G1900 front axle

[lugbolt]

I've got this old G1900 Kubota that I've had for a number of years now. Love the mower. I keep it maintained religiously-including greasing ALL of the fittings (even the one on the front axle pivot and the drive shaft and brake pedal).

Got it in the shop today for it's winter maintenance. You know, get it ready for my 10 hours of cutting this year. Jacked it up to get the blades off and noticed that the front axle pivot is stuck. This is probably why the latter part of last year it was not cutting as well as it always has.

Anyway I've been out there all day beating and banging on it. I've heated the axle itself with a propane torch, rigged up a puller of sorts to go through the axle pivot tube and have done nothing but bend the frame a little. This dude is stuck! Have any of y'all run into this? How'd you get it out without damaging the axle itself? I don't have any problem replacing the tube/pivot but I don't wanna have to fork over that $$$ for the axle!

 

[85Hokie]

Lugbolt,

take a picture and upload it - I know what you are trying to do, but a picture will help my brain to digest it!

 

[lugbolt]

Don't really have a good way to get in there for a picture as of right now, but if you'll have a look at the diagram (G07500), you'll see the sleeve. The sleeve has the pto shaft that runs through the center of it-which I have removed already. But the sleeve runs through the axle (G09800), which pivots on the sleeve. It's stuck. I can pry the axle back and forth a little with a big bar but it almost tips the tractor over during the process. So I'm going to have to cut the sleeve out of the axle/frame and then get the axle out of the frame to deal with it. The sleeve is about $100, and I have the bearings already, but the axle is $750

Hence the reason I'd like to salvage the axle.....

 

[BruceP]

I've got this old G1900 Kubota that I've had for a number of years now. Love the mower. I keep it maintained religiously-including greasing ALL of the fittings (even the one on the front axle pivot and the drive shaft and brake pedal).

Got it in the shop today for it's winter maintenance. You know, get it ready for my 10 hours of cutting this year. Jacked it up to get the blades off and noticed that the front axle pivot is stuck. This is probably why the latter part of last year it was not cutting as well as it always has.

Anyway I've been out there all day beating and banging on it. I've heated the axle itself with a propane torch, rigged up a puller of sorts to go through the axle pivot tube and have done nothing but bend the frame a little. This dude is stuck! Have any of y'all run into this? How'd you get it out without damaging the axle itself? I don't have any problem replacing the tube/pivot but I don't wanna have to fork over that $$$ for the axle!

Sticking front axle-pivot is VERY COMMON for the G-series tractors. Greasing it is not enough because the grease needs to be distributed around the pivot-point. it is best to lift the front of the frame and 'work' the pivot-point after greasing.

However: These revelations do not resolve your immediate issue. have you considerd pumping some rust-dissolver into the grease-fitting? (Kroil or PB-blaster) then set up some vibration to so it works into the joint. This may take several days/weeks.

 

[D2Cat]

That's just what I was thinking, Kroil. Put some in a pistol grip sprayer and give it a bath. Keep squirting it and be patient.

I once had to rebuild the steering clutches in a D2 and had a similar problem. I actually poured in about 1/2 gallon of Kroil into each side and worked for a few days to get the final drive apart. I ordered a gallon from them and have used it since!

 

[lugbolt]

yeah I pumped some PB into the fitting. And I keep it greased, ever since I bought it, I usually hit all the fittings a couple times a mowing season. It just became stuck over this winter, which I find to be odd since it's been fine for as long as I've had it. In fact when I bought it, I shimmed the axle pivot to tighten it up a little, using Kubota shims. Everything was free. Just a shade on the tight side as if it was brand new (and I remember doing A&P on them when they were new if that tells you anything). I remember taking them off of the crate. The tractor HUNG from the crate (no bottom) and you forked it by cables that were bolted to the crate. Weird. I personally hated putting the decks on, especially the 60" because of it's weight.

I actually broke the grease fitting at it's elbow by trying to ram the PB into it. I'll pick up another one tomorrow and try again.

So far nothing's worked. I've made a huge mes of the thing by soaking it down with PB blaster. At this point all I'm doing is trying to salvage the axle obviously, could care less about the sleeve. Earlier I welded a bit nut to the front of the sleeve so that I can get a socket and a break-over bar on it, and managed to break my 1/2" break-over; and nothing else budged. Called it quits for today. Try again later this week with a 3/4".

 

[D2Cat]

I looked at the parts list and it does not show a sleeve, it only shows the front axle and a shim. Are you sure the sleeve comes out, or is it part of the axle?

If you can get to it, can you use something like this to cut a kerf in the sleeve to relieve some pressure?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-ACE-Cab...114627?hash=item2333c095c3:g:LGsAAMXQVERSsNdd

 

[lugbolt]

I ordered a new pivot, needle bearing, 2 circlips and ball bearing.

The sleeve is the axle pivot. It bolts in from the front side. The front pto shaft goes through the middle of the sleeve.

I welded a big nut to the end of the sleeve and put my 1" drive breakover on it. Won't budge. The bar is about 5 feet long. Nearly rolling the tractor over on me trying to turn it.

Next step, I'll have to remove the engine and take the rest of the tractor down to my brother's house, and creatively cut a slot in the sleeve. It appears that it's frozen into the rear frame support more than it is into the axle, which explains why the axle will move-although it needs a ton of force to do so, but the sleeve won't budge. I think if I can get it loosened from the frame mount, it might come out. Hmm...have another idea. Maybe dig out the welder and weld a bead into the back of the sleeve hoping that the heat shock might loosen it. Hmmmmm....worth a try I guess.

 

[Delmar]

Man, lugbolt, I hate to say it but I just scrapped a g1900 frame a couple of weeks ago. I removed the rear axle/hydro and just trashed the rest. I mention this, not to frustrate you, but to encourage you to keep an eye out for an old unit. I see them occasionally on Craigslist. Not sure where you are located but assuming mid south means you've got a couple of months before mowing season. Hope something turns up.

