Broken MMM

[mjarrels]

Orange tractor just left on a rollback truck to the local Kubota dealer. Tried to finish mowing yesterday and the left spindle fell apart again... MMM sounds horrible. Broke last year also. Having the hyd system serviced while it is at the dealer. You would think MMM would last more than 4 years at what they cost.

mark

 

[kwolfe]

That sounds like some kind of defect. If the same one broke again, I would be looking into the route of the failure, not just replacing the brken piece. I would hope those spindles would last the life of the machine if lubricated properly.

 

[Charliebrn]

Very interesting. My brother has a 7510 that had the left spindle come apart. According to him, the first one was always noisy. Since the replacement, all has been well....

 

[mjarrels]

It has only been 24 hours since orange tractor was hauled off but garage looks out of balance with one bay empty. Red and blue tractors are lonely.

mark

 

[weiser]

OK, know-nothing over here... What is MMM (besides what my kids say to fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies)

 

[KubotaSteve]

It's a Mid Mount Mower also known as a belly mower.

 

[JWE]

Every year I store my 60 in MMM on edge. A few days ago I pulled it out to sharpen the blades and found a LARGE puddle of gear oil on the floor. I haven't had time to investigate thoroughly but I think that it leaked out of the gear box breather. I sure hope it is not the seals leaking. I have stored it on edge for the past 3 years and this is the first time that it has leaked.

 

[Toolguy]

The left spindle on my 60" MMM started making noise last year. Ever since it was new in 2005 I have always pumped a few shots of grease into all of the fittings every couple of hours of mowing time. Since it got noisy I made sure to pump grease until it started showing under the pulleys. The noise never got better or worse. Our mowing season will be starting soon so last weekend I pulled the spindle apart and found that the top bearing on the left spindle was rusty and rough feeling when turned. The bottom one was fine. I bought a new bearing and will put it back together this weekend. I have washed the MMM with a hose but never with a pressure washer. I don't know how the water got in there but I think the mower was never fully greased when new. I assumed the dealer prepped it correctly but it looks like they missed that. This is my first mower with greaseable bearings. I knew it needed to be greased regularly, however I didn't realize how much grease it takes to fill the gap between the bearings. It takes more than just a few pumps to get it full so the grease gets up and through the top bearing. I know better now.

 

[Stef]

When I got my MMM the left spindle was completely empty or so... I was quite a bit frustrated and I called my dealer to complain. He told me that if I ever have a problem with that spindle he'd change it. Yeah right... it'll be my third summer with the mower so I don't think that he'll do something if the spindle starts being noisy or so.

It's impressive how much grease can be pumped in a spindle like that.

 

[JWE]

I had to pump a lot of grease into my all of my spindles shortly after I received my deck. Judging from my conversation with the dealer, I believe they assumed that the spindles were properly greased at the factory. You would think that Kubota would put a tag on the deck warning the dealer or purchaser that the spindles are not greased at the factory.

 

[B2400]

1998 B2400 w/RCK60-24B MMM: 1150hrs on tractor and approx. 1000hrs on deck. I've replaced the guage wheel bushings,welded a few owner induced cracks, replaced the blades and changed the gear box oil, but other than that it's required nothing. I'm still on the original belt.
There was a thread a couple of years ago about the spindles not having enough grease. I believe that the cure was to remove blades and dust caps so that you could see the bottom bearing and begin pumping grease until it started to flow out bottom bearing. I grease my deck everytime I mow, and the sign that it's full was when it began seeping out from under top pulley. After reading that thread, I pulled the blades and dust covers and found 2 of the 3 spindles did not have grease at the bottom!! Needless to say, out came the grease gun and it required a LOT of pumps to push the grease out of bottom bearing. As a side benefit I've found that the extra grease which makes it past the blades dust cap also makes the dried grass under deck easier to remove!!

 

[art]

They take a lot of grease!!!!!!!!! This problem is not new and they are easy to under grease. Any of the big commercial spindles take a lot of grease on all makes I've seen!

Initially I'd say it takes well over a tube of grease to initially service many, if not close to it! Might take a whole tube just for the deck spindles as most come nearly dry.

 

[mjarrels]

Yikes... still at the Kubota dealer... one inch of snow last night... poor orange tractor has never been outside since I brought it home... probably cold and wet now. May never forgive me even once fixed?

mark

 

[maynard]

the 54'' deck i had with my BX2200 started leaking after 4 years of storing it on its edge it looked like it was coming out of a stud with a nut on it. right on top. i just filled it and used it when summer came. i never did fix it befor i traded it off. I never replaced anything on it but the blades and mowed with it for 5 summers. i have alot of mowing to do. I seen wher people where haveing trouble with the scalping rollers but i never replaced a one. The new deck with my 24 has grease plugs on the rollers. and ever time i grease them they come out. i taped them and put threaded ones in it and they still come out when i pull the grese gun off. guess i need to go to bigger threads. next time

 

[REDD]

At a recent meeting with a Kubota rep, he talked about bearings. He said he has seen some bearing failures due to owners who hose off their mower deck while the bearings are still hot from use. Hitting one of those bearings with cold water will cause the water to be sucked right into the bearing.

 

[mjarrels]

Just visited my Kubota dealer... deck is removed and AWP (awaiting parts) that should be there tomorrow. Service manager said the spindle was assembled wrong from the get go.

mark

 

[B2400]

The time to grease it is right after you wash it. Fresh grease pushes the water out of bearing housing.

 

[mjarrels]

Fixed and back in the garage. Total bill was $346.74 for spindle repair, fluid and filter change and hauling at $1.00 per mile.

mark

 

[638]

Did they grease that new spindle??? I wouldn't trust them to have filled it with grease. Check it your self, just to be sure.

ron

 

[Stef]

Did they grease that new spindle??? I wouldn't trust them to have filled it with grease. Check it your self, just to be sure.

ron

Ron's right, you should check it. Grease is cheap insurance compared to a new spindle, don't you think?