First a big Howdy to ya. I signed up for this forum almost 2 wks ago and just now got approved to post here.
I've got my problem under control now, but thought I would go ahead and post my troubles anyway. Maybe someone else can learn from my issues.
Firstly, my LT1042 has about 61 hrs on it since I bought it new. (This is the start of the 3 season).
While completing the last pass on the yard, then heading to the shed the tractor started to cough and sputter as I anticipated it was going to run out of gas very soon. I still had the PTO inguaged as it began to die. I was able to turn the key off but had no time to turn the PTO off. As I managed to shut it down I heard a strange ping noise but didn't pay any mind ... yet.
I got off the tractor to get a the gas can, filled that tank and resumed, headed to the shed, it started back up with no labor. As I was headed out thru the yard I decided to enguage the PTO till I got to the shed. I pulled the switch and nothing. The mower would not commence. I stopped and shut the engine off and restarted and again attempted to enguage the mower deck. Nata !.
I then looked up underneath to inspect the situation and noticed that my front drive pulley and Clutch assembly was dropped down resting on the deck. I then pulled of the mower deck to get a birds eye view. First I had thought that the 3" bolt has just backed out, I really still could not tell till I got the tractor way up in the air so I could see better. At that time I saw that the bolt had broken off and there was about a half inch of bolt still in the shaft.
I called a friend of mine (he's one that can fix anything, I mean anything). He said to bring the tractor over and we would take a look at it again and come up with a sollution as how to get the broken bolt out of the shaft. But before doing so I went and got my manual to see if the warranty was any good. Nope! It had expired in April of this year (drats). It expired only last month.
Since it was out of warranty we (he) decided it would be easier to pull the engine and turn it upside down to extract the broken bolt. He finally decided to turn a nut down with a taper on it so it would fit down on top of the bolt, yet not touch the shaft. (he has a lathe) Anyway when he finished turning the bolt down ( it resembles that of a cars - lug nut). Once he had a good fit as I mentioned, he welded that nut, inside the hole area and let it cool down as to touch. He then used a cresent wrench on the nut to loosen the broken stud. That stud/nut was only a little more than hand tight. It came right out!
A week has passed by now, although due to working over most every day and not getting much time thru the course of the day I did manage to buy an exact replacement bolt. Lucky for me though I had a job at a Bumper/Bumper store. I'm a Field Engr and was called to do a job at Bmper/Bumper as they were having computer issues. Wow, they have everything for tractors to my amazement. Had it not been for the call out I probably still would have not had the time to get by parts. (ha!) Also bought an oil filter which is about half price at that.
Anyway, at this time I still havent had the time to bolt the pulley and PTO back on yet but I think its down hill from here unless the deck wants to give me prblms going back on LOL.
I do think my prblem has been licked as I see no other damage including the PTO/Clutch. What I really don't understand is why the bolt broke in the first place. I talked to a Cub dealer and he said that he had never heard of this type problem (the bolt breaking).
Anyway I wanted to share this with youins, maybe someone will gain from my experience. Thanks to my friend, he has saved me $$$.
I'll try and come back and let yall know how things turned out in the end. Me and my friend though, we are both do-it-your-selfers. We always have some kinda project going on as we enjoy several hobbies. Plus, we like to homebrew things too....
I've enjoyed all the reading and info posted here on this forum. Thank You!
Noob out!
Lum
I've got my problem under control now, but thought I would go ahead and post my troubles anyway. Maybe someone else can learn from my issues.
Firstly, my LT1042 has about 61 hrs on it since I bought it new. (This is the start of the 3 season).
While completing the last pass on the yard, then heading to the shed the tractor started to cough and sputter as I anticipated it was going to run out of gas very soon. I still had the PTO inguaged as it began to die. I was able to turn the key off but had no time to turn the PTO off. As I managed to shut it down I heard a strange ping noise but didn't pay any mind ... yet.
I got off the tractor to get a the gas can, filled that tank and resumed, headed to the shed, it started back up with no labor. As I was headed out thru the yard I decided to enguage the PTO till I got to the shed. I pulled the switch and nothing. The mower would not commence. I stopped and shut the engine off and restarted and again attempted to enguage the mower deck. Nata !.
I then looked up underneath to inspect the situation and noticed that my front drive pulley and Clutch assembly was dropped down resting on the deck. I then pulled of the mower deck to get a birds eye view. First I had thought that the 3" bolt has just backed out, I really still could not tell till I got the tractor way up in the air so I could see better. At that time I saw that the bolt had broken off and there was about a half inch of bolt still in the shaft.
I called a friend of mine (he's one that can fix anything, I mean anything). He said to bring the tractor over and we would take a look at it again and come up with a sollution as how to get the broken bolt out of the shaft. But before doing so I went and got my manual to see if the warranty was any good. Nope! It had expired in April of this year (drats). It expired only last month.
Since it was out of warranty we (he) decided it would be easier to pull the engine and turn it upside down to extract the broken bolt. He finally decided to turn a nut down with a taper on it so it would fit down on top of the bolt, yet not touch the shaft. (he has a lathe) Anyway when he finished turning the bolt down ( it resembles that of a cars - lug nut). Once he had a good fit as I mentioned, he welded that nut, inside the hole area and let it cool down as to touch. He then used a cresent wrench on the nut to loosen the broken stud. That stud/nut was only a little more than hand tight. It came right out!
A week has passed by now, although due to working over most every day and not getting much time thru the course of the day I did manage to buy an exact replacement bolt. Lucky for me though I had a job at a Bumper/Bumper store. I'm a Field Engr and was called to do a job at Bmper/Bumper as they were having computer issues. Wow, they have everything for tractors to my amazement. Had it not been for the call out I probably still would have not had the time to get by parts. (ha!) Also bought an oil filter which is about half price at that.
Anyway, at this time I still havent had the time to bolt the pulley and PTO back on yet but I think its down hill from here unless the deck wants to give me prblms going back on LOL.
I do think my prblem has been licked as I see no other damage including the PTO/Clutch. What I really don't understand is why the bolt broke in the first place. I talked to a Cub dealer and he said that he had never heard of this type problem (the bolt breaking).
Anyway I wanted to share this with youins, maybe someone will gain from my experience. Thanks to my friend, he has saved me $$$.
I'll try and come back and let yall know how things turned out in the end. Me and my friend though, we are both do-it-your-selfers. We always have some kinda project going on as we enjoy several hobbies. Plus, we like to homebrew things too....
I've enjoyed all the reading and info posted here on this forum. Thank You!
Noob out!
Lum
