Branson 4020 rear axle failure?

[ronT]

I have a Branson 4020 2003 or 2004 model. Doing a little digging today and heard a solid snap like something broke. I then had no power to rear wheels. Front wheels still drive in all gears forward and reverse but lost rear drive. PTO still works. Got it back to house and jacked up rear - put it in 2wd and went through gears but no power to rear. Anybody else have this problem or any ideas before I haul it off to dealer. Thanks.

 

[ericm979]

If it's built like my 3725 (which seems likely) the diff is between the brakes, ahead of the rear axle. The brakes and axles are individually geared together. Given that fwd and pto work the break could be in or right in front of the diff, or could be one axle, or one of the gears between the brakes and axles.
If you wanted you could try diagnosing by running it in 2wd on a flat surface and operating the brakes individually. If an axle is broken then that brake won't work. Be careful as if an axle is broken you'll only have single wheel braking and without fwd you'll have no engine braking. And if both are broken you'll have no braking at all. A safer way would be to do it while on stands, if you can get the tire rotating somehow.

 

[ronT]

Thanks for your reply. I just tried that and both brakes work fine. Also with jacked up and manually turning wheels you can hear/feel axle turning and maybe some gears. That is with it in 2wd in gear so like you said break must be in front of diff. A trailer coming shortly to haul it in somewhere. Sounds like it's going to be costly. Thanks again.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Ron,

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. Is this something you could dig into yourself? I'm sure there are copies of the manual to be had on the internet. I also think there was a thread on here a while back showing a complete tear down of a rear axle, with pictures.

 

[PapeCAT]

do the wheels turn with the diff lock engaged.

 

[ronT]

Thanks for the replies. No power to rear wheels with the diff locked just free wheel. Tractor is in shop now - waiting to hear.

 

[ronT]

Is there any site that has a parts diagram for my Branson 4020? I read that documoto.digabit.com used to but Branson stopped it. Looks like they won't let the end user look anything up. Sure miss my tractor. Thanks in advance.

 

[ericm979]

This thread has some links to sites with manuals or parts diagrams: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/century-branson/367395-link-parts-manuals-diagrams.html

 

[ronT]

This thread has some links to sites with manuals or parts diagrams: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/century-branson/367395-link-parts-manuals-diagrams.html

Thanks ericm979 for the link.

 

[ronT]

If anyone is interested in my 4020 breakdown. The problem is 6 bolts sheared off. #9 in diagram. Mechanic said these should not have broke that they might have loosened up and may not have been properly tightened at the factory. Only have about 350 hours on it. Tons of labor in it.

 

[LouNY]

Ouch, that's a lot of teardown to get to the ring gear bolts. Back in my racing days we used to see that once in a great while.
I'm surprised that they weren't lock tighted.
Good luck when she's back together.

 

[LindenBruce]

Ouch. I wonder if the bolts were not hardened when they were produced or the wrong bolts were installed. Stuff like this can happen. The company I work for, we have had two leaf springs fail on two different machine in the last few weeks, and these machines only had a few hours on them. So it looks like we got a batch of bad springs from our supplier. AND, we have had 5 A/C systems fail on brand new machines in the last few weeks as well. Bad thermostats. Not good. But stuff happens. B.