Back to School

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Well it's back to school for me! I've had my eyes glued to the computer for the last couple days studying a parts and repair manual!
I got sucked into the vortex of "Bigger is better, right"!
I love my little B7100... but it was well...lacking!
To Craig's list I did go and what did my eye's fall upon... a L3450DT-GST

The Good:
Rebuilt motor, 1 year old oversized tires and rims, Foam filled oversized front tires and rims, Full Hydraulic steering, 36.7HP, rear remotes and too many other pluses to list.
The Bad:
It been used hard, but I wouldn't say abused, didn't even see any seal leaks, but the body will need some TLC.
Need a ROPS for it, and some work lights.
I'm going to try and find a FEL that will just bolt on to it instead of having to build one from scratch for it, save me some time, but that's in the future.
All the sheet metal is off of it (but I have it all) from a botched dealer repair.
All new parts in the transmission... but they cracked the case on rebuild! Dumb mechanic mistake!!!
But after looking it all over really hard I'm about 99% sure I can weld the case and fix it.
It's not a Hydraulically sealed area, and where it's cracked it does not pose much of a risk for a large amount of stress, maybe only a small amount. I figure I'll give it a shot and if it doesn't work I'll get a new case for it.

I'll know more tomorrow, just got home from a 2 state, 2 country, 400 mile round trip to go pick it up.

So how does $2,000 sound for the price that I paid?
Oh and here it is before any polish.

 

[Wildfire]

Sounds to me you have the potential of making a nice tractor for yourself and have a great time doing it. Good luck with it. Look forward to seeing some progress reports.

 

[skeets]

INdeed a real project,,,,and you could probably part it out and get your money back if need be

 

[Russell King]

"Need a ROPS for it, and some work lights."

You probably already know but Kubota has a Discounted program for ROPs for older tractors.

See this link for more info but you model is not listed???

http://www.kubota.com/safety/RolloverProtectiveStructures.aspx

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Wildfire,
Thank you, It's moving right along, I was able to weld the transmission back up, it was only a web that they broke. If it fails I'll just buy a new case for it.

Skeets,
Not a snowballs chance of parting it out. I was fully aware of it's condition before I went and picked it up. It's 100% repairable, it will just take some time and yea a little cash.

Russell,
Sadly my tractor isn't on the list, it was used as an orchard tractor and I suspect they pulled the ROPS off of it to not whack the trees. I will either try to find one or get one made, I like staying safe.
Yes lots of lights too!

 

[beemehero]

Nice price, looks like there are 2k worth of tires and wheels there alone!

The early chill we're having has me scrambling to get in my newer shop and tear into all the unseen damage I might have caused trashing about this year.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

There's someone else up here??? I'm not alone???

Howdy neighbor???

You said a four letter word "SHOP"... I really got to get me one of those.
I've been dodging rain drops getting it put back together these last few days.
Should know today if I'm good to go or if I need to do a more extensive Split and repair/ rebuild.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Well after getting it all put back together and giving it a couple test runs it was apparent that something was not right in the transmission.
The PTO worked all the time, and it only moved in 1st and 5th and would stall dead in 4th.

So I set it up and split it and pulled the trans completely out.
I found the Case propeller shaft housing broken in 2 pieces (that's the part that the mechanical clutch rides on and acts as a keeper for the PTO shaft and bearing). There also was one of the synchronizer keys laying broken in the bottom of the case, and a cracked outside race on the main ball bearing.

Well the Idiot at the Kubota dealership that pulled the transmission for a rebuild didn't set the bearing for the PTO all the way on the shaft so that broke the front housing. The main shaft bearing was not aligned and he forced the cases back together that cracked the center of the transmission case and the bearing.
I have no clue how he broke the synchronizer key.

Anybody have a L2950, L3450, L3650 GST trans they want to part with?

Well it's looking like I can replace all the broken parts and it's not going to cost me that much either, around $600. I was sweating it, the case alone new is $1300.00.

I gave it a good degreasing bath before breaking it down.


Here it's is split.


Here with transmission pulled.


Damage to case.


Broken front case.

 

[BadDog]

Ouch! That guy should be "sleepin' wit' da' fishes". No excuse for that kind of carnage, good luck.

And I was grumbling about the welded bolts on my ROPs and broken backhoe frame.

 

[beemehero]

Dang, that's one of those din't have to happen things, if it were only done right.

Good on ya for having the skills to break it down and get it on the mend.

Just watch out for big daddy govt. knowing you did work for yourself on your own property saving monies and such working to get ahead, or back to even.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Well buying another transmission (or what they call it the clutch housing) case for this monster turned out to be impossible, they are a rare model and the 2 different cases that I had a line on to buy had damage to them. So I took it to a welder and machine shop in town, they have far better equipment and skill than I do for dealing with cast.
They called this afternoon and it's ready, I'll be picking it up in the morning. I also got lucky and most of the parts are in at the P.O. too!
So tomorrow I'll be building tranny.
Please, say a few words of encouragement in whatever way you feel is appropriate.
I only have to follow 19 sheets of blueprints and about 30 dozen parts to put in it to get it all back together... the scariest part isn't the gears, shafts, bearings, spacers and clips, it's the 78 some O-rings that have to go in this crazy thing that have me a bit on edge.

It's probably going to be a turtles pace rebuild!

 

[skeets]

"Fortes Deus benedicat" (may God bless the brave)

 

[olthumpa]

Good luck! I know that feeling when things are not going as planned and you revert to a crawl putting something back together.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Well some days I just shock myself.
I went this morning and picked up the transmission case at the shop in town and they had done a superb job on it.
About noon I started throwing wrenches and parts at it, Everything went into it smooth as silk, all the preliminary tests look great too, won't know for 100% sure till it's fired up, GST's are essentially a geared transmission with a hydraulic clutch between 1-4 gears and the high/low and reverse section. Forward and reverse are mechanical and the rest are hydraulically changed.
I'll just have to wait for two final parts to show up to be able to mate the front and back together. Then it should only take me a day or so to finish it all up and get it working.

 

[ipz2222]

Just make sure you have it all lined up right before you tighten it up.(BG)

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Just make sure you have it all lined up right before you tighten it up.(BG)

Oh yea!
All I used to assemble it was a small rubber and plastic ball peen hammer,
it all slid right together and then I hand tightened the bolts to set everything.
One major problem with the transmission before was the fact that I couldn't hit "neutral" on the PTO, fixing that was a must to stay safe.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

My last 2 transmission parts showed up yesterday evening and I managed to get it all put back together.
I took it out for a test run and workout. The transmission shifted threw all the gears perfectly, just need to do a little adjusting on the input pressures to quicken up the clutch engagement times.

I need to get the ROPS for it, and get some work light Installed.

Hopefully come spring I can put a new paint job on it and make it look nice.
Now it's time to get busy on the dozer/snow blade!

 

[skeets]

Well dayum son, I am impressed

 

[BAP]

Congratulations!!!! Must feel great to have things work out and work right.

 

[BadDog]

And here I go feeling all good about my B2150, and you go giving me an inferiority complex. Sheesh...

But seriously, NICE job! You started after me, with far more to do, and it now looks in better shape than mine. Hmm, about that inferiority complex...