle.

The way I see it, I've got three options:
1). Take it to a dealer and let them fix it, which probably means a transaxle teardown and replacement of the axle. I have no idea what that might cost. If anyone can give me a swag on that, I'd like to hear it.

2). Tear it down and fix it myself, replacing the bent axle. Again, I have no idea what parts might cost or how difficult that might be. I've rebuilt quite a few engines, a couple of automotive transmissions, have plenty of tools, a cool garage to do it in, and I have a shop manual for the tractor.

3). Try to straighten the axle myself without tearing down the transaxle. My initial idea would be to set the axle down on a heavy duty jack stand placed up close to the outboard end of the transaxle housing, next to the outer oil seal. Rotate the axle so that the warpage is upwards (the maximum displacement of the flange is at the highest vertical point). The jack stand would serve as a fulcrum to greatly reduce the load on the transaxle housing while bending the axle/hub downward. To bend the axle, I'd make a tool by fabricating a heavy "hub" plate that has the wheel lug hole pattern in it, then weld a stout pipe or beam to the fabricated hub plate, plano-perpendicular to the plate. Then bolt the hub-plate of the tool to the axle hub with the lug bolts (or regular hex bolts with the proper thread pitch and diameter). Then, with the warpage upwards, and the axle stand in place as a fulcrum, push downwards on the end of the pipe or beam "handle" of the tool and, if all goes well, I might be able straighten the axle sufficiently without snapping it off or fracturing the transaxle housing. Any ideas if this might work?

I'm open to suggestions, and I'd really like to hear from folks that have really been into some of the BX and small sized Kubota transaxles and have BTDT.

Also, I noticed when I got the deck off, that both the left side and right side deck lift latches and linkage have been welded on. And the deck appears newer than the tractor. I'm wondering if this tractor didn't fall off a trailer going down the highway.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Tim

You have a fourth option. Leave it alone.-- Better than straightening.

timebak · Jun 6, 2014

MessickFarmEqu said:
if you are ordering the parts for this, talk to Les in our service dept. We will talk you though doing the repair.

Thank you! I definitely will. I placed the order with you on Tuesday, the 3rd. I ordered all the parts for the axle replacement, parts for the main drive shaft, a complete new set of gauge wheels and some other deck parts, plus some normal maintenance items. The service was great! Thanks again. Tim

s219 · Jun 7, 2014

MessickFarmEqu said:
if you are ordering the parts for this, talk to Les in our service dept. We will talk you though doing the repair.

:thumbsup:

timebak · Tuesday at 5:44 PM

By the way, Replacing the rear axle turned out to be about an hour job, with no prior experience doing it, and that included draining the trans/hydraulic oil. Cleaned the new axle and put it in the deep freeze the night before. Next morning, warmed up the bearing in toaster oven on low temp. Took frozen axle out of the freezer and warmed-up bearing out of the toaster oven. Dropped oil seal and outside C-clip onto axle, being sure sharp edge of C-clip was facing out, towards hub. Lightly oiled axle where bearing would sit. Being sure bearing was facing proper direction, it slid into place easily, using a piece of PVC pipe as a driver, installed inside C-clip to hold bearing in place, making sure sharp edge was facing inward towards differential splines. Slid axle into place, turning slightly to engage splines in differential. Installed outside C-clip, using curved C-clip pliers. Carefully tapped oil seal into place. DONE!

However, while I had it apart I pulled and cleaned the trans/hydraulic oil strainer, which obviously had never been done. It was FILTHY and full of lots of crud and debris.