I had three huge trees taken down and used my BX24 tractor to clean up the debris. There were logs that were 3 1/2' in diameter 4 feet long that I was pushing around and today my tractor started shaking and making funny noises. Got it up to the garage to take a look and found that I had broken three of the four motor mounts. Apparently the banging into the longs while rolling them around was a bit much for the little tractor. Parts on order, hope they come quick.
Our tractors are tuff but not indistructable
- Thread starter rnbrn21
- Start date
That doesn't sound right. While I agree that you can work a tractor, any tractor, beyond what it'll handle, I don't think the engine mounts would give out before other components would give. I would be suspicious of the engine mounts, or if they were tight when the engine was installed.
Give the issue and what you suspect, though, the tractor should get a good once-over- any forces that would cause that kind of damage would have to hurt something else.
Give the issue and what you suspect, though, the tractor should get a good once-over- any forces that would cause that kind of damage would have to hurt something else.
The engine mounts don't seem to be of very good construction. They are small round pieces of rubber bonded in some way to a flat metal plate on each side with a bolt sticking out of them. In my case the three engine mounts failed because the metal plates separated from the rubber cushions which separated the engine from the frame. The tractor did take some pretty good shot as the logs would occasionally roll back and hit the front of the tractor. The only other damage that I have found is that the radiator fan shroud got chewed up because when the engine shifted the fan moved with it and hit the shroud. The fan blades are ok and I don't expect a problem once the engine is back in it's proper place with the new engine mounts.
Billdog350
Member
Equipment
Kubota L3710 HST,L2230A QT,forks,Takeuchi TB125, 60" Luck Now pto Snowblower
RNBRN, how old is your BX? I know I serviced several BX's a while back that had failing engine mounts. Some the rubber separated and some the metal actually fatigued and broke. Part of the issue is that the 3cyl diesels in those Bx's shake quite badly at certain harmonic frequencies/rpms. Kubota may cover some or all of the repair depending on the year/hours on the machine.
tcrote5516
New member
Equipment
BX1860, FEL, 50" Front Blower, Heated Cab, 6' blade, 3pt carry all, 3pt hitch
I also can't see how slamming into the logs could have possibly done more damage then these engines violently shaking at idle. I also promise you I've given my BX bigger hits when banging into boulders WAY too heavy (easily 800lbs) for my FEL to lift as I bulldozed them into position then any log could present.
I know my little 18hp looks like a clothes dryer on high with a brick in it at idle and as others have said the engine mounts are not built for strength. Kubota clearly needed to take some vibration out of the chassis and designed mounts that were very forgiving at the expense of strength. The fact that when sideways on a hill with 2hrs on the clock caused the engine to rub the frame told me all I needed to know about the engine mounts on day 1.
Remember, you only needed one engine mount to go bad. That extra play will take out the rest. Most likely just had one a worse than normal mount and the additional stress took out the other two.
I know my little 18hp looks like a clothes dryer on high with a brick in it at idle and as others have said the engine mounts are not built for strength. Kubota clearly needed to take some vibration out of the chassis and designed mounts that were very forgiving at the expense of strength. The fact that when sideways on a hill with 2hrs on the clock caused the engine to rub the frame told me all I needed to know about the engine mounts on day 1.
Remember, you only needed one engine mount to go bad. That extra play will take out the rest. Most likely just had one a worse than normal mount and the additional stress took out the other two.
My BX24 is a 2007 well past any warranty. I never thought that it could have been just normal wear. Maybe it was just that last bang into the log that finished them off. In any case they need to be replaced. Waiting for parts and decided to replace the fan shroud at the same time. Also seems that the fan shroud replacement is not uncommon on our tractors. Probably well past time for a coolant replacement anyways.
I got the last parts needed today to repair the engine mounts in my BX24. Got the engine mounts replaced without too much drama. I put the radiator shroud in place without mounting to leave me room to install the fan. Got the fan installed and put the fan shroud in place. I had previously removed the oil filter to make for easy access to the motor mount so an oil change and radiator fluid change later the job was complete. Not a terrible job just finicky. I probably didn't have to drain and replace the radiator fluid but it just made sense because I had never done it before. I thing the engine mounts have been failing slowly because I couldn't find and radiator shroud debris where I thought the final failure occurred. My radiator pre-screen has always been hard to removed and now it is easy so my radiator shroud has been out of place since I bought the tractor.