Front left hub is a bit sad - advice needed

[Paul Allwood]

Send a mesage to @Mountainman, if anyone has those parts it would be him.
His prices are very reasonable and I'm sure he could work out shipping.

Thanks - I've just sent a message.

 

[Paul Allwood]

Having spent nearly 50 years in a machine shop I've done several repairs like that. We called it "staking" it.
I don't recall any of them failing but some may have and never heard about it. I have even seen original equipment manufacturers use that method in some instances. Most recently in Okuma CNC lathes. In your instance the challenge is going to be working around the other repair and the limited space for drilling and tapping. I would agree the best is to replace but I believe a working fix is possible.

Thanks - all good to know. I agree I've got a bit of a challenge due to the damage that's already been done.

 

[Russell King]

Thanks - I've just sent a message.

I believe this is moutainman’s website that you can get in contact with them directly

Mossy Creek Outdoors - Largest Kubota B and BX Salvage Yard in the US

Find high-quality used Kubota parts at great prices! Our inventory covers everything you might need, ensuring you get reliable components for your equipment.

mossycreekoutdoors.com

 

[Paul Allwood]

I believe this is moutainman’s website that you can get in contact with them directly

Mossy Creek Outdoors - Largest Kubota B and BX Salvage Yard in the US

Find high-quality used Kubota parts at great prices! Our inventory covers everything you might need, ensuring you get reliable components for your equipment.

mossycreekoutdoors.com

Many thanks Russell

 

[Paul Allwood]

I've contacted Daryl from Mossy Creek Outdoors (very helpful - thanks NIW and RK for the suggestion) and he has the parts I need - just sorting out postage cost for these and some hydraulic steering parts as well (that'll be another post).

It's a good thing, as I had a closer look at the large bevel gear and the shaft this afternoon, and in metric units they are both harder than a cat's head. The file skated across them and there's no way I'm drilling it with a standard drill bit, and not a chance of tapping to use grub screws as scotch keys. Maybe I could sharpen a carbide masonry drill bit, but.....

Since I've hopefully got parts on the way soon, I'll replace the leaking seal and put it back together with new dowel pins to take out some of the play and get back to using it.

 

[hagrid]

harder than a cat's head.

Stealing that one to use on my dad. He has a bag full of those quips from the coal mine.

For comparison, I would've used the metric "harder than a nun's heart".

 

[Paul Allwood]

I reassembled the right front hub with new dowel pins into the holes that someone had previously machined to overcome the stripped spline. After trying to re-drill the holes and finding out how hard these parts are I decided that whoever fixed this previously actually hasn't done too bad of a job. Also fitted a shim that I turned from a hard washer to take out the end play. Same as the left, this side also got six new wheel studs made out of class 8.8 bolts.

Re-filled the oil, put the wheel on and tested - all good.

This is still only a temporary fix until the parts arrive from Mossy Creek Outdoors, then it will get a permanent fix.

 

[whitetiger]

Stealing that one to use on my dad. He has a bag full of those quips from the coal mine.

For comparison, I would've used the metric "harder than a nun's heart".

I have been known to use "Tougher than boiled owl" quite often

 

[Hugo Habicht]

I used those diamond tile cutters to drill through hardened steel in the past. Medium speed, very little pressure and running coolant water.

 

[Paul Allwood]

I used those diamond tile cutters to drill through hardened steel in the past. Medium speed, very little pressure and running coolant water.

Thanks Hugo - I wouldn't have thought of those.

 

[Hugo Habicht]

Thanks Hugo - I wouldn't have thought of those.

But you need patience, I think it took me 15-20 minutes for a 12mm deep 6mm diameter hole.

 

[Paul Allwood]

The second hand bevel gear (looks new), the stub axle and the half round retaining bits arrived from Mossy Creek Outdoors this afternoon. The splines fit together beautifully with almost no play.

Hopefully I'll get these fitted to the front right in the next few days to replace the temporary fix that I found in there recently.

 

[Chanceywd]

Thanks Hugo - I wouldn't have thought of those.

Good to see you were able to find some!
Did you get parts for both sides or just the one with the pins?

Bill

 

[Paul Allwood]

Good to see you were able to find some!
Did you get parts for both sides or just the one with the pins?

Bill

Thanks Bill. I just got parts for the side with the pins. The splines on the other side are good.

 

[Paul Allwood]

Out with the old (front right bevel gear and stub axle)....

Assembled the "new" bits with the replacement bevel gear and stub axle from @Mountainman Mossy Creek Outdoors....

I wasn't able to push the end of the stub axle shaft into the inner bearing by hand on this one....

So I removed the inner bearing which was an easy tap in fit in the housing....

And pressed it onto the shaft....

Then it all went together nicely. All spins freely with no play and no unexpected noises.

Took it for a 5 minute test run - all good.

Back to the shed to pack up and I as was tipping the drained oil into a waste oil drum I remembered that I HADN'T RE-FILLED THE HUB WITH NEW OIL. Lucky I didn't decide to keep going on the test run and mow the grass today. It could have been an expensive mistake.

 

[Paul Allwood]

What started out as a simple project to try to fix the runout of the left front wheel, ended in a slightly bigger job (pretty standard). Not only is the left front wheel now running true, but the front right front hub has some "new" bits fitted to fix a problem that I didn't know I had.

Next - new wheels and tyres, hydraulic steering and fixing the FEL geometry.