JD 2520 Snapped Axle

[mfreund]

I will give you the fact the ground has dried out in the pictures and mud is slippery but how fast were you going? That looks like box blade work in road gear. I am not judging, just giving a first impression of the tracks.

I will second, third, or fourth the bigger tractor.

 

[AKfish]

Years ago, I broke a rear axle on a tag-axle dump truck working a construction road job. Darn near got fired..!

I was only doing what I was told to do by the lead mechanic. (Thank God he stuck up for me with the foreman!)

I was way overloaded and goin' too fast. When the truck pulled down in soft ground and I grabbed a lower gear - BANG!!

Too fast - too heavy.

There was a pretty good skid trench before I got stopped, too.

AKfish

 

[Gobblin Tom]

I am working on buying one of these tractors, wonder if I should look at one a little bigger? This is going to be a one time investment for me and don't have the option to buy another tractor if something like this happens.... It's kinda got me scared, As soon as I get my property timbered I was planning on ordering one. are the 3000 series stronger? Do they have a quick detach bucket (park and go like the 2520) I have only looked at and investigated the 2320 and 2520 tractors. I plan on using this to do a lot of work on my 1/4 mile driveway and for skidding firewood out of my woods. Don't want to hijack the thread but I am concerned.......

 

[hanson1999]

considering this is the first report i've seen of this, and again, having had a 2520 myself, i would go for this tractor in a heartbeat! they are very tough for their size!

 

[Interlaux]

I am working on buying one of these tractors, wonder if I should look at one a little bigger? This is going to be a one time investment for me and don't have the option to buy another tractor if something like this happens.... It's kinda got me scared, As soon as I get my property timbered I was planning on ordering one. are the 3000 series stronger? Do they have a quick detach bucket (park and go like the 2520) I have only looked at and investigated the 2320 and 2520 tractors. I plan on using this to do a lot of work on my 1/4 mile driveway and for skidding firewood out of my woods. Don't want to hijack the thread but I am concerned.......

Then get a used 10,000 LB bad boy whoops I meant - "no one has ever said I had too much HP"

To the OP - no good - not at all toothsome brother.
I did once mention lemon and deere in the same post on this site - but had to suck it up.

let us know what happens please

IMHO based on my 4610 you can not really break these modern deere tractors. Try to lift to much and it wont lift, push down too hard ?? cant do it.
Yea drive into a stump or really bind up one of the wheels and sumptions fixxing to give.

Good luck

 

[pdp11]

It looks to me as though the trench was dug by the right wheel. The marks on the tread of the right tire seem to indicate that it was turning and moving laterally at the same time. I think the pictures raise more questions than they provide answers. It would take an examination of the parts of the right final drive to determine how it failed.

It doesn't seem that this type of failure is in any way common for the 2520. As the owner of one, I don't have any hesitation on how I use mine.

 

[kennyd]

Being that I am very late to this party, all I can say is WOW:shocked:

 

[UnclePaul]

Is it posable that the 3pt hitch was swaying side to side and got stuck in the lug of the tire . I have seen this happen and break rear axle housing when moving at a decent speed.

 

[Red Horse]

I am working on buying one of these tractors, wonder if I should look at one a little bigger? This is going to be a one time investment for me and don't have the option to buy another tractor if something like this happens.... It's kinda got me scared, As soon as I get my property timbered I was planning on ordering one. are the 3000 series stronger? Do they have a quick detach bucket (park and go like the 2520) I have only looked at and investigated the 2320 and 2520 tractors. I plan on using this to do a lot of work on my 1/4 mile driveway and for skidding firewood out of my woods. Don't want to hijack the thread but I am concerned.......

Your usage matches mine. I owned a 755 and then upgraded to a 3320. If its a one time deal, and you can stretch the dollars, go for the 3000 series. Great machine. My 755 was a great tractor but the 3320 is in another league.

As for the 2000 series, I think if I couldn't swing the 3000, I woud look for a clean 55 series (755, 855 or 955-avoid the 655). these were bullet proof machines. I sold my 755 to a niece only because my wife insisted we should help the niece out- I resisted then said- "she wants me to buy a bigger tractor?- I should argue?" In any case, with a concrete weight block and chains, you would not believe the logs I pulled with this thing-oak-18" butt, 30' long etc.

 

[hizoot]

Is it posable that the 3pt hitch was swaying side to side and got stuck in the lug of the tire . I have seen this happen and break rear axle housing when moving at a decent speed.

bingo....that makes the most sense. especially with the top link pulled in tight for the scarifers.

