The top-n-tilt top link is already damaged. User error or poor design?

[GeoHorn]

mcmxi…. That is a pretty piece of welding and clearly you know HOW!

It is ridiculous that Kubota should put out such a sorry/weak design…It makes no difference who made it for them… Kubota really dropped the ball on this.

Great job!

The earlier comment made by someone else regarding “compression” of the toplink can still be a concern. There’s an excellent video by AsktractorMike regarding how to avoid damage using a rotary cutter on the subject….but the bottom line is to use a swiveling bracket on the top pin of the shredder that will allow the tractor/shredder combo to drive into a swale and not damage the shredder, the tractor, or the PTO driveshaft when the swale creates that compression. I’ll try to find that video and post a link.

This entire video is worthwhile…but ESPECIALLY look at approx minute 7 and how to tear up a PTO shaft in a “swale” or “valloy/draw”. Notice Mike does NOT use a TopLink. If you DO use a TopLink… you should have a swiveling link-pin-attach (such as Mike has on his shredder) on your shredder to allow the compression to result in a flexible-connection so as to avoid damaging your TopLink or your implement.

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[mcmxi]

The original joint seems to be one that was designed to be welded into a hole, not on the end of a rod.

Bruce

That's an interesting observation. Perhaps a buyer purchased the wrong part ....wouldn't be the first time.

 

[mcmxi]

mcmxi…. That is a pretty piece of welding and clearly you know HOW!

It is ridiculous that Kubota should put out such a sorry/weak design…It makes no difference who made it for them… Kubota really dropped the ball on this.

Great job!

The earlier comment made by someone else regarding “compression” of the toplink can still be a concern. There’s an excellent video by AsktractorMike regarding how to avoid damage using a rotary cutter on the subject….but the bottom line is to use a swiveling bracket on the top pin of the shredder that will allow the tractor/shredder combo to drive into a swale and not damage the shredder, the tractor, or the PTO driveshaft when the swale creates that compression. I’ll try to find that video and post a link.

Thanks. I was a welder/diver in a past life and had numerous welding certifications including a 5G pipe cert but that was long ago. I'm nowhere near as competent as I used to be but I don't weld 8 to 10 hours a day anymore.

The LP RCR1884 cutter has a floating top link which reduces stress on the 3-point center top link.

 

[SDT]

Lotta speculation about driving into ditches and implements and such…

I’d love to understand better how a compression load has stretched the side of the heim joint that only sees tension loads

So would I.

SDT

 

[SDT]

Interesting design. Who is the manufacturer? I want them on my do not buy list.

Me too.

SDT

 

[GreensvilleJay]

it bounced ??

 

[mcmxi]

Well, I think we can all agree that the OEM heim joint wasn't or isn't a good choice so anyone getting a top-n-tilt from Kubota might want to take a good look at the top cylinder and direct the dealership to this thread if you notice the same style of heim joint that I had.

Even if I'd used the CAT 2 hole with a bushing, the outer ring is still unsupported and a problem inevitably would have occurred sooner or later. I could have taken the top cylinder to the dealership who would have outsourced the repair to a local machine shop but I was happy to take care of it myself.

By the way, this is the only issue I've had in almost 60 hours of fairly hard use of the MX and various Land Pride implements so I'm certainly not complaining. My regard for Kubota and my local dealership is greater than ever.

 

[Patent Guy]

i may very well be doing something similar in the near future. Finding a 16” hydraulic top link for under $400 seems impossible. However there are a pile of cylinders in the 1-200 range that require the ends be chopped and ball ends welded on.

there was a video where a guy made a jig to line up a cylinder IOT rotate the fitting to the side. I believe it was on a BX23S home made hydraulic thumb mod.

I ordered one from AgriStore (that now is out of stock it appears) that works well on my LX2610. I had to grind about 1/4" total off the sides of the ball so it would fit into the slot at the tractor end to be able to slide it in and put the pin through. Kubota made this slot fairly narrow. Works well so far, which is about 4 weeks.