Rotary Cutter Remove driveshaft on Rotary cutter

[MikeNH]

First the confession. I raised the deck too far and bent the drive shaft. Now my problem is I can't get the (now worhtless) drive shaft off the rotary cutter (Woods XT172 6'). I removed the shear pin and the retaining ring and I can move the shaft with some "encouragement" from a hammer but the sleave comes forward to the edge of the cutter and stops. Does anyone have any ideas that don't involve explosives on how to get this thing off. I'm afraid the grass may start growing soon. Thanks.

 

[hayden]

I'm not following your description.

I've seen shear bolts that hold two flanges together so they rotate together. If the bolt shears off then one flange spins and the other stands still. Is this the bolt you removed and is this where you are separating the shaft? If so, I'm not sure this is the joint to remove the drive shaft. I've never tried it so I just don't know.

The more typical attachment point for a drive shaft is where teh yoke slides over teh input shaft to the gearbox. There is typically a key to lock the yoke and input shaft together, then a pinch bolt that goes throught he yoke and a grove in the input shaft to prevent the yoke from pulling off the end of the shaft. This pinch bolt is not a shear bolt. I think this is the right way to remove the shaft.

Peter

 

[TraderMark]

MikeNH
Your problem is, the end of the shaft is swollen. Take a file.... and .... this is going to take you a while... but file the area from the snapring groove out to the end of the shaft. Or... if you have a small grinder, you may be able to turn the ujoints at an angle that will let you get to the shaft, or at least part of it with the grinder, but be careful. The snapring is there to keep the yoke on the shaft when the shear pin gets sheared so the driveshaft can't go flopping all over the place and wreak havoc.

 

[TWINKLE_TOES]

Mike,

I didn't follow the configuration info. very well but,

<font color=blue>I can't get the (now worthless) drive shaft off the rotary cutter</font color=blue>

If it is truly toast,have you considered cutting the shaft in two? This may give you some advantage.

 

[MikeNH]

I didn't mention in the first message, but I think I've spent more time reading this site than on the tractor. It is by far the most useful source of information I have been able to find. Thanks to all for the helpful posts!!!

Sorry about the description of the problem, I haven't got all the terminology down yet. Let me try again in more detail. There is a u-joint at the end of the drive shaft (? that's what I'm calling the long shaft with the plastic covering that connects on one end to the PTO on the tractor and the other to the rotary cutter ?). The u-joint slides onto the input shaft to the gearbox of the rotary cutter. A key ring is then placed on the input shaft to prevent the u-joint from sliding back off. The shear bolt then goes through the u-joint and the input shaft. With the shear bolt and key ring removed I can get the u-joint to the edge of the input shaft and it stops. The filling idea may work, I'll try that this weekend. Assuming the problem is swelling of the input shaft is there some kind of preventive maintenance I can do to prevent it in the future?

Thanks again.

 

[Bird]

Mike, I understand the problem, but haven't personally run into that. I suspect TraderMark's suggestion would work, but also wonder whether you couldn't use a gear puller to pull it on off.

Bird

 

[MikeNH]

Possibly, but I don't have one (yet).

 

[Bird]

If I didn't have a gear puller, I think I might be tempted to try chaining the implement to a big tree, then a chain from the bad driveshaft to the tractor and pull.

Bird

 

[MikeNH]

My big trees (and other immovable objects) are surronded by a lot of mud. Of course cleaning up the mess I'd make could be fun (and good practice).

 

[Von]

How about a little heat on the outside to expand it that little bit that it needs!