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Snow removal issues / WTB RIMS L120

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#21 ·
Tony, i can tell you that proper maintenance as suggested by TT will prevent most of the K46 failures. they suggest an oil change at 10 hours and then every 200 after. i did this with my L130 and i even used an electric sleeve hitch pulling a disc or a cultivator. i tried to use my 12" moldboard plow but the turfs just did not have the traction for that job. that L130 still runs great and has close to or just over 500 HARD hours on it. it is time to change the oil again in the tranny. the K46 is a light duty tranny, but with proper maintenance and knowing the limits of the tranny, it WILL last. i never put weights or ags on it, because i know that the "safety" for this tranny is tire spin. when the tires spin, you are doing too much for it. most folks start adding weight or ags, then the grip gets too good and this tears the tranny up. you want grip on slick surfaces, but not on dirt where it overcomes the specs of the tranny.

That being said i have had 2 broken FRONT axles in the last 5 years. that is the reason i parked it earlier this summer. i am still undecided as to whether to fix it and use it, fix it and sell it, or part it out. leaning more towards teh 2nd option, just because my X500 is such a capable machine. my only reason to keep it would be as a backup or even for rough cut at tower sites.
 
#22 ·
davidg said:
Tony, i can tell you that proper maintenance as suggested by TT will prevent most of the K46 failures. they suggest an oil change at 10 hours and then every 200 after. i did this with my L130 and i even used an electric sleeve hitch pulling a disc or a cultivator. i tried to use my 12" moldboard plow but the turfs just did not have the traction for that job. that L130 still runs great and has close to or just over 500 HARD hours on it. it is time to change the oil again in the tranny. the K46 is a light duty tranny, but with proper maintenance and knowing the limits of the tranny, it WILL last. i never put weights or ags on it, because i know that the "safety" for this tranny is tire spin. when the tires spin, you are doing too much for it. most folks start adding weight or ags, then the grip gets too good and this tears the tranny up. you want grip on slick surfaces, but not on dirt where it overcomes the specs of the tranny.

That being said i have had 2 broken FRONT axles in the last 5 years. that is the reason i parked it earlier this summer. i am still undecided as to whether to fix it and use it, fix it and sell it, or part it out. leaning more towards teh 2nd option, just because my X500 is such a capable machine. my only reason to keep it would be as a backup or even for rough cut at tower sites.
Click to expand...
My K 46 are sealed units;;
 
#23 ·
they are all sealed units, at least according to deere and most other TRACTOR manufacturers. but TT sells a rebuild kit for them(approx 300.00) to repace the internals. and they have a fill cap for adding oil. by removing the tranny and flipping it, this cap becomes the drain port. TT even makes several K46 submodels with drain plugs, just most of the ones used in lower end machines they elect not to purchase that model and instead get one with a drain port to save a few CENTS per unit!
 
#26 ·
98mkiv said:
I'm going to get a spare K46 and machine a drain into it and a fill so it's actually serviceable. When I do this, I'll post pics up.
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Save your money, a JD replacement is like $650.00, but a K66 can be had for 400.00 on the net or 1400.00 from JD. One last thing, I have a la120 with a blower that was having big time problems with traction and blowing snow on first storm, check everything me and two JD techs all looked right to spec.
But then one of the tech's said that belt looks funny, after about 10 minutes he moved a spring from one side to the other and the thing went thru a 3' snow bank in the lot like nothing. If that blower isn't throwing 25+ feet check your pulley set up too, as it will slow tractor down. John
 
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#29 ·
98mkiv did you ever get a pair of rims? I have a set that I may be willing to part with. Send me a PM and I will give you a price if your still looking for a pair of Rims. I see that your in NH. I am in MA so shipping wouldn't be too bad.

I did the k66 conversion this fall and what a difference it has made. I have an L120 with chains and suitcase weights with ah 46" plow and cannot be stopped!!! wahaahaaaa... My driveway is two cars wide by 120' long. The last storm that I plowed was about 2' of snow and I was able to push that with little issue.
 
Discussion starter · #30 ·
I did, I got a set of rims and a used but good K46. I will post pics of the rims with tires and the snowblower and also report on how the tires did for traction.

I will be taking the k46 apart, machining it for an easy drain and fill and will also look for any failure points on it - strictly related to the overheating problem. I can't do anything about poor design with castings (rigidity) but might address bearings if it isn't too much work. Luckily I have full access to a machine shop and I also TIG weld.

At this point I am so incredibly ****** off with the snowblower that I am ready to pull it off the mower. I am seriously considering welding a frame and mount for my ATV and powering it with a 17HP engine I have available.
 
Discussion starter · #31 · (Edited)
I have a sportsman 700 (880# with me on it) and a winch. My thought is to setup the blower on the front, engine on the rear, clutch in the middle or on engine shaft. The atv with the blower will go about 1000# and there will really be no traction issue at all and with the engine in the back it will keep weight on the rear tires when the blower is down.

the snow blower has now problem, its the **** tractor. its a toy and will always be just a mower and nothing more IMHO.
 
