3-Point Hitch L3710 Removing lower arms

[bdhsfz6]

Yep. Kubota dealer confirmed its a blind hole and does not extend into brake case. Said they would probably have to cut it off with a torch and then burn the remainder of pin out of blind hole in brake case. I tried some heat not red hot and nothing. Tried Freeze Off penetrator and nothing. Been soaking with pb blaster for 3 days and not budging. It appears the ball is froze onto the pin, cause the arm moves freely, is wallowed out and the ball does not move. I'm stumped?

I had a similar thing happen to my L3010 a few years back. I got it out using the idea suggested by countrybumpkin. I got the ball to slide on the pin by soaking it overnight in Kroil (I prefer it to PB) and wedging a chisel between the ball and case. I worked it back and forth with the chisel alternating from side to side. If you try this, be gentile to avoid breaking the housing. I used an air chisel at low pressure. Once the ball was loose on the pin, I positioned it close to the brake housing. I folded the arm to expose as much of the ball as possible and drilled a 1/4" hole through the ball and part way into the pin. I then tapped a 1/4" hardened steel punch into the hole pinning the ball and pin together. After heating the housing with a torch, I used the air chisel on the lip of the ball while applying twisting action to the punch (be careful not to break off the punch!) I was able to get the ball and pin to move about a quarter inch until it hit the inside housing. This gave enough space to get the air chisel between the pin flange and the outside of the housing. I removed the punch from the ball and after applying more Kroil, was able to work the pin out with the air chisel.

The process is difficult to describe and sounds a lot more complicated than it is, but it got the job done. I was even able to save the pin by filling the drilled hole with hard weld and polishing.

 

[L3710]

thanks for all the great ideas. I think I might try welding the ball to the arm and letting the hydraulics try to move the pin. If I can get the pin to move in its holes I can then cut it off with a cut off wheel and then hopefully remove the two pieces of the pin. I am very Leary about putting too much heat near the cast brake case.

I also tried drilling into the ball as was suggested but could not even get the bit to penetrate in. I will let you know how it works out with pics.

Thanks again

 

[Leejohn]

You might not have to cut the pin, read the 2nd part of my post.

 

[bdhsfz6]

thanks for all the great ideas. I think I might try welding the ball to the arm and letting the hydraulics try to move the pin. If I can get the pin to move in its holes I can then cut it off with a cut off wheel and then hopefully remove the two pieces of the pin. I am very Leary about putting too much heat near the cast brake case.

I also tried drilling into the ball as was suggested but could not even get the bit to penetrate in. I will let you know how it works out with pics.

Thanks again

If you do weld the ball to the arm, be sure to put the weld in a spot where you can grind it off. Otherwise, you'll have a non functional 3pt hitch if you can't get the pin loose.

 

[L3710]

Thanks for all of your help with this project. I used an angle grinder to cut the arm and get it off of the ball and pin. Then I bought kroil online and soaked the pin and ball several days and then put a pipe wrench on the ball and got it to start twisting but not enough to remove it. So I then cut the pin, carefully with the grinder and finally got it all out. The part that was in the blind hole came out much easier than the part of the pin near the Pto.

The pin is narrow on the blind hole side and thicker where the bolt attaches it to the tractor.
Luckily I was able to remove everything without damaging the housing.


Thanks for all of your help everyone! $273 dollars for the arm and 15 for the pin from Messics and I have a useable 3 point again!

 

[bdhsfz6]

Good Job! $283 is a lot cheaper than what it would have cost for a dealer to do it. Thanks for posting the results for others who may encounter a similar problem.

 

[ludlod]

I have the same problem with my L3010.
Need to remove the lower arms for a backhoe bracket, but the pins won't budge.
Just got the tractor recently. Looks like they've never been removed.
The balls slide freely, but the pins are stuck in the knuckles. Both sides.
I've been hitting them with heat and PB Blaster each day, hoping they'll let loose.
Ordered a pneumatic hammer. Hopefully that makes the difference.
Trying real hard not to break the tabs off.
Tried whacking them, using vise grips on the tabs to turn them, and prying under the tabs. Nothing works so far.
The pins on the L3010 are offset from the brake housing. So I might try drilling a hole from the back side of the blind hole and tap them out with a drift.