L5450 Axle oil leak, shocked at what I found

[Kubota512]

We found a lubricant leak coming from the left front axle on our L5450. Removed wheel and oil seal cover. To our utter shock we found ALL the bolts that keep the Bevel Gear were unscrewed about a 1/2 inch. The inside portion of the oil seal cover displayed wear from the protruding bolt heads. This is the first time the cover has been removed during the tractors lifetime (it was purchased new). the manual indicates a 'Liquid Lock' needs to be applied if these bolts are removed (I assume this is prevent this exact situation). This leads one to suspect a failure to apply a 'Liquid Lock' at the factory.

Has anyone ever seen this situation?
Could these bolts come loose on their own (all of them)?

Pictures are enclosed to help clarify. A portion of the manual is also shown.

 

[Kytim]

First, welcome to our little community. the lack of replies seems to indicate that no one has seen this instance before. Did they loosen, were they left un-torqued? anything is possible I suppose. Have you repaired it yet?

Kytim

 

[Kubota512]

We have not repaired it yet. We did speak to the originating Dealer about the issue stating our assertion that believed this to be a factory/assembly related issue. The dealer responded with the fact that our tractor is out of warranty, and that they could only help if we paid for it. We do understand that it is not the dealer who is to blame but rather Kubota proper.
We did remove the right side cover and found the bolts on that side are all tight. We think its pretty obvious that liquid lock was not applied during assembly. We are now at the point where we think we should send registered mail detailing our compliant.
On another forum we did see a reference to another guy had a 5450 that had the same trouble but on the right side. He said removing a bolt from the other side (the good side) revealed Locktite residue. So this tells us that some assemblies DID go out without proper assembly in fact. He told told us good luck as Kubota refused to provide any help.

We have not removed the bevel gear yet, but we expect there may be wear in the gears.

Anyone have suggestions as to how to proceed in contacting Kubota?

Thanks for your kind reply!!