#32 ·
98mkiv,
I have the LA120 with your type blower and man the first storm took 7 hours (only 2 hrs with a blade). I was ready to throw it threw my dealers window. I talked to them and brought tractor and blower back for them to check out. They "fix it" by moving a spring from one side to the other. Took two tech's just looking at it 1/2 hr to realize spring was wrong. I installed it per JD instructions and it worked great with-out snow and looked right,even the tech's told me instructions suck big time. Just a through I would inspect spring/pulley set-up on blower, once my was moved blower went into a 3' high bank in their parking lot like nothing. P.S. I could take a photo if you think it would help. John
P.S. #2 The charge for them fixing it was a 6 pack each,money well spent.
 
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#33 ·
Rubber tire chains

If those new tires don't do the trick try adding these:
I have been using rubber tire chains for the last 8 years with great success. As you can imagine, they can't mark the driveway. I have just bought another set since the 8 year old ones are getting a little thin. I added the used rubbers to the new set to have double the amount of paddles. They don't work as well as metal chains in the smooth ice, but I have not had any problems so far. I have a 325 with wheel weights only, but have been plowing. I just bought a used snow thrower so I'm looking to add 4 suitcase weights to the rear to balance out the extra weight of the thrower on the front.

I got the 1st set of rubber chains from my JD dealer over 8 years ago for $90. The new set was $125 off ebay, prices have gone up in 8 years. You can see them at http://www.rubbertirechains.com

Here are a few pics of my set up(s) and the 20+" of snow I plowed.

Image


Image


Image


Image
 
Discussion starter · #34 · (Edited)
John@Reliable said:
98mkiv,
I have the LA120 with your type blower and man the first storm took 7 hours (only 2 hrs with a blade). I was ready to throw it threw my dealers window. I talked to them and brought tractor and blower back for them to check out. They "fix it" by moving a spring from one side to the other. Took two tech's just looking at it 1/2 hr to realize spring was wrong. I installed it per JD instructions and it worked great with-out snow and looked right,even the tech's told me instructions suck big time. Just a through I would inspect spring/pulley set-up on blower, once my was moved blower went into a 3' high bank in their parking lot like nothing. P.S. I could take a photo if you think it would help. John
P.S. #2 The charge for them fixing it was a 6 pack each,money well spent.
Click to expand...
the snow blower is operating fine, the belts aren't slipping, I'd have to be some kind of mook to try to move snow if snow wasn't shooting out of the chute.

No the problem is the tractor has NO traction up hills with the blower down. With the blower down, weight is off, so the suitcase weights and chains are having all the effect they are supposed to. But it's not enough. Keep in mind this is not a steep grade driveway, it's maybe 8% tops. I got my new knobbies and rims so now it's time to mount them. I'm going to keep the suitcase weights of course, but I am also going to fill each tire with fluid to add weight to the rear axle. I figure about 3-4 gallons per tire, so about #60 extra weight on the back. This method (fluid in the tires) will not add load to the bearings, etc of the delicate k46 transaxle, only the vertical driving load up hills. No inertia. We'll see how that works.

IF that does not work, then I'm going to have to add more weight to the suitcase stack. I figure a 5 gallon pail of water attached there would go a long weigh ;) This of course may make the K46 die, fast.
 
Discussion starter · #35 ·
Ok, I got the tires mounted by a tire dealer. They seated the beads and then broke one bead and let me pour in windshield washer fluid. Each tire took 7 gallons, so each tire has about 70# weight total. It made a huge mess when it came time to seat the bead with the water in it. They had to use a special rim tank and it did seat but took a few times.

I put switched the rims with my turf/chains setup and removed all the pressure so it's only about 4psi now. The setup is noticeabley grippier and a much smoother ride (no chains). I cut a path to my propane tank with no issue, something I could NEVER hope to do with the chains. Next snow storm will be the real tell...

I'll let you know how it goes! If it works like I think it will, this will have rekindled my flame for my tractor!
 

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Discussion starter · #39 ·
Thanks..... I think it's going to be good. The only drawback I see with anything in this setup is if I was to hit smoot ice, that would have some issue with traction, but I don't see that happening.

I'll let you know how it works when it gets snowy!
 
#40 ·
How is the l120 compared to an la145? I have an la145 with the jd 44" snowblower and the blower works good just the tractor can't go. I have the two weights and chains. I have to ram the snowbanks to get the blower into them let it blow it back up and take a little run at it. If the snow is only about 6" or less it works good, but the reason i got the blower was for the big drifts in my driveway 3ft deep for about the length of the tractor then about a 1ft for 50ft. Now i don't have diff lock does the l120? Now my tractor after running for awhile won't even spin the tires, is this the belt slipping or is it in the tranny? The tractor has about 80 hours on it in two seasons of mowing and blowing snow. THe mower part works great. I think i might just have to trade it of on a 2305. Any help would be great.
 
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98mkiv
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