 

[lugbolt]

I'll certainly keep an eye out for one.

Update though. I got it loose. The pivot sleeve was seized into the frame. Get this. I've been messing with it for about 2 weeks off and on now, soaking it in the morning before work, then come home, heat the axle and sleeve and soak it while warm, using PB blaster. The whole can on this one deal.

Yesterday I stopped to visit my old boss and bought a can of PJ-1 Cable lube, in the green can. Made for lubricating bike and atv cables. One of the techs I used to work with said that it's good stuff, great penetrant.

So today I get a "day off" (those are rare, by the way) and decided to mess with it more. I had borrowed a 1" drive breakover bar, which is almost 5 feet long. I welded a big nut to the axle pivot since it's junk anyway, hoping that my 1/2" breakover would break it free with a 1 1/2" nut welded to it. Nope. Broke the 1/2" breakover. Grabbed the 1" today and went after it. Nothing. Would not budge, actually I had to put the tractor up against the car to keep from flipping the tractor over. It is that stuck.

Lunch time.

Came back out, hit it with some cable lube, customer came by to drop off a Kawasuki. We chatted about 20 minutes and then I went back to the mower. I didn't even put hardly any pressure against it and it turned, freed from the frame. But still stuck inside the axle so that's next. I did manage to get it beat about 1/4" forward with a 5 lb sledge and an old socket, so it's moving. Just slowly.

Progress....slow but it's moving. I sprayed some more cable lube on it and it'll sit at least overnight. Tuesday's valentine's day and I have to work, but we're both off on Monday so that's our valentine's day. Needless to say the mower will have to wait another day. I'll probably rig up a puller of sorts to help pull it out of the axle/frame.

back to the cable lube. I sprayed the rollers and the chain of the garage door opener and it's MUCH quieter. And smoother. Man I like this stuff. Since I was trying it out, I also lubed both overhead doors and their springs on the shop doors, did the car trailer ramp door and side door (they are silky smooth now), did the doors on the storage building too to get rid of the squeak (which it did, immediately). Then went in about dark thirty and fixed one of the blinds that was sticking in the door with it. Amazing stuff for sure.

 

[D2Cat]

Well, I went over to Amazon to check out your problem solving recommendation...JP1. Sixteen reviews, 5 stars!

It's nice when something finally goes your way after so much work. Some of that PB Blaster probably had some influence on the reduction in friction, and the customer coming in was a blessing. Without the time to let the JP1 soak, you may have beat the thing to submission, at more cost.

You mentioned Valentine's Day. Heard Dr. Ed. Young talking this morning telling about the wife who asked her husband for something shinny and and went from zero to 180 in three seconds.

He got her a new bathroom scale!

Have a good one!!

 

[lugbolt]

Valentines day went well. Although I got nothing accomplished in the shop, I mean absolutely nothing. Didn't even turn a light on.

Soaked everything down with PJ1. Nothing. Nothing budged any more than it already has. I welded a big nut to the axle pivot and used a big (I mean heavy) breakover, nearly turned the tractor over trying to get it to move. Failure.

Ended up cutting the front most part of the pivot off, the flange. Then I could get the pivot to move forward just far enough to get my wildcat grinder in between the frame and the axle to cut the rear part off, removed the remainder of the stubs on each end and then spread the frame just far enough to get the axle out of the frame. Done this tonight. There is still the remainder of the pivot stuck in the axle, which I feel fairly confident it should move under about 50 tons of press force. I don't have a press at home-I need one-so I'll take it over to where I used to work and let them do it, or maybe they'll let me do it if the boss ain't around.

Just baby steps...but it IS progress in the right direction for once. That seems to be rare for me. I have all the new stuff here in my posession so once the remainder of the pivot is out, I can clean it up and then begin the process of shimming and reinstalling everything. Maybe I can get it all done by start of mowing season. The onions are already about a foot tall in parts of the yard and it's just February! Crazy weather.

By the way, the pivot cannot be cut with a sawzall or hack saw, and it can't be drilled. It's like a cast steel material of some sort, I want to say cast iron but cast iron machines pretty easily. This stuff (the material that the pivot shaft is made of) is harder than hammered he**, but no match for the old wildcat grinder with a 10" cutting disc on it. Took maybe 30 seconds to carefully cut through it. I tried drilling part of it too, and ended up smoking the drill bit and not even denting the part that I was attempting to drill.

 

[lugbolt]

Another.......and FINAL update!

Done. Had the axle out of the tractor the other day. Today I took it over to a friend's place after trying to hammer on the remainder of the pivot, it would not budge with a 4 lb hammer. My friend has a 50 ton press, so it was either going to come out or it was going to bend/break the axle trying.

It took ~37 tons on the gauge to get it to bust loose. Once it was loose, it came right out.

And the reason it was stuck. It had grease in it. The grease was congealed and it could not possibly get all the way around the pivot. It is a poor setup. The pivot-as delivered from Kubota back in I think 1992, is a smooth thick wall tube of sorts, with a groove in the middle that goes all the way around it. This allows grease to get into the pto bearings but it doesn't let grease get to each end of the pivot tube. The new tube has a groove as well but it is spiraled all the way around the tube, almost end to end, so that grease can work it's way around the tube the entire length of it.

I had to make a 450 mile round trip after I pressed the thing out, so I got home about 8pm this evening. By 9:00 I was almost completely done. It is in, shimmed to proper spec, cleaned, painted and now the only holdup is new front tires and slide the deck back under it after sharpening the blades.

 

[D2Cat]

Now that's a place to make sure you see grease coming out before you quit pumping!