K Connect blew apart

[jampy00]

Howdy Folks,

New to the forum and to Kubota.
Just purchased a new BX1880 for my 5 acre property. Will be used primarily for snow removal and cutting grass.
I have about 5 hours on it so far and only 2nd time blowing snow, this morning I went out to clear the end of my driveway where the plow left a pile of snow. Maybe 9-12" deep light but chunky snow. Made a single pass with no issues, preparing to make my 2nd pass and hear a terrible noise, sounded like a rock in the impeller of the snow blower so I stop everything and check, no issues. Start up again and same noise, then I see parts laying on the ground, looks like a connection let go in the K connect. Dealership is picking up tractor today. hindsight always being 20/20 I decided to look this up and have read posts on pre-mature wear from lifting an engaged snow blower, this is what I do/did but would this cause such a catastrophic failure? To me something was loose or missing for things to simple blow apart like it did. Unit was under no load and blower was just a few inches in the air.. Anyone else have this happen?

I'll report back with what the dealer says.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

Welcome and sad you have the K-atastrophe to deal with.....
Hopefully you haven't told dealer you lift while PTO is spinning ! If you did, you'll probably get a $1,000 repair bill.
I've followed 'threads' for 2-3 years about this piss-poor design and shake my head as to how an 'engineering team' could even think it's a 'good' unit.
Hopefully dealer will have parts and rebuild as needed by the weekend !
Try 'search' for the past posts... lots of them........probably 6-7 HOURS of reading involved, lots of pictures. You were given the MANUALs for ALL the units ??

 

[jampy00]

Welcome and sad you have the K-atastrophe to deal with.....
Hopefully you haven't told dealer you lift while PTO is spinning ! If you did, you'll probably get a $1,000 repair bill.
I've followed 'threads' for 2-3 years about this piss-poor design and shake my head as to how an 'engineering team' could even think it's a 'good' unit.
Hopefully dealer will have parts and rebuild as needed by the weekend !
Try 'search' for the past posts... lots of them........probably 6-7 HOURS of reading involved, lots of pictures. You were given the MANUALs for ALL the units ??

Thanks,
Dealer never asked if I lifted or not while snow blower was engaged. I did tell them I have only about 40 minutes of snow blowing time out of the 5 hours hours of total run time on this tractor I've only owned it for 40 days and it was purchased as new. so I hope they won't try anything and just fix the problem and return the tractor as we are supposed to get a big dumping of snow tomorrow. I contacted my sales rep at the dealership as well to let him know and his reply was "we'll get it fixed and get it back to you" Fingers crossed.

 

[jampy00]

So looks like a defective part, the image below shows what blew apart. Service guy feels manufacturing error.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

well that's great news ! I suspect that nut #5 wasn't tight, came off, then bolt #4 flew out,allowing drive shaft #3 to make one heckuva noise !! One year, rear Ujoint broke in my CJ-5...that was 'fun'.
BTW, you engage the coupling,using the big handle, ONCE per season then use the PTO lever to spin /no spin the blower. There's ZERO reason to engage/disengage the coupling using the big lever.
Still haven't heard WHY you can't raise the blower up,as that operation doesn't affect operation of the coupling. Usually you put loader joystick into 'float' (fully forward), go slow, and blower 'follows' the ground.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

This is why equipment has a warrantee, things happen!

 

[jampy00]

This is why equipment has a warrantee, things happen!

Exactly, service was done quickly. Had my BX1880 back with 24 hours. I have no complaints.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

GREAT news, cept now all the snow's turned into ICE and at -12*C too cold to go out and play !

 

[jampy00]

GREAT news, cept now all the snow's turned into ICE and at -12*C too cold to go out and play !

Yea, I was out just after the big snow here and it was a terrible experience. BX2816 chute kept clogging/freezing up, blew a sheer pin (of course didn't have any) and ended up finishing with 1/2 a blower.
If I had waited until Sunday it would have been a colder but much easier experience.

Lessons learned...

 

[Cottonwood]

What good is a snowblower that you can’t lift with the PTO running? (Asking for a friend)

 

[Donystoy]

What good is a snowblower that you can’t lift with the PTO running? (Asking for a friend)

Certainly, you can lift them with the blower running. That is what the universals are for. I have been doing it for years without any issues. I can only imagine the wear and tear created if you had to disconnect and reconnect the drive every time you changed position. Now having said that I would not drive for long periods with it engaged and at maximum height off the ground when obviously not blowing snow.

