Tiller LandPride tiller shaft snapped

[madhatter]

I have a LandPride 1050 tiller that I just bought and MIGHT have one hour on it. Last night while tilling DIRT I noticed the shaft was not turning. Thinking I broke a shearbolt I discovered the main tine shaft was broke in the middle ! This is a pretty thick shaft too, I have no clue why it broke before the shear pin. Pretty pissed off to say the least. Seeing it only has an hour on and it is brand new, I am going to ask for a complete replacement instead of fixing it.... very strange. hope this is an isolated incident !!!!

 

[kennyd]

Sounds like the PTO shaft was to short and there was not enough overlap between the telescoping sections.

Who verified the proper shaft length, you or the dealer?

 

[madhatter]

No, not the pto shaft, the main tiller shaft that holds the tines.

 

[kennyd]

OOPPSS

I misread...

 

[pitt_md]

No, not the pto shaft, the main tiller shaft that holds the tines.

WOW. That sounds like a complete safty system failure. Do you have a slip clutch on this unit? Did your dealer set this piece up for you?

Did you come accross any rocks that may have been wedged in the tines?

I have hit rocks with my tiller that were to big to move and the whole unit just bounced up in the air when the tine hit the rock. Other rocks got wedged between the tine and the housing and thats when the slip clutch starts doing it's job.

 

[madhatter]

I too have hit a few rocks with it and it spit them out or jumped over top of them, it broke while I was in plain dirt. The shaft is pretty thick and it is solid steel, must have had a flaw in it. Hopefully seeing it only had an hour on it they will exchange the whole unit.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

madhatter, please let us know how Land Pride deals with this. This will let us all know if they have gotten to big for their britches.

 

[madhatter]

Here is a pic of the shaft. I called my dealer today and sent pictures,hopefully they can just replace the whole unit. If not, I will be sending pics to LandPride and won't be happy when I talk to them !

I wonder if the shaft was not properly heat treated after welding ???

 

[Skyco]

Looks like it is welded where it snapped...if so no wonder. The little bit of penetration of that weld nowhere approaches the strangth of that big of a shaft....

 

[RickB]

Looks like it is welded where it snapped...if so no wonder. The little bit of penetration of that weld nowhere approaches the strangth of that big of a shaft....

It is a full-length shaft. The tine flange is welded to the shaft. It isn't short sections of shafting butt welded together. The weld contributed to the failure, I would bet. The shaft should certainly be warrantable, but I can't imagine why the whole unit would be replaced. There is just as much chance of a replacement shaft failing as a shaft in another unit.

 

[DocHeb]

How did a 1 hour old tiller get so much rust on the shaft?

 

[madhatter]

How did a 1 hour old tiller get so much rust on the shaft?

That is not rust, it's dirt/clay.

On another note, I sent LandPride a message today explaining what happened and am going to send pics as well. If I had many hours on it I would be ok with warranty, but being only an hour old and would mean dropping off the tiller, waiting for repair then picking it up, I would hope they could just exchange it.

Factory defect I guess. I hope !

 

[Rara Avis]

I have a LandPride 1050 tiller that I just bought and MIGHT have one hour on it. Last night while tilling DIRT I noticed the shaft was not turning. Thinking I broke a shearbolt I discovered the main tine shaft was broke in the middle ! This is a pretty thick shaft too, I have no clue why it broke before the shear pin. Pretty pissed off to say the least. Seeing it only has an hour on and it is brand new, I am going to ask for a complete replacement instead of fixing it.... very strange. hope this is an isolated incident !!!!

Was it an RTA or RTR?

How many PTO HP tractor were you using?

This is out of their Operation Manual...
IMPORTANT: Turning or backing up with rotary
tines in the ground will damage the tiller.

You didn't turn with it in the ground or backup with it in the ground?

 

[madhatter]

Was it an RTA or RTR?

How many PTO HP tractor were you using?

This is out of their Operation Manual...
IMPORTANT: Turning or backing up with rotary
tines in the ground will damage the tiller.

You didn't turn with it in the ground or backup with it in the ground?

It is a RTA1050, my pto is around 18-19hp. And no, I never backed up with it while in the ground. Just a factory flaw I guess. It is being repaired under warranty, was hoping for a replacement tiller, but at least it is getting fixed. Hopefully that is the only thing that goes wrong with it, seems like a good tiller other than that.

 

[Rara Avis]

It is a RTA1050, my pto is around 18-19hp. And no, I never backed up with it while in the ground. Just a factory flaw I guess. It is being repaired under warranty, was hoping for a replacement tiller, but at least it is getting fixed. Hopefully that is the only thing that goes wrong with it, seems like a good tiller other than that.

Well, as long as it was fixed under warranty...

You'll be tilling in no time...

 

[stevensg56]

It looks like the shaft wasn't annealed after welding/ heat treat. Notice the grain structure in the fracture, that is not normal for a failure with torsional stresses. It shows that the metal was to hard for the application.