I'm gonna BUMP this thread, even though it's old. I have a 345 that I bought with my property back in 2013. I've had to do a lot of maint on it but I"ll keep this one to the PTO Clutch. I've had trouble keeping that **** PTO bolt IN the bottom end of the crankshaft. That is, about 4 years ago (summer 2014), the first issue I had was that the bolt backed itself out and as a a result the clutch fell off the crankshaft. Since I lost hte bolt in the yard, I went to JD and purchased a couple new bolts (and washers)\. I installed a new bolt (no other damage), but since I wasn't familiar with the engine and how to do it, I just cranked the bolt on with an impact gun. The next summer, I lost another bolt. Well this one broke off. I was lucky enough to be able to use a punch and walked it back out as it was broke close to the end of the crankshaft. I installed another bolt, with Loc-Tite and an impact gun and that was that. Before the summer was out I was looking to replace the PTO Clutch as it was making noise. I did not want to pay the $250 JD price or even $180 eBay price, so I replaced the lower bearing (the one closed to the mower deck), and reinstalled it. No problem.
A couple of years ago, the **** bolt broke again. and I was still lucky enough to get it out of the crankshaft.
THings were OK until a couple of days ago.
I fired up the tractor, engaged the mower deck and after about 15 seconds, the bolt broke again. This time I wasn't so lucky. The bolt sheared about 3/8 inch below the crankshaft, and with loc-tite installed, I was not able to use a punch this time.
ullinghair:
I started drilling out the bolt with 1/8" bit, and was able to drill deep into the bolt. I then uses a 3/16 bit and got it open a bit more. I used an automotive grade extraction kit (I hesitate to say "easy out" because that's a brand name, not a type of tool), a square one...pounded it into the hole as directed and with HAND pressure proceeded to BREAK the EXTRACTOR.
It was very brittle and appeared to be made of Chinesium ( -26 on the Periodic Table of Cheap Elements). SO now I'm in a terrible quandry. I don't have anything to proceed, so I thought I'd call the local JD dealer down the road and ask them. Well, boy did I get an answer. "We don't typically do that kind of extraction...as that's a worst case scenario, you'll prob have to replace the crankshaft"....so I asked him how much and after some math, I was told "about $1600. The crankshaft alone is $325. $85 an hour labor, and its an 8 hour job. Include gaskets, etc and that's about $1600." I said "THANK YOU" and told him I'd 'be in touch'. I called a machine shop in Lancaster OH that I deal with and they could not help me, but DID refer me to a small business (auto work) near me, so I called him and discussed it. After I sent him a pic he said, "Bring it over, I've seen worse" and that was last Friday. Saturday he had it out, after 2.5 hours and using a $300 diamond-tipped bit to cut it out. He only charged me $50.
So, anyways, when the PTO clutch broke off, one of the wires broke so I'll have to fix that problem. On one of the wires coming out of the clutch, I only have less than 2" to work with.....arggghhhh.
I called JD again and talked to the guy and asked him if he could tell me the torque specs for that PTO bolt, as I could NOT find any info on the 'net or in my manuals. He finally was able to find it, and it is supposed to be 45' lbs. So I would STRONGLY URGE anybody NOT to overtorque that bolt with an impact wrench. And the bolts I"ve been using I get from JD, and they are HARD bolts, UH 10.9 (equiv grade 8). There's not much harder in bolts, so after talking to the JD guy and my mechanic friend, they suggested getting a bolt that is about 1/4" longer. So I did (see pictures).
. The reasoning behind that is that the bolt doesn't really get enough "bite" into the crankshaft, etc etc etc..
I will use the rope method to 'lock' the engine so I can apply the correct torque on the bolt.
BUT my question is this: I've cleaned and replaced bearing(s) in PTO clutch. Is there some sort of adjustment procedure on the clutch SPRINGS..that is, is there a measurement or something that let you know you have the clutch plates adjusted the right distance apart? That's my concern. I've had this thing apart a couple of times and I've never had a procedure to follow, just try to get it adjusted the same all around and hope it works OK...
thanks for your answers in advance.
Well, I did just google "PTO CLUTCH ADJUSTMENT JOHN DEERE 345 and got some hits...lemme check 'em out and I'll get back here....
QuantumRift (doug).