 

[jampy00]

Certainly, you can lift them with the blower running. That is what the universals are for. I have been doing it for years without any issues. I can only imagine the wear and tear created if you had to disconnect and reconnect the drive every time you changed position. Now having said that I would not drive for long periods with it engaged and at maximum height off the ground when obviously not blowing snow.

Yes, I agree. I tend to lift slowly and not to full height (if possible). I am probably saving nothing by babying it. I typically turn off the blower before lifting quickly and to full height for a re-position. Again, not sure if that saves any wear & tear etc..

 

[GreensvilleJay]

The actual 'coupling' parts do NOT change angles when the blower is lifted. The pivot point isn't there, it's where the forward U-joint is,so the damage to the coupling isn't from lifting, Beside the coupling is engaged for the entire season.
One possible problem IS disengaging/engaging the PTO,at any RPM. That will 'shock' the poorly 'engineered' coupling.
I've run BERCO blowers for decades, always left them 'engaged' from start to finish,raised, lowered, going in reverse.

 

[jampy00]

One possible problem IS disengaging/engaging the PTO,at any RPM. That will 'shock' the poorly 'engineered' coupling.

Interesting, this is what I have been doing, but did not notice any sort of "shock" to the coupling.
If fact, it took a second or two for the snow blow to start once engaged, I figured this was to prevent the coupling from being shocked. But, this is something I will look into when I remove the blower and K-Connect this spring. Thanks for the input!

 

[GreensvilleJay]

OK, I don't have one, just going on the 2-3 years worth of 'reports' here and the 'installation manuals' but...

there's maybe a 1/4" gap between the 4 'fingers of the couplings, so with PTO off, there will be the gap. Engage PTO and the tractor side fingers 'slam' into the blower fingers. This happens every time you disengage/engage the PTO. Over time those fingers have to be 'mashed', deformed, beatup. A 'Lovejoy' style coupling has a solid 'rubber' between the coupling fingers. This takes up the 'shock' As well ,Lovejoy's are 3 fingers each side( 6 side rubber ) so less stress on each finger.Rubber also reduces minor alignment issues.

I don't know why the delay in spinning after engaging PTO, Might be combination of slack in reduction chain and then auger gearing

 

[jampy00]

OK, I don't have one, just going on the 2-3 years worth of 'reports' here and the 'installation manuals' but...

there's maybe a 1/4" gap between the 4 'fingers of the couplings, so with PTO off, there will be the gap. Engage PTO and the tractor side fingers 'slam' into the blower fingers. This happens every time you disengage/engage the PTO. Over time those fingers have to be 'mashed', deformed, beatup. A 'Lovejoy' style coupling has a solid 'rubber' between the coupling fingers. This takes up the 'shock' As well ,Lovejoy's are 3 fingers each side( 6 side rubber ) so less stress on each finger.Rubber also reduces minor alignment issues.

I don't know why the delay in spinning after engaging PTO, Might be combination of slack in reduction chain and then auger gearing

Very interesting, my BX1880 has a total of 7 hours on it. No sure if this means anything or not.
I completely understand what you are saying, and find it equally strange now that my system does not seem to slam or shock itself into place when engaging the PTO..

 

[GreensvilleJay]

if the PTO is 'clutch' based and not 'gear' based, there's a built in 'soft start'...
curious, I looked at both bx1880 and my BX23S, both have PTO clutches ( in transmission drawings ), so I suspect a somewhat, reasonably smooth transition from 'off' to 'engaged'.
Unlike electric PTOs that WHAM when the power's turned on !

 

[jampy00]

if the PTO is 'clutch' based and not 'gear' based, there's a built in 'soft start'...
curious, I looked at both bx1880 and my BX23S, both have PTO clutches ( in transmission drawings ), so I suspect a somewhat, reasonably smooth transition from 'off' to 'engaged'.
Unlike electric PTOs that WHAM when the power's turned on !

Ha! was going to check the same this this evening, you beat me to it and now we have our answer.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

Yeah, i got curious, as I've never used the PTO or the 3PH since I got the tractor 5 years/1100 hrs ago.
Neighbour has a BX2380 with blower but NO snow this winter on his 4 hour ride....

 

[jampy00]

Yeah, i got curious, as I've never used the PTO or the 3PH since I got the tractor 5 years/1100 hrs ago.
Neighbour has a BX2380 with blower but NO snow this winter on his 4 hour ride....

I appreciate your input and conversation, this is exactly what forums need and I enjoy. Learning new stuff everyday is always enjoyable.