Another question about New BX23S .. Broken bolt on Backhoe

[cuzmarc]

I was all excited to know that the o-ring issue was not a big deal so I went out and was playing around getting used to the backhoe. I was letting my son run the controls for a bit and I notice an orange piece on the ground. Low and behold its a bolt head and for sure from the new unit. I was able to find the spot where it came from. There is no way that should have happened from what little i have done with the back hoe.

I was looking and it seems they may have forgot to grease that pin. All the other grease fittings were new and the one on this pin was solid orange, no way grease is getting through that. I noticed that i cannot see any grease coming out anywhere on that pin like the others. The arm seems to be all the way to the left so much that the square spacer wont turn.

I went and purchased some fittings and replaced it, and a new bolt. Now when I test it, there is a noticeable spot where it makes a click noise and seems to hang up on something.

Am I on the right track here or should I be looking for something else? I am thinking it needs to go back to the dealer to be looked at.

Sorry I did not post back here -

I was given the run around by the dealer, looks like they just took the pin out and greased it, and put it back as the pin is beat up a bit. They sales guy did come pick up the unit and dropped it back off, even though he dropped the unit off in the middle of my driveway, again probably to avoid me. I could not get info from them on what they did or found for the life of me. This is a horrible dealer, I will just call it a day and go elsewhere for my needs.

On the bright side, I have 27hrs on it already about a full acre of Buckthorn cleared, and a new switchback made to get up the front hill. Now to start moving dirt for my new garage to put it in!

Thanks to those that posted and offered help.

 

[lugbolt]

transporting/dropping off like that is done per management, a lot of places are doing that (avoids contact due to covid scare)

I ordered a pizza and they now use an app, I have a dumb phone and no apps for anything so they just drop it off at the front door, I'm in the shop and about an hour later realize that the neighbor's loose cat was walking over toward the front door of my house, I look out there and guess what? Dinner. They just dropped it and left never said a word, called or anything.

pretty common now

 

[GreensvilleJay]

re: Pizza..
call them up,see if they'll send another one out....
if you ever order from them again, specially say 'must deliver to garage AND call when delivered'. That way when the cat gets 2nd meal, you can call and complain. I'd also call CC company and reverse the charges.

 

[Coconut Information Farm]

Aloha Ya'll.
Had same issue, registered into forum to share.
Bought BX23S new from dealership last month, 1st ever tractor.
Amazing machine! Hit 40 hours & got year's worth work finished in 30 days!

Many zerks were painted over upon delivery. Scraped paint off but that particular pin/joint on backhoe where your bolt sheared, that zerk did not want to take grease. Figured it was a bad zerk, but after pushing grease with gun while arm in different positions, I finally got it to accept grease, but like yours - only to one side (zerk side is dry).

2 weeks later my rep from dealer dropped by my farm to drop off some gear and he noticed a missing bolt - SAME SPOT AS YOURS. Same pivot point where the zerk didn't wanna accept grease. It musta sheared off. Embarrassed to admit it but I probably never woulda noticed it as it's my 1st tractor & am just learning.

Hightailed it to hardware store, bought bolt/locking nut which matched missing one. Extended the backhoe arm out to point where holes line up, dropped in my new bolt. Man! Upon operating that joint it made a loud creaking noise, not good! Musta been pivot attempting to spin for first time ever, but DRY! Put grease gun to work, it took (but again only on one side). Zerk side still dry, half of the pivot has probably never had a drop of grease in it. Fail on Kubota, dealer and myself.

Took these photos & sent to dealer. Their advise - WD40 into joint, keep greasing & using, that it should in time work itself out. If not I'll order a new pivot & replace.

Thanks to everyone on this site who posts, I've learned a ton here. Much respect from Maui.

 

[aaluck]

Seems odd to me that the pin, zerk and retaining bolt/nut appear to be painted over. I’ve never seen that on a new machine.

Seems odd to me that the pin, zerk and retaining bolt/nut appear to be painted over. I’ve never seen that on a new machine.

I understand that it is a new tractor. If it was me I would have the dealer replace the zerks with any paint on them. I wouldn't trust a painted zerk to allow flow of grease. This is pure laziness at the factory and the dealership. If you have a zerk with paint in the hole it needs to be replaced with one that DOESN'T.

 

[cal1]

Hightailed it to hardware store, bought bolt/locking nut which matched missing one. Extended the backhoe arm out to point where holes line up, dropped in my new bolt. Man! Upon operating that joint it made a creaking noise. Must have been that pivot spinning for first time ever. I remembered that was where grease was needed. Put grease gun to work, voila! It took Apparently the position where the locking pins go "loose" are the best position to apply grease. Makes sense. Made 2-3 passes through position where it creaked and noise went away. Poor pivot probably never had a drop of grease in it.

