Ok, need some advice! I was flailing around yesterday and started smelling something funny so I stopped and walked around the tractor. All of my gear box oil was spewed out all over the top of the mower. The metal ring seal has come off the side of the gear box where the output shaft goes to the pulleys and let all the oil out. I dont think it ran long enough to hurt anything because there was still oil coming out of it when I discovered the problem. Can I seat it back and fill it with the right oil and go on flailing around? Or should I be worried about it more than that? The shaft the goes from the gear box to the pulleys does not vibrate so Im not sure why the seal worked its way out? Ill try to upload a pic of it.
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UGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sadly you are now the victim of sealus roundus escapus drainus oilus gearboxus;
from which there is no quick and dead repair fix
NOW I will assume you did not overfill the gearbox if it is not vented from what I remember of your flail mower.
My dear friend you have work to do to repair this flail mower
You have one bad seal, plan on replacing them both in order to maintain sanity.
I will add more via editing as soon as I post this.
OK before I change into surgical scrubs, sterilize my hands and upper arms with soapy water and bleach and put on two pairs of disposable gloves there are issues that should be looked at.
1. your having fun and seat time with your mule and your mounted implement
2. buying a replacement gearbox will get you back to mowing much sooner than buying replacement parts for the gearbox-to explain further; when you lose a seal like this it can turn butts ugly and you could be a victim of a cascade failure like the NY power grid did due to a limb clipping a high voltage line in 1994-5.
3. when you lose seal retainer its a good indication of either a bearing failing allowing the yokes orbit to increase and place pressure on the seal and then the retainer and vibration simply took its toll and the seal retainer just fell out with the seal-not likely unless the bearings have ground up and are no longer useable.
Or the gearbox was overfull an either way you need to remove the guards and replace both the seal an the seal retainer and hope for the best.
the only way to tell if the bearings are good is to pull up on the shaft and alos try to move it sideways and see how much play there is if any.
When you have a seal and the seal retainer pop out the worst outcome can be expected or has occured.
I would see how much a new gearbox costs from flailmaster and others and then check the various JD parts supply houses on the internet for their prices before you proceed as spare parts are not very cost effective when rebuilding some gearboxes especially small ones like these as they normally o no have stacked roller bearings to support the input and output shafts.
Groan!!!