Rear driveshaft failures

C

Croc Dundee

New member
G'day
I have an RTV 1100 which is fitted with a dual wheel kit due to the steepness of my property. I regret to say that it does have reasonably frequent rear shaft failures. I can only assume it is because of the duals. It's now had 3 and so far Kubota have paid for them. The break is always identical at the point where the spline finishes and the diameter of the shaft reduces to take the threaded Hub nut. An engineer friend suggested its because of the stress at that point which could be dissipated by radius cut of the diameter change. I don't know if that's the case or not
It always happens going down hill and always to the right hand rear.Each shaft lasts about 150 - 160 hours and it's almost never whilst it's carrying load. Most if the time it would carry at most 200kilos in the form of a spray tank
I just wondered if anyone else has suffered this problem or if it is as I suspect due to the duals only.
I really enjoy reading this blog and there are some fantastic suggestions . Thanks to all
 
Hi Croc Dundee and welcome. I have a 900 RTV and have never seen a dual 1100. I didn't know they made them. Are they common there in Australia? I have replaced my rear ujoints but the shafts have not been a problem. I do use a smaller 25 or 26"tire now and no 27" like I had . I think I would extend the warranty if you were offered it. I got an offer to extend mine about 2 months before the 2011's expired. I didn't, but if I had a recurring problem I would have. Good Luck and keep us informed. bordercollie
 
Welcome to the forum!

Do you have a picture of your RTV you could share with us? I too never saw one with dually's on it.

Are you going straight up and down the hill or cutting sideways across it?
 
Thanks.
The duals are made in Switzerland by Clik wheels and are aftermarket. They were originally intended for quads which appear to have a habit of falling over and killing folks here.
Schaad the manufacturers made a set for me to fit the RTV 1100 and now market them but mine were the first! Originally I had a 900 and I think they just fitted straight off but new wheel size/nut configuration required a different fitting.
The dealer keeps returning the broken part as less than 12 months old which they are and so far Kubota replaces it.
I go both up and across the hills it's not always possible to just go up and down which is much prefered by me.

When this 1100 had done 40 hours the front crown wheel nuts came loose and punched thought the transaxle casing....K replaced that but my son a Mercedes mechanic replaced that ...not a happy start! The nuts weren't torqued and had no locking nuts or compound on them.....must have been a Friday afternoon job!

Heatwave I think you have a point...when I have a beer I notice it empties rather quickly and as the bottle's not leaking it must be because we're upside down.....and it drains out somehow!
 
I would suspect you have a problem inside the rear differential. Duals would cause axle problems or even outboard bearing troubles. Is the driveshaft running at a strange angle? Is the fit on the splines a good tight one or does it slop around. If the rear diff. does not release the lock it could cause this problem with the drive shaft.
 
Thanks muleman.
Interesting thoughts. The duals are clip on to the original wheels so all the angles are per original set up the duals literally clip on using a plate bolted to the wheel Bolts.
Once it comes back I'll send photos of the set up.that will make it easier to visualize .Someone once said a picture paints a thousand words...how true.
The great thing about all this input is that someone will come up with the solution...I've seen some great ideas which has caused me to have thoughts about how to improve performance on my machine
I do so hope Kubota read this stuff, you guys are designing a world beater for them whith all your knowledge.
 
I would say its 100percent the duallies fault .aftet riding alot offroad and seeing people snap axles everyone so far has been because they installed huge aftermarket tires. If you wanna continue to use dually tires you might wanna check and see if gorilla makes a after market axle for the bota.staying with stock axles its not a matter of if but more of a matter of when the axle will snap..if gorilla dont make an axke you might wanna find a local machine shop tyo make you some.
 
Peanut said:
I would say its 100percent the duallies fault .aftet riding alot offroad and seeing people snap axles everyone so far has been because they installed huge aftermarket tires. If you wanna continue to use dually tires you might wanna check and see if gorilla makes a after market axle for the bota.staying with stock axles its not a matter of if but more of a matter of when the axle will snap..if gorilla dont make an axke you might wanna find a local machine shop tyo make you some.
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Yea, that sounds right. Those weren't made for all that added stress in my humble opinion. I am surprised that Kubota honored the warranty with the aftermarket duals added on. . Good Luck and maybe you can find a good machine shop to do like Peanut said after the warranty goes out. bordercollie
 
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