[/QUOTE]

Just make sure grease is coming out of both sides of the pivot. Those square things on the pivot arm are spacers and grease should exude from the pivot pins there. My problem was on the zerk side of the pivot. Grease was pushing through on the opposite side but somehow plugged on the zerk side. I did grease it while move the arm but not in in the free position. Have to try that next. Even bought one of those fancy zerk locking tips for the grease gun. Freed me up to move the arm and apply grease. Still having a problem getting grease to come out of the zerk side. I'm not sheering bolts anymore after a trip to the dealer.

Seemed to work fine (no noise) on my pretty serious stump removals. You guys made it seem to easy! It is really satisfying when you brake a root free. Kind of like popping bubble wrap.

 

[Coconut Information Farm]

Took a closer look at my machine today, no grease coming from my zerk side either. Apparently we are having exact same problem. Only joint on whole machine having this problem. Took these pictures & sent them to my dealer.

 

[Coconut Information Farm]

Seems odd to me that with a new unit the owner (you) didn't go over it and insure everything was proper before using it the first time. That is referred to as a pre operation inspection. I bet you never checked the fluid levels either or the tire pressure.

Always bad to assume that someone else did it. Assuming will always end badly.

Very true, but hard to know what to look for when it's your 1st tractor.

 

[SidecarFlip]

transporting/dropping off like that is done per management, a lot of places are doing that (avoids contact due to covid scare)

I ordered a pizza and they now use an app, I have a dumb phone and no apps for anything so they just drop it off at the front door, I'm in the shop and about an hour later realize that the neighbor's loose cat was walking over toward the front door of my house, I look out there and guess what? Dinner. They just dropped it and left never said a word, called or anything.

pretty common now

My dealer even drops off parts orders here at the farm. I order something and it 'appears' a few days later on the back deck with an invoice. It actually works out pretty well. The parts manager lives about 2 miles from me and the dealership is 20 miles from here so I save the gas driving there and the parts come here.

Waiting for a quick detach plate. Have the bucket from a customer of mine's Kubota and he wants me to weld on a SSQA plate on it (has the standard 4 pin mount now.). Looks like I'll have to completely remove the 4 pin mount to weld on the plate. Needs a little 'cosmetic' work too. Nothing the 'gas axe' cannot remedy...

 

[cal1]

Took a closer look at my machine today, no grease coming from my zerk side either. Apparently we are having exact same problem. Only joint on whole machine having this problem. Took these pictures & sent them to my dealer.

My dealer tech had to pound out the pivot pin with a small sledge hammer. It was really tight. Replacement pin was so hard to get in he had to take a grinder to loosen the fit. Then still really had to bang the pin to get it in. I probably should have had him take pics of the inside but I was trusting him to know what he was doing. This is not a Lexus precision machine and this approach didn't seem out of place. Probably a wrong assumption. Lower arm didn't fall off the machine without the pin in. Not sure why. It did seem to let grease through at the dealership at the time of replacement. Not so much now. BUT no noise, no bolt shearing and seems to work fine.

Did you say you had scraping noise when the arm moved? I did until it sheared the bolt (both ends). Oh yea, when it was shearing bolts my pivot pin seemed frozen on the non zerk side. Strange because that side was getting greased properly. It was the zerk side that was grease starved.

I doubt it will be fixed by simply replacing the pin. I couldn't see into the cavity but the tech had said something was "pinched" and needed to be ground out. Old pin showed much more wear on the zerk side. See my pic on previous post. I really don't think the pin needed replacement. It was not the problem. Zerk fitting worked fine once the paint was scrapped off and the pin is so hard that it will probably outlast the joint itself. In the end I got a new pivot pin installed and no noise. The scraping noise was pretty loud, hard to not notice.

 

[Corral Man]

I just got my first tractor ever, decided on a BX23S because I just don't need a bigger tractor, but do need the ability to do some light trenching and digging, so it's a good fit. Waited three months for it to arrive and I was finally able to pick it up Tuesday, July 6, 2021.

Fast forward to today when I was actually able to do some work with it. I was digging around a couple of stumps from some small bushes I had previously chopped down. As I pulled the backhoe in I saw something orange pop off and land under the tractor. Seeing that there was a fresh hole where there hadn't been before I shut everything down to investigate.

Just like others I found the pin was seized up and sheared the bolt off. Thinking at the time that it must have been a faulty bolt, I got another one and dropped it in. As soon as I moved the backhoe out, it popped the new bolt. When I looked in the hole I could see that the pin was scored.

A little disappointed that at just 4.5 hours this thing let me down. I hope it isn't a sign of things to come.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

I don't see ANY grease around those square shims !!!! There should, no NEEDS to be grease 'oozing' out from there,BOTH sides. Buy a new grease gun, 6 pack of tubes,locate every Zerk, put 6-10 shots in everyone, then to 'full extension-retracts SEVERAL times for every function. Be sure to add 2-3 shots to the SSQA latch lever Zerks as well.
I have a dedicated 'Kubota only' shelf..filters, grease, gun, etc. ONLY Kubota stuff..

