Good morning!!!!

   / Good morning!!!! #93,762  
:thumbsup:

I was at a local race last night. Was helping Johnny. We had a great result in the Vintage 250 race. We were parked next to the Vanderkooiç—´.....came home with a JV20 hat.

Ronnie Rall was racing last night at the tender age of 80 on a rigid frame, brakeless HD KR!

Maybe some pics later.

Wow, 80 and on a hard frame at that.... The new Harleys are gaining momentum. All had trouble passing at last night's venue.

RNG, sorry about your tractor troubles. Hope it's something not too expensive. Hope you had spare underwear ready. Be careful.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #93,764  
53F should be high for today cloudy.

Both riding mower ready for 2019 mowing,cub got new battery.
If not raining tomorrow think I'll cut meal worth of fiddle head fenders :licking: before the ticks get to bad.
Time for walk about before dinner bqqing this evening!!!

Enjoy the evening all.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #93,765  
Thomas- good luck evading the ticks and the BLACKFLIES picking those fiddleheads.

It rained here all day with periods of snow mixing in = a rare PM nap with BoSox sportscasters' drone providing background "ambiance." I am surprised the game was not cancelled due to rain.

Now that I ordered an orange oriole feeder I made one out out of a coathanger that the orioles can manage.

I hope everyone's Mother's Day went as expected.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #93,766  
wheelOff.jpg
My neighbor came down this morning and helped me tow the tractor up to the garage where it could be worked on. He drove the Kubota side-by-side while I steered and braked the tractor. It took several attempts to find a slope shallow enough for the little Kubota to pull the bigger one up, but once on the concrete, we did just fine. He stuck around long enough to get the thing up on jack stands and help remove the wheel. It pulled right off without removing any fasteners or clips, with a foot long piece of axle still attached. I'm very fortunate it didn't decide to come off during yesterday's mowing, or during the trip backing/coasting down the driveway.

bigGear.jpg
The gear case came loose with a couple whacks of a dead blow hammer and come careful prying with a putty knife. Another quart or so of fluid came out the joint, that was in addition to the four or so gallons I'd already drained from the main transmission case. Sadly, I'd just replaced the fluid less than 50 hours previously. Peeking through the center of the big reduction gear is the stub end of the axle.

axleAndNutBearing.jpg
The wheel flange/axle and the stub and bearing. These are not small parts.

axlShearFaces.jpg
The smooth nature of the shear faces tells me that this is a fatigue fracture that had been propagating for a long time. It started at the bottom of a groove machined into the axle causing a stress raiser that focused the twisting forces at the notch. The notch was probably put there to provide a place for the cutting tool when the threads were cut on a lathe. It's a common practice to use such a notch, but hopefully the bottom of the notch is "U" shaped, not the square corners that Kubota used on this axle. This is a design and/or manufacturing defect that very nearly resulted in severe bodily injury or death.

axleEnd.jpg
It took 15 years and 2193 hours for this axle to break. But that's assuming this is the first time it happened. The gear case shows signs of having been removed before, and if it was to replace the axle, I'm wondering what shape the one on the left side is in. It's definitely time to find a new home for this tractor before it has a chance to take another shot at me. And find a tougher machine that can take the abuse of the hills, rocks, and trees here, probably a tracked skid steer.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #93,767  
That’s was an adventure, RNG. Happy only the tractor had issues and you are non the worse.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #93,768  
View attachment 604414
My neighbor came down this morning and helped me tow the tractor up to the garage where it could be worked on. He drove the Kubota side-by-side while I steered and braked the tractor. It took several attempts to find a slope shallow enough for the little Kubota to pull the bigger one up, but once on the concrete, we did just fine. He stuck around long enough to get the thing up on jack stands and help remove the wheel. It pulled right off without removing any fasteners or clips, with a foot long piece of axle still attached. I'm very fortunate it didn't decide to come off during yesterday's mowing, or during the trip backing/coasting down the driveway.

View attachment 604413
The gear case came loose with a couple whacks of a dead blow hammer and come careful prying with a putty knife. Another quart or so of fluid came out the joint, that was in addition to the four or so gallons I'd already drained from the main transmission case. Sadly, I'd just replaced the fluid less than 50 hours previously. Peeking through the center of the big reduction gear is the stub end of the axle.

View attachment 604410
The wheel flange/axle and the stub and bearing. These are not small parts.

View attachment 604412
The smooth nature of the shear faces tells me that this is a fatigue fracture that had been propagating for a long time. It started at the bottom of a groove machined into the axle causing a stress raiser that focused the twisting forces at the notch. The notch was probably put there to provide a place for the cutting tool when the threads were cut on a lathe. It's a common practice to use such a notch, but hopefully the bottom of the notch is "U" shaped, not the square corners that Kubota used on this axle. This is a design and/or manufacturing defect that very nearly resulted in severe bodily injury or death.

View attachment 604411
It took 15 years and 2193 hours for this axle to break. But that's assuming this is the first time it happened. The gear case shows signs of having been removed before, and if it was to replace the axle, I'm wondering what shape the one on the left side is in. It's definitely time to find a new home for this tractor before it has a chance to take another shot at me. And find a tougher machine that can take the abuse of the hills, rocks, and trees here, probably a tracked skid steer.

Hopefully you can get by with a new shaft, seal, maybe a bearing and a bunch of oil.

All that oil you spilled will keep the grass from growing where it spilled for a long time.

Watch out you don't knock over an old oak tree.....

Couple must pay nearly $600G for removing oak tree from their property, judge rules | Fox News
 
   / Good morning!!!! #93,769  
Not the ‘easy’ day I was hoping for. Barely gained a fraction of an inch with my pipe extension. It is hard against something. The only movement using the backhoe is the tractor itself on the concrete. No luck trying to drive either as tires eventually break loose. No better luck trying opposite direction. Attempted just driving the 3/4 pipe, but blockage apparently right there, kinda with I had a point on the end. Got to be very close depending on deviation.
Clay on exit end is very solid. Wife doesn’t want me to dig much under the concrete.
Need to explore alternatives, not ready to abandon. Would consider pulling whole unit out and retry, possibly the other direction. Very likely not do anything physically for a couple days, but lots of thinking.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #93,770  
Not the ‘easy’ day I was hoping for. Barely gained a fraction of an inch with my pipe extension. It is hard against something. The only movement using the backhoe is the tractor itself on the concrete. No luck trying to drive either as tires eventually break loose. No better luck trying opposite direction. Attempted just driving the 3/4 pipe, but blockage apparently right there, kinda with I had a point on the end. Got to be very close depending on deviation.
Clay on exit end is very solid. Wife doesn’t want me to dig much under the concrete.
Need to explore alternatives, not ready to abandon. Would consider pulling whole unit out and retry, possibly the other direction. Very likely not do anything physically for a couple days, but lots of thinking.
Sounds like someone threw a block or rocks as fill under the slab.can you try a different angle?
 

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