Anyone see this casting break?

[Uiucbsme]

B2301 was parked with a mower attached to the three point hitch. I heard the mower drop as I walked away to get a drink. Saw hydraulic fluid everywhere. Lifted the seat and the casting immediately underneath was broken. The tractor has about 220 hours on it. I am at least the second owner. I’ve put about 100 hours on it. Anyone see a failure like this before.

 

[BruceP]

You asked...
I have seen tractor main-casting crack.... usually after being 'abused' such as carrying excessive weight in bucket at high speed over rough ground.

I have also seen 3-point arms snap off from tom-foolery.
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Not suggesting you did anything wrong. Perhaps close inspection can reveal if there is any rust on the broken surfaces indicating it is an old crack which propagated.

 

[old and tired]

I would assume the previous owner screwed it up and decided to sell before it became a bigger problem....

 

[NorthwoodsLife]

Ouch!

I was taught by my uncle in the 70's to never leave the 3 point, or loader, in the air when parked. Due to stress. I've never seen a finer example as to why.

Sorry, but you've taught so many of us with that damage.

And, this is why we don't road trip our tractor for 12 miles.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

curious.. how does heavy bucket weight break the casting ??
Something tells me JBWeld will NOT be an option....has to be a LOT of time ,aka $$$ labour, involved in replacing the part ?

 

[old and tired]

curious.. how does heavy bucket weight break the casting ??

My guess if you are lifting something heavy with the front bucket, you normally would have a heavy counter weight on the rear. Drive fast over a few potholes, the crack would be there.... Just a guess...

 

[Uiucbsme]

Having taken high level courses on failure mechanisms in engineering materials, I find it hard to believe that leaving the three point hitch up would cause this failure. Castings would tend to fail due to fatigue and lowering the hitch will (ever so slightly) cause more fatigue than leaving it up.

My guess is a faulty casting in order to break with so few hours on the tractor.

 

[Uiucbsme]

You asked...
I have seen tractor main-casting crack.... usually after being 'abused' such as carrying excessive weight in bucket at high speed over rough ground.

I have also seen 3-point arms snap off from tom-foolery.
============

Not suggesting you did anything wrong. Perhaps close inspection can reveal if there is any rust on the broken surfaces indicating it is an old crack which propagated.

The crack looks clean to me, but I haven’t gotten in too close yet.

 

[old and tired]

See this post of a case that broke... https://www.orangetractortalks.com/forums/threads/a-really-bad-day.67535/#post-699913

The 3 point arms were thrown upwards and bent some metal where the lift arms contacted the seat area... Not saying this is what happen to yours but take and post more photos of the area....

 

[TheOldHokie]

B2301 was parked with a mower attached to the three point hitch. I heard the mower drop as I walked away to get a drink. Saw hydraulic fluid everywhere. Lifted the seat and the casting immediately underneath was broken. The tractor has about 220 hours on it. I am at least the second owner. I’ve put about 100 hours on it. Anyone see a failure like this before.
View attachment 128734

Am I correct thinking thats the 3pt lift cylinder? Somomebody else posted a similar cylinder failure recently. Might have been a diffetent model tractor. My theory is the fracture is caused by hydraulic shock loads generated when transporting the mower in the raised positiin. Yours was probably compromised earlier and finslly gave up the ghost will sitting there.

Dan

 

[Uiucbsme]

Am I correct thinking thats the 3pt lift cylinder? Somomebody else posted a similar cylinder failure recently. Might have been a diffetent model tractor. My theory is the fracture is caused by hydraulic shock loads generated when transporting the mower in the raised positiin.

Dan

It could be the lift cylinder. I don’t know the innards well enough to know.

 

[D2Cat]

Ouch!

I was taught by my uncle in the 70's to never leave the 3 point, or loader, in the air when parked. Due to stress. I've never seen a finer example as to why.

Sorry, but you've taught so many of us with that damage.

And, this is why we don't road trip our tractor for 12 miles.

I road trip my Case 730 12 miles pulling a round baler! May times, no damage.

 

[hodge]

Am I correct thinking thats the 3pt lift cylinder? Somomebody else posted a similar cylinder failure recently. Might have been a diffetent model tractor. My theory is the fracture is caused by hydraulic shock loads generated when transporting the mower in the raised positiin. Yours was probably compromised earlier and finslly gave up the ghost will sitting there.

Dan

I think that you are right, Dan. It looks like the lift cylinder casting, and it would most likely be fractured by internal pressure.
This didn't happen by leaving the mower up while going to get a drink.

Ulu, sorry this happened to you. Despite the reason for coming here, welcome to the forum!

 

[hagrid]

Is this an impression or some schmootz?

 

[Uiucbsme]

Is this an impression or some schmootz?

View attachment 128800

I saw that in the image after the fact and wondered the same thing. Unfortunately I had to leave the tractor for a few days and won’t be able to look until later this week.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Ouch!

I was taught by my uncle in the 70's to never leave the 3 point, or loader, in the air when parked. Due to stress. I've never seen a finer example as to why.

Sorry, but you've taught so many of us with that damage.

And, this is why we don't road trip our tractor for 12 miles.

Hahahah....No kidding.

Yesterday I was 'caught' behind this guy "abusing" his tractor.....

 

[GreensvilleJay]

Curious.looked it up, that casting is about $1300 Canadian, seems kinday easy to replace BUT the big issue would be to remove any casting bits out of the internal area.

 

[mikester]

Is this an impression or some schmootz?

View attachment 128800

Bad casting?

 

[TheOldHokie]

Bad casting?

Based on the number of recent failures of that type I wouad say bad design. There should be a safety valve in the lift circuit and Kubota is cutting corners on the small machines.

Dan

 

[GreensvilleJay]

or...
maybe the mower is too big/ too heavy ?