2022 CK3510SE HST transmission issue

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kdancy

New member
First time posting. While working (using grapple and rear scrape blade) my CK3510se HST with 250 hours, all of the sudden the tractor would not move in any gear, only make a slight grinding noise like it was trying to go into gear but would not. Checked all the shift linkage and installed one 6mm roll pin in linkage as this pin had fallen out right after I bought the tractor. Everything good and tight. No difference, sounded like it was coming from inside the case. Wound up winching it onto my car trailer and taking it to my Kioti dealer. Mechanic listened as I cranked it up (noise started as soon as it was running), checked the shift linkage and said "I know exactly what's wrong, had another one 3 weeks ago and it was the "drive plate". This is an HST so it doesn't have a splined clutch plate like a standard trans would have. So I left it to get fixed (two to three weeks). I am trying to find exactly what a stripped "drive plate" is on an HST as I figure it is a splined gadget that bolts up to the flywheel and has splines that an input shaft on the HST has for power transfer from the engine to trans. I'm guessing that the splines are stripped, thus the grinding sound and no tractor movement in gear.
Looking online and in the maintenance manual, I can only find what is termed a "damper", that bolts to the flywheel and looks like the HST input shaft goes into.
Am I barking up the wrong tree?
 
Now I've heard of a few others with the same issue. I sure hope Kioti gets this corrected with a stronger part.
 
Actually, that is a relatively common practice, and has been for years. Many machines (tractors included) that have hydrostatic drive or power shuttle transmissions don't always have a dry clutch, pressure plate, throw out bearing, ETC. They simply use a plate of some sort bolted to the flywheel with a splined hub and a matching shaft that's part of the transmission. Nothing unusual about the concept. The only real difference here is the quality. Most of them, no matter what brand, last for years and/or thousands of hours before something gives up. What you're experiencing is another example of Kore engineering in action. Something in the design or manufacturing quality control was missed.
 
Well, less than a year later, It happened again. CK3510SE hst with 398 hours. Moving some limbs with the grapple and tractor just stopped moving. I could hear a "tinkling" sound coming from the bellhousing area, so suspect the drive plate has gone out again. Winched it back on the trailer and took it back to Farmers Tractor in Valdosta Ga. While there, I was told the factory rep would be in (found out next week) and will determine if warranty will cover it again. Appears to me that the factory rep is fishing for ways not to cover the repair.
If they won't, I am getting it fixed and selling and will get another brand. I don't run anything off the PTO, so no rotary cutter or stump grinder.
I have drilled two holes for planting pecan trees, using a 9" post hole auger. Other than that, mostly use grapple, and a few times a landscape rake and small harrow.
When I picked up the tractor from the first drive plate replacement, the plate itself looked very undersized and thin to me. I was actually surprised by the lack of "beef".
 
We all make choices in this world. You get to make one here. If you really like the tractor (brand not withstanding) and it does what you want it to, gives you little or no trouble in doing so, then consider this. The machine is past warranty obviously, so what you do to it makes no difference to anyone. Get it apart, get the broken pieces in hand. Then compare what you see to the drive disc/torque limiter/ whatever they call it in other machines that don't have that problem. A little research and comparison to what some other tractors use will quickly show the major differences. No doubt a better package can be built and put in place of what you have now. Discuss the options with a trustworthy mechanic, machinist, welder/fabricator type and see what can be done. Putting another part just like it back in and trading the thing off is not the only option.
 
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