Twin Disc Technodrive TM 345A Failure

[Stewproud]

Has anyone suffered a very premature failure of the above gearbox. Mine is fitted to a Nanni N4.60 (one of a pair) and was replaced in November 2015 after hitting a bag and not replacing the damper plate soon enough. I did only a few hours in 2016 due to family bereavement and no hours in 2017 due to open heart surgery. So this year during post refit trials it was found that the port gearbox was getting hot. On examination there was metal in the oil and the bearing shells are loose in the casings. One bearing runs rough and wear is uneven. The engineer thinks that the bearing(s) are faulty. The gearbox has done 62 hours!!!! Anyone else had such problems? If there was a batch manufacturing problem I may get some recompense from the distributor, retailer does not want to know. All cooling circuit is fine.

 

[Tranona]

Welcome to the forum

The retailer cannot "not know" as he has a legal obligation to deal with the failure. Remind him of his obligations under the Consumer Rights Act. Get an engineers report detailing the cause of failure and tell the retailer to fix it or you will take it to court (using the small claims track). no doubt he will need to consult with Peachment, the distributor, but in law the responsibility to you is his.

If you are unsure about your rights and the remedies you have then read either the Which or Citizens Advice material explaining the law. Google Consumer Rights.

 

[Stewproud]

Thanks for your reply. The problem is that I am in Holland and consumer law appears to be different here. I have to prove that the gearbox is faulty which is very difficult. How do you prove that the cooling system has not had a problem or that incorrect oil has been used.

 

[Tranona]

Thanks for your reply. The problem is that I am in Holland and consumer law appears to be different here. I have to prove that the gearbox is faulty which is very difficult. How do you prove that the cooling system has not had a problem or that incorrect oil has been used.

It is no different in Holland. Our CR Act is the UK implementation in 2015 of the EU directive, so the law is essentially the same across the EU although the court system for getting redress if it gets that far may be different.

Suggest you read our act , particularly the section on you rights and the remedies you have in terms of timing, rejection, repairs, replacement etc and then if the seller is in Holland, read the same in Dutch to get the terms that are used in Dutch legislation.

Essentially the retailer is responsible for all failures if they meet the conditions given in the Act. The two principle things to expect are whether the product does what it claims to do and second whether it gives a reasonable life, with a limit of 6 years. In your case you will need to show that either the design was inadequate or, more likely that there was a manufacturing fault that was there right from the start that caused the premature failure.

So, 62 hours use before failure is good evidence that it is not fit for purpose and the failure of a bearing is likely to be a manufacturing or material fault. This assumes it was installed correctly and maintained properly. This is where your engineers report is important. You need one who is familiar with writing such reports.

When you have this write to the principal of the seller requesting a repair or replacement of the defective product and referring to the appropriate section of the Dutch law. Copy the distributor. Give 14 days for a response and say if you do not get a favourable response you will commence legal proceedings against his firm.

In the UK with have the Small Claims track in the courts which is a low cost procedure for taking civil actions and expect there is something similar in Holland.

Be firm but fair - for example he may involve the distributor or even the manufacturer, so go along with that and try to negotiate a settlement, again with a bottom line in mind before you take alternative action. Generally courts are much more receptive to your arguments if you have shown willingness to negotiate a settlement. You may also find it useful to involve a trade association if the seller or distributor is a member. They will have an arbitration service.

I have followed this kind of procedure on a number of occasions and it works. Only once have I needed to go to the court and even then the other party immediately settled out of court (although it was a bit of a challenge to actually get the money that was agreed!). Just about to do it again over some poorly executed work on one of my cars.

Hope this helps.

 

[vas]

had an issue with my port twindisk box. Read the story here.

To keep the story short and while discussing later with the mechanic that helped to put back together everything, he has come across before boxes wrongly shimmed from the factory that failed in 20-50h only, mine failed at 620h!
In other words, it may well have been an error from the factory.
Grinds in the oil (I assume you got them from the filter) could well be what was the problem on mine, a 500euro or so sparepart and a proper assembly was all that was needed. Mechanic didn't even change the conical bearings, he said they should be fine for another 500h and then we'll see...
Cannot see how cooling would be to blame, you should be able to see overheat marks and change of colour on shaft/bearings.


Good luck.

 

[Stewproud]

Thanks for your very detailed reply. We are currently desperately trying to get to the Baltic, so time is not on our side. We do have contacts here in Sneek and we shall be returning in September. The engineer and also the guy that has done a lot of work for us is in discussions with the importer and retailer. Thanks again. We are not done yet.
.

 

[Stewproud]

Thanks for that info. Looks like definitely one bearing is faulty. I also consider bad shimming, one shim has blued with the heat. All bearing shells are loose in casing, caused by excessive heat.

 

[benronpro]

Hello,
Interesting to find the above stories which I can relate to. My vessel is undergoing a refit.
I have just commissioned a Beta 60 with a TM345A transmission. I noticed upon initial start up and rotation of gearbox( with prop shaft coupling disconnected ) there is considerable run out from the gearbox output flange, enough to make prop shaft alignment impossible.
After around 3 minutes run time the gearbox feels hotter than it should, haven't taken temperature readings as yet. The gearbox has a distinct rumble ( perhaps normal?) when forward and reverse gear are engaged. I have drained the oil and found metal fines in suspension in the oil. The oil filter magnet also contained metal particulate. All seeming to point toward bearing failure. I am currently in discussion with the supplier.
As an aside, the delivery invoice included with my gearbox, from TwinDisc to the supplier, is dated mid 2013. A long time to be sitting on a warehouse shelf if incorrectly stored?
Ben..