Its u joint time again

M

Mark.Sibole

Well-known member
Yay I get to change a u joint soon.After 3 years and moving tons of snow and wood the poor joint finally gave up.As soon as the snow melts and it warms up it will be changed.Till them ill have to baby it along
 
Mark, three years doesn't seem near long enough. As I recall your machine was made prior to 2011. I hope I have better luck with mine, which is a 2011 900 xt. I guess I better do some inspections on mine. Am due the 600 hour service is 28 hours.

Best wishes!
 
Pepr for all of the abuse it sees and tons of snow it has pushed trust me it got tired.WE get on average of 150 plus inches of snow here and i cut and haul an average of 80 cords a year plus the just plain playing around i do. MIne is an o5 so I figure 3 joints in 9 years isnt bad at all.
 
Mark if you are working it that hard, I think you are getting your money's worth from more than your U-joint.
 
Ah Mark, I hope they just pop out this time. I remember you and I both had a time with those stuck things.:whip: :hammer: Maybe drill you a hole under the joint , in the "flat plate there so you can grease the outers easier, while you have the thing removed.. (since you are using the joints with grease fittings?) The xt has a hole about like a quarter or half dollar to reach the zerk in it. I think there is a picture I posted of it on the old thread? Mark,I know you know, but for those not familiar with it , the 05 were made without the access hole because the oem ujoints back then had no zerks) It is sure easier to do the 3rd time huh. How many hours on those second joints you think?
Pepr, I have about 1535 hrs on my August of 2011 model 900 and so far so good...I grease and check for slack...holding my breath ... so far...so good :) collie .
 
Collie IM not really sure on hours this time around.BUt I know it worked its tail off.Surprisingly enough it was the joint with the zerk on it that went.The one with the non zerk older is just fine .Go figure.Yes they are a lot easier to do when you did it a few times.Just need some warmer weather to tear it down.I have to wait till i dont have to haul wood up for heat lol.
 
FWIW, the 900 that has been in the family a few years needed U-joints around 70 hours, BUT sitting can be just as bad for any bearing as hard use.
 
My 04 RTV still has the originals..It worked its butt off this past winter plowing snow. My son runs the RTV while I do the tractor. The RTV has only around 300hrs but other than a bit of wood hauling, the majority of hours are pushing snow around.I Will have to keep an eye on those U-joints.
 
All this u-joint stuff is making me nervous, is there something I should be doing for preventive maintenance, seems there have been failures anywhere from 70 hours to unlimited without one. Is there a connection in how much time in snow, mud, sand, water etc. you use your RTV or if it is stored inside or outside????
 
BaiJiu said:
All this u-joint stuff is making me nervous, is there something I should be doing for preventive maintenance, seems there have been failures anywhere from 70 hours to unlimited without one. Is there a connection in how much time in snow, mud, sand, water etc. you use your RTV or if it is stored inside or outside????
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I actually build and repair driveshafts(among other things) for a living. Any bearing that sits idle for extended periods of time can develop dry spots which cause premature failure.

When ours failed, the family camp is 4 miles down the road from the Kubota dealer, so Pops ran down there thinking they might have em. No dice, dealer was somewhat shocked, and said kubota only offered the complete shaft and were eager to know if we could match up some joints. I think I've only sold them one set of U-joints since then so I presume they aren't overly prone to wear.
 
Don't worry too much Baijiu. Back when I redone my '05 rear ujoints 2x , you might have read that I had 4200 hr on the machine between the 2 sets. I bought my rear ujoints separately- from the autoparts store. At that time Kubota did sell the joints separately but they were around $50+ a piece if memory serves me right. Now, the old style drive shaft ( aka "the rattlers")you could only buy the complete shaft from Kubota . Mark S came up with some Precision # that could be used with some work. The newer style RTV 900 year 2011 and up models has an updated driveshaft and is much improved. It is a one piece unit with rubber boots on the joints at each end. I have over 1535 hours on my 2011 model with no problems as of yet.. officially,the old style (like on my 2005 is just as Dmaxxin said, Kubota only . collie
 
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bordercollie said:
Don't worry too much Baijiu. Back when I redone my '05 rear ujoints 2x , you might have read that I had 4200 hr on the machine between the 2 sets. I bought my rear ujoints separately from the autoparts store. At that time Kubota did sell the joints separately but they were around $50+ a piece if memory serves me right. Now, the old style drive shaft ( aka "the rattlers")you could only buy the complete shaft from Kubota . Mark S came up with some Precision # that could be used with some work. The newer old style RTV 900 year 2011 and up models has an updated driveshaft and is much improved. It is a one piece unit with rubber boots on the joints at each end. I have over 1535 hours on mine with no problems as of yet.. officially,the old style is just as Dmaxxin said. collie
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I'll see if I can come up with the Neapco part # and what we did to make it work.

Precision brand U-joints should never be used for anything other than paper weights.
 
This is why the forum works so well, a new member providing incredible information to long term members, mostly we have long term members helping the rest of us. What`s not to love.
 
Thay are easy to replace.As with any u joint they can only take so much abuse.This is only the 3rd one i had to replace.The non greasable one is still going strong.Its the greasable 1 i have to replace now.I never had much luck with the greasable ones.It seems if you add to much grease you will blow out the seal on them causing per mature failure.In my case with all of the snow i plow didnt really do the major damage to them its the pulling out of the snowbank of Dads car that is tough on them and the pulling of 100 foot logs and stupmp that eats them up.The way its geared just the sudden torgqe ofn them from letting off the gad pedal is hard on them to with the angle they sit on.But then I bought mine for work work and more work so i cant really complain.If you dont use your machine like a tank or bull dozer im sure most will be fine.
 
1 hour 45 minutes to replace the bad u joint.Needles didnt fail 2 of the caps cracked.All good to go now till something else breaks lol
 
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