Kubota G1800 Front Wheel Removal?

[austin1972]

Hi All, noobie and 1st topic.
As stated, I have a Kubota G1800 that has kissed a tire goodbye (dryrotted) and cannot for the life of me figure out how to remove the wheel.

Looked simple - a cotter pin, bushing and a retention ring have been removed but my wheel just laughs at me. I'm leery of messing around too much on it as I don't want to needlessly break anything.

Has anyone done this before?
Thanks!

 

[alvanko]

Austin1972,
If the Kubota G1800 is anything like my Ford LGT14D, there are bearings in the wheel that are probably frozen to the spindle. I removed mine by smacking the back side of the wheel with a BFH (hammer) and block of wood. I kept spinning the wheel around and would smack the out side every once in a while too. Now mine had sealed bearings so there was nothing to grease to prevent this so when it finally came off, I used "neversieze" on the spindle, then also packed the void between inner and outer bearing with grease. I bet yours is simply frozen on the spindle. Hit it hard but becareful not to bend the wheel. It'll come off. Little sweat and maybe blood but it will come off.

 

[austin1972]

Austin1972,
If the Kubota G1800 is anything like my Ford LGT14D, there are bearings in the wheel that are probably frozen to the spindle. I removed mine by smacking the back side of the wheel with a BFH (hammer) and block of wood. I kept spinning the wheel around and would smack the out side every once in a while too. Now mine had sealed bearings so there was nothing to grease to prevent this so when it finally came off, I used "neversieze" on the spindle, then also packed the void between inner and outer bearing with grease. I bet yours is simply frozen on the spindle. Hit it hard but becareful not to bend the wheel. It'll come off. Little sweat and maybe blood but it will come off.

Update:
Sweat, check.
Blood, check.
Wood, check.
Hammer, check but I did need to pound for awhile before the 'BFH' acronym was understood.

Quick walk to the barn and I had the tool for the job. Yowza! That took some serious swinging. I think there's a fine line between swinging enough and too hard.

Anyhow, it finally came off and I'm back in business. I did as you suggested and put anti-seize on the spindle. I didn't pack any grease because, the bearings being sealed, I just put an everloving amount of Bostik in there.

Thanks Alvanko!

 

[Bob01]

This happened to me what is causing this condition is when the wheel was pressed on at the factory it caused the shaft to rise up on the end. My Kubota dealer had to grind down the end of the shaft to pull the wheel off the shaft.

 

[jinman]

I just put two new tires on my G1800. I jacked up the front and used a big C-clamp to break the bead. After that, getting the tires off was a snap because the axle worked to stabilize the wheel. Putting on the new tires was bit of a challenge, but a big rubber mallet and three large flat-blade screwdrivers prevailed. One new tire I had to strap to get to take air, but the other one caught and aired up by itself. Total time start-to-finish was about 1 hour and I'm old and slow.:laughing:

 

[Kirk Junkin]

My tractor is a G1900S but i'll bet the biggre hammer method works for me too. Now if I can just figure out how to keep my eyeballs from freezing while I try it I'll be doing good. (Temps in the garage where the tractor is parked is 16 deg now)

 

[Searay45DB]

16 degrees is impressive. I actually insulated mine a couple weeks ago. It's drywall, but it was a snap to do. Got Kerosene heater from Home Depot, now I sweat in there.

Tonights project was to to put rubber snow chains on the 1800. I have black top, these things work like a champ.

 

[robroger]

My G2000 recently had the same problem, which is how I found this thread.

While blowing snow the other night I felt a tugging on the steering wheel; the right front tire was completely flat. I inflated it, but was back in the garage within minutes. I figured it had to be a major puncture, so to see what was going on I pulled the cotter pin and attempted to remove the wheel. That was the start of a several day project!

Like austin1972 I was scratching my head trying to figure of the secret of removing the wheel. I tried using a dead blow hammer, a hard wood block and mallet and even a pry bar. Nothing would budge the wheel. So I went around to the other wheel with the same results. That's when I turned to TractorByNet for answers.

Anyway, my bearings were really frozen on. I tried a big bearing puller to no avail. I even took an air hammer to rattle the back side of the rim, and in doing so damaged the bearing seal. At this point I was committed, and since I knew I would be replacing bearings anyway, took a cold chisel to the inner race of the back bearing. Well after several heavy blows I was finally able to knock the wheel off of the shaft. All this hammering loosened the other side and I was able to get it off with a few taps to the rim.

After making a healthy donation to my local KUBOTA dealer I now have four new wheel bearings. I cleaned the shafts with emery cloth and took alvanko's advice and applied anti-seize. The wheels glided on perfectly.

From what I could see it is the back bearing that causes the problem. Water likely gets between the shaft flange and bearing, eventually migrating along the shaft/bearing interface. This is a size-on-size fit so there is enough room for water to get in there.

The tire? The bead was not sealing. I buffed up the rim and with a little soap and water got a good seal. There was no need to pull the wheel after all! :ashamed:

 

[jinman]

If you asked for a show of hands for everyone who has done something similar, I'd bet you'd see more hands raised in the "room" than not. I know my hand would be raised. I can't tell you how many things I've destroyed something, only to discover that there was a better way to do it after it has cost me big $$$.

 

[Kirk Junkin]

I got REAL lucky. I had the tractor jacked up and was trying to decide where to start, when i noticed some bubbles in the tread where snow was melting. I put in a can of ATV Fix-A-Flat. The entire can would not go in with out making the tire go bang but I got enough in. I slowly spun the tire (simulated driveing as per the instructions) for 5 minutes. it has held air since then. When it warms up I will face the problem of puting two new tires on the front. The originals are woren out after 15 years!