Anyone had their Mule Crankshaft replaced yet?
I am not sure I want my ~20 hour engine essentially rebuilt in a repair shop!!!
Repairs and parts lag take 7-10 days to accomplish.
What do the rest think?

 

I received the same notification letter for my 2018 4010. Does anyone know the inspection procedure and what the probability of needing the crankshaft replaced is? My dealer wouldn't tell me much over the phone. They just said they are doing their first one now. All I got out of them is that they start by removing the clutch assembly and look for a specific number on the crank. They also said they are at least two weeks out before they will touch it after I drop it off. They would not make an appointment. I would like to know if I can determine whether mine is subject to the crankshaft replacement before I let it sit there for two weeks, or more.

I also am not excited about the prospect of having a crankshaft changed out on a new engine by someone whom I do not know their qualifications.

 

I trusted my (DFW area) dealer to have a good repair shop and my work was accomplished in about 10 days time (over the 4th holiday)
My trust was repaid...all good and back in service...
Good luck!

 

Rcha, thanks for the response. Do you know if the initial inspection found that your crankshaft was okay, or did the crankshaft get replaced? In addition, if your crankshaft was replaced, how many hours did you have on the engine prior to taking your mule in for this?

 

The initial inspection said that they would have to tear it apart to find the actual recalled part number...but the VIN indicated that it was likely one of their vehicles in the recall program.
They took it on their own to open it up and to find the numbers.

When they tore it down and confirmed the crankshaft part number was in the recalled batch...ordered the part recall kit and replaced/repaired it. The actual crankshaft had no wear or defects...but Kawasaki ordered the repair.
No cost...all warranty work
My Mule had about 27 hours on it when I took it in for the recommended 1 year service

 

hi
does it say why they are recalling as my 2019 mule pro is clunking in front area

 

No, I was never able to find out why the recall. I am guessing (and this is only a guess) that it might have been either a material issue or something such as an undersize, or too sharp, radius in a corner (which would create a stress concentration). I have never seen anyone online state that they had an engine failure or even seen anyone else state that they detected any engine damage due to this. Because the engine is located under the box, I would be more inclined to think that a clunk in the front area is not engine related.

The only think I learned about the recall is that they had to disassemble the engine far enough to be able to read a number on the crankshaft, then the dealer had to contact Kawasaki to learn if the that number was included in the recall. If it was, the dealer could then order the replacement crankshaft kit from Kawasaki. The dealer then removed the engine, completely disassembled it and replaced the crankshaft. I am not pleased that only a few engine hours after purchasing a new product, that Kawasaki has given me a rebuilt engine.

I am really really not pleased in the time and hassle that this cost me. My selling dealer's service department would not make an appointment, telling me I needed to drop it off to get it in their queue, which was 3-4 weeks. So, I took it to another dealer (same ownership) where they allowed me to make an appointment 4 weeks in advance. Turned out that it still sat in their yard for 3-4 weeks before anything happened. When I called (once each week), I was given conflicting & untrue status updates. When the dealer finally got confirmation that it needed replacement and ordered the kit, their parts and service departments never communicated the order status so my engine sat in service for a couple weeks waiting for a crankshaft order that parts never received. I was finally told (after increasing my calls to every other day) that Kawasaki had cancelled the order because Kawasaki records indicated that a crankshaft kit for my mule serial number had already been shipped to another dealer (and this information supposedly never made it to the service department until after I had stepped up the phone calls). I started also calling Kawasaki and after several more days, the dealer was allowed to re-order. All-in-all, the dealer had my mule for between 8 and 9 weeks for a recall that Kawasaki initiated. If I had to do it again for a recall such as this, as long as it ran fine, I would be inclined to run it right up to the end of the warranty period before I brought it in. I am inclined to believe it would have been quicker to repair if the engine had failed, and I likely would have ended up with a new engine (at least a short block) versus the complete disassemble and reassemble job.