 

[TheOldHokie]

I was all excited to know that the o-ring issue was not a big deal so I went out and was playing around getting used to the backhoe. I was letting my son run the controls for a bit and I notice an orange piece on the ground. Low and behold its a bolt head and for sure from the new unit. I was able to find the spot where it came from. There is no way that should have happened from what little i have done with the back hoe.

I was looking and it seems they may have forgot to grease that pin. All the other grease fittings were new and the one on this pin was solid orange, no way grease is getting through that. I noticed that i cannot see any grease coming out anywhere on that pin like the others. The arm seems to be all the way to the left so much that the square spacer wont turn.

I went and purchased some fittings and replaced it, and a new bolt. Now when I test it, there is a noticeable spot where it makes a click noise and seems to hang up on something.

Am I on the right track here or should I be looking for something else? I am thinking it needs to go back to the dealer to be looked at.

I know absolutely nothing about these hoes but after reading this thread I have to think this is not just lack of lubrication from paint clogged zerks. Sounds more like the bores in the post and arm are misaligned causing the pin to bind and shear the retaining pin. Given the prevalance of the failure it also suggests the factory has a chronic assembly problem.

Dan

 

[dirtydeed]

Make sure that you guys are not fully tightening those keeper bolts holding the pins. They are meant to be slightly loose with like a 2-3mm gap between the bolt and the backhoe pin boss. They should spin freely by hand.

 

[lynnmor]

I think that the backhoe plant needs to be closed and moved to Japan. May 3, 2021 I bought a new B2601 with a BH70 hoe that was in stock, only needed assembly. Picked it up May 20 and operated it a few hours only to find the same issues mentioned in this thread plus a few more.

Other than sloppy dealer assembly everywhere, the hoe is the problem. The tractor is currently at the dealer with no estimate when it will be fixed. The factory representative supposedly looked at it.

The backhoe problems are:

The same painted over grease fittings, but mine were completely loose. I repaired them.

Tight holes for the thumb. I reamed them.

Wrong pin holding the bucket and thumb, too short and NO GREASE FITTING! Since I wanted to complete a job, I bought the correct pin from another dealer.

The thumb couldn't be adjusted to the highest position, preventing digging straight down. I fixed that by moving the hole more that 3/8" so the pin would go in. Bad parts in the thumb kit and a new kit was also defective.

The cylinder at the bottom of the boom leaks down even while running, it will drag the hoe in a few minutes. Probable cause is a bad or dirty valve. Dealer is to fix it.

Bottom line is that I will give it two more weeks and then demand a refund. This thread proves that there is an ongoing problem with the backhoe quality and nothing has changed.

 

[TheOldHokie]

I think that the backhoe plant needs to be closed and moved to Japan.

I tried not to go there

This thread proves that there is an ongoing problem with the backhoe quality and nothing has changed.

Sure looks like it.

Dan

 

[Corral Man]

I don't see ANY grease around those square shims !!!! There should, no NEEDS to be grease 'oozing' out from there,BOTH sides. Buy a new grease gun, 6 pack of tubes,locate every Zerk, put 6-10 shots in everyone, then to 'full extension-retracts SEVERAL times for every function. Be sure to add 2-3 shots to the SSQA latch lever Zerks as well.
I have a dedicated 'Kubota only' shelf..filters, grease, gun, etc. ONLY Kubota stuff..

Thanks for the tip. This is my first tractor and I read the manual from cover to cover, but the grease coming out near the zerk fitting made me think there was enough grease. The dealer is picking it up on Thursday to fix everything. I'm thinking that they are going to find some of those other pins aren't properly lubed either. I have a ton of work lined up so I hope things aren't too screwed up.

 

[Robbles]

Maybe. You did grease it until grease came out both sides? Book says grease every 8 - 10 hours, right?

The zerk for the dipper pin on mine was painted over. Removed fitting and then the paint on the fitting. Put the grease gun coupler on it and gave a few squirts to make sure it was working, and it was. Reinstalled the zerk, but it wont accept grease. No oozing out on either side. Still clean factory orange. HELP!

 

[fried1765]

Thanks for the tip. This is my first tractor and I read the manual from cover to cover, but the grease coming out near the zerk fitting made me think there was enough grease. The dealer is picking it up on Thursday to fix everything. I'm thinking that they are going to find some of those other pins aren't properly lubed either. I have a ton of work lined up so I hope things aren't too screwed up.

You are correct, by having the dealer fix it!
After the fix, TRY to get an answer ....to what went wrong?

 

[Henro]

The zerk for the dipper pin on mine was painted over. Removed fitting and then the paint on the fitting. Put the grease gun coupler on it and gave a few squirts to make sure it was working, and it was. Reinstalled the zerk, but it wont accept grease. No oozing out on either side. Still clean factory orange. HELP!

Try moving the dipper to different positions, and see if you find a position that takes grease. You might even have someone slowly move the dipper as you keep pressure on the grease gun...

Moving things has helped me in the past to get stubborn pins to take grease. Worth a try...