 

[Ductape]

bingo....that makes the most sense. especially with the top link pulled in tight for the scarifers.

Agreed. I think we have a winner. JD even offered the kinked 2720 arms to 2520 owners over this problem.

 

[kennyd]

Is it posable that the 3pt hitch was swaying side to side and got stuck in the lug of the tire . I have seen this happen and break rear axle housing when moving at a decent speed.

Bingo!:thumbsup: I think you nailed it Paul!

Look at the picture below, in the red circles you can see the lugs of the tires broken off. I'd bet the paint is all worn off of the 3PH arms also. Not JD's fault, or the tractors-improper setup caused this IMHO.

 

[Runner]

"Is it posable that the 3pt hitch was swaying side to side and got stuck in the lug of the tire . I have seen this happen and break rear axle housing when moving at a decent speed."

I agree with this conclusion. It appears the machine does have the "old style" draft arms.

With the old style draft arms on this machine, it is almost impossible to set it up so that they won't interfere with the three-point gear. I had my turnbuckles cinched as tight as possible and was still having clearance problems. This situation is exacerbated when the attachment is in the raised position (like when you're backing up to make another pass with the box blade) and particularly when you're on a side hill.

Isn't this type of final drive fairly common on this size of tractor?

Unless some other cause is found, I think Deere owes him a repair job AND a set of new style draft arms.

 

[hizoot]

If you look at the very large deere field sprayers (I dont know the proper term) they have the same looking final drives...I cant see this as being a problem.

and I agree....JD owes him due to their screw up on the 3pt design that they later rectified

 

[pdp11]

I noticed that this is an older 2520 with the straight lift arms where mine has the newer style that virtually prevent contact with the tires. I always thought of the change as something to prevent tire damage, but I can see where it could end up being much worse in a case like this.

Based on the pictures that give me the impression that it was the right wheel that stopped turning, that could be the answer. It could also be the answer as to why he's had multiple problems with the final drives. At least this shouldn't be a problem for 2009 and newer machines that have the redesigned lift arms.

 

[slowzuki]

If tire contact with the lugs broke the housing, I'd sell the tractor after repair and get something else, its a common occurance (EDIT) to tear lugs (EDIT) on other tractors when the tires are set in or if you turn too tight with a drawbar pulled equipment. (EDIT)Not common to break housings(EDIT) Since those gear housings have been repaired before, are all the bolts present? Any backed out?

 

[ccsial]

Does the 2520 have aluminum or cast iron housings?

 

[beenthere]

Sure appears to be a matter of going too fast, hooking something nearly immovable with the box teeth, causing breaking or cracking the casting, which led to failure. But that is just conjecture, based on the failure and based on how far the right wheel was dragged before coming to a stop. That is a long ways to slide.

And we don't know the history of how/what this tractor was asked to do prior to this catastrophic failure.

I've passed on this story before, that the local JD dealer had a broken differential casting on a 4100 in the shop. The new casting was replaced by Deere although it was suspected by the dealer and Deere reps to be abuse. I was asked to deliver the tractor back to the owner when repaired. There the story unfolded.
While unloading the tractor I could see what caused the abuse. There was a large elm tree stump in the yard with a chain still wrapped around it. The tire marks clearly showed where the tractor had been used to try to rip the stump out, by getting a run at it and jerking on the chain but only spinning in the dirt. Also present was a load of concrete blocks use to weight the tractor down. This was just a matter of time that this abuse would bust something.
But Deere stood behind it in spite of the abuse.

 

[slowzuki]

No it doesn't look like hooking something. Hooking stuff with a box just stops you dead. It "looks" like something way too heavy on the 3 ph in bumpy terrain, or backed out bolts or flawed casting.

As for the length of slide, unlock your brakes in 2wd and get going at a working speed and lock one rear tire up quickly. They slide like crazy. They slide on pavement too.

 

[hanson1999]

No it doesn't look like hooking something.

you don't know that...if you have your three point with boxblade at a set level, and a tooth hooks something, it tries to pull the three point down, and fast for that matter.....

that could very easily be what happened. i've had it happen and it pulls the front end right in the air...fortunately i never broke anything major.

as far as the tires rubbing on three point arms, if your going forward and it catches that should make the tire want to go down, not up. that would break the final drive housing on the top first, so without seeing it first hand it is a little hard to tell.