BX2230 Transmission case damage?

[Toolbert]

Hi folks,

I attached a neighbor's Kioti rototiller today, in blissful ignorance. Seemed to fit and hook up just fine.

I raised the 3-point all the way, heard a crunch, and oil is dripping from the rear of the tractor transmission, below the PTO output shaft. Along the line between the case and the roughly 5" round plate that houses the PTO output shaft bearing.

Even though the PTO shaft on the tiller is about the shortest shaft I've ever seen, I think it "bottomed out" and put a lot of down-force on the transmission output shaft.

What did I do, and just how screwed am I?

thanks,

Bob

 

[RonR]

Best case: you popped a seal in the PTO.

Worst case: The case is broken.

Sounds like a dealer trip before you do anything else.

The safe way (in my mind) when using a PTO implement is to remove the pto shielding, separate the two halves, then with the 3PH all the way up, check for bottoming out. With the 3PH hitch down, and the rear wheels up 6" or so to simulated the depth, check to see that the shaft still has good overlap.

My dealer cut my PTO shaft for my tiller. Then I added Pat's easy change system. Was tilling and rear wheel went over a big clod--the pto came apart!

Hope it works out for you.
ron

 

[Toolbert]

Ron, thanks for the reply.

When the tiller PTO shaft bottomed out, it was nearly vertical, so it really was a lot of down force on the transmission output shaft. I'll post again when I learn the extent of the damage.

I found some older threads discussion transmission case damage, but none mentioning damage via the PTO connection. This seems like such an incongruous yet easy way to screw up. I'd like to hear of any similar experiences. regards,

Bob

 

[thcri]

Wow, I hope it is only the seal. I am not familiar with Kubota but I would imagine removing/replacing could take some time.

It is an easy mistake to make though.


murph

 

[KeithInSpace]

My dealer has always warned me about shafts being too long as the BX arms are shorter than other arms. My understanding was that they would drive the PTO shaft right out the back of the transmission housing as it was not designed to take an axial load. I think the bearings would be OK with a fairly large radial load, so I think it "bound" before it came all the way up to a point that the housing cracked.

Based on what I have heard in the past, this doesn't sound like a good thing.

 

[AMR]

I learned my lesson using my fertilizer spreader. I knew the PTO was too long but thought I would just be careful. Well as things go I was spreading fertilizer and got into a tight spot heading up a hill and had to do some fancy steering, put it into 4 wheel drive and try to lift the spreader a little all at once. Well it went up much faster than it went down and I know I bottomed the shaft out. Thankfully it jammed the shaft into the spreader and not the tractor. It took be about an hour to beat the shaft off of the spreader and now I am religious about checking shaft length by the method mentioned above.

Good luck with it, I hope you find it to be an easy fix.

 

[art]

If you did break it you would not be the first. It does happen from time to time as we've had one in our shop from it. The one we did required rear end housing replacement.

 

[Toolbert]

Update ... 7 weeks later, tractor is still sitting at the dealer, waiting on a new transmission case which Kubota can't/won't deliver. Repair estimate is $3000.

Needless to say, between the ridiculous ease with which one can destroy a BX2230, the cost of repair and the lack of service from the factory, I'm spectacularly disappointed.

 

[DieselPower]

Not sure what I can say other than that sucks. Did you by chance check around for a used one?

 

[ChuckinNH]

You are also a master of understatement! I sure hope this works out for you in the end! Hang in there

 

[Dusty]

Update ... 7 weeks later, tractor is still sitting at the dealer, waiting on a new transmission case which Kubota can't/won't deliver. Repair estimate is $3000.

Needless to say, between the ridiculous ease with which one can destroy a BX2230, the cost of repair and the lack of service from the factory, I'm spectacularly disappointed.

It might just be that the casting is no longer available as a stock item and Kubota has to have the foundry manufacturer one for you. I remember having the same problem with a auto once. The next years model was out, and the differential housing had changed. Chevrolet didn't have any replacement housings in inventory, so I was left hunting one in the salvage yards. Strange thing was that the car was still under warranty, and Chevrolet reimbursed me for the used part 100%. Unfortunately, I don't know where you would find a Kubota salvage yard. You might want to check with your home owners insurance to see if the damage might be covered. I know that mine is covered for theft and accident under my home owners policy, and you can definitely call a broken transmission case an accident. Asking is cheap, and if they say yes, it is covered, it will take a lot of the sting out of the repair bill.

 

[dannydan3]

Best case: you popped a seal in the PTO.

Worst case: The case is broken.

Sounds like a dealer trip before you do anything else.

The safe way (in my mind) when using a PTO implement is to remove the pto shielding, separate the two halves, then with the 3PH all the way up, check for bottoming out. With the 3PH hitch down, and the rear wheels up 6" or so to simulated the depth, check to see that the shaft still has good overlap.

My dealer cut my PTO shaft for my tiller. Then I added Pat's easy change system. Was tilling and rear wheel went over a big clod--the pto came apart!

Hope it works out for you.
ron

I am obviously tractor challenged - as my brother in-law has said "holy office boy!!", but what is bottoming out exactly?

 

[dannydan3]

Update ... 7 weeks later, tractor is still sitting at the dealer, waiting on a new transmission case which Kubota can't/won't deliver. Repair estimate is $3000.

Needless to say, between the ridiculous ease with which one can destroy a BX2230, the cost of repair and the lack of service from the factory, I'm spectacularly disappointed.

Oh, man I feel for you, I am really sorry to hear that - I just had to replace my HST to the tune of $1700. See
Hopefully your homeowners will cover it.

And here's my list of what not to do to keep your HST healthy:

-Regular fluid on the third change.
-MMM shaft came loose and tore open the filter down there, of course resulting in the loss of all the fluid (didn't notice all the fluid behind me and kept trying to get it back to the garage to take a look at it after the clunking PTO noise till the machine wouldn't move anymore)
-Not shutting down when seeing or smelling fluid. (pinhole in the FEL line, leaking quick disconnect)
-Continually maxing out the tractor when using the FEL to dig a ditch along the property.
-Pulling my huge lawn roller in high gear, stopping so suddenly that it bent the roller connect up in a "V" shape.
-Using the big woods 48" grader box full of dirt ripping on sod at full speed low, after three hours of stump digging. (that's what finally did it)

First tractor - Hard lesson.

 

[mjarrels]

That is why I'm never had a PTO shaft attached to my BX... just looked like a bad setup from the get go! If I want to run a PTO implement, I use the ford.

mark

 

[Toolbert]

Further followup:

The long wait was dealer confusion, some parts didn't get ordered. Final bill was $2600, about 2/3 labor.

I brought the tractor home yesterday and put it back to work. After 20 minutes, some hydraulic connection above the transmission blew out.

So now it is 2 months with no tractor, and I'm waiting for the dealer to pick it up ... next week.

I don't know what to think... well I know what I THINK, but what to DO is another matter. My worst nightmare is the shop techs don't do a quite good enough job of putting it all back together ... as was obvious after 20 minutes ... and something really expensive breaks say in a year or two that's a direct result of it, and I'm screwed again.

Feel like I should cut my losses by selling the blooding thing and buying a different one.

 

[Lockport]

Feel like I should cut my losses by selling the blooding thing and buying a different one.

You're probably aware of this but if you bought it on a credit card, most of them have insurance against breakage, theft and LOSS for the first 90 days. I knew a guy in another forum that bought a small Bota T1760 (or similar) and he went to hit the brake and pressed hard on the Hydro, running it into a tree the 1st day out. He was covered.