Drive Coupling

[Matt W]

Anyone have experience with the plastic drive coupling (UC-DC-42S, made by company UCC) that ties the engine to the pump? I stripped mine Friday too late to call Terramite. Internet search looks like it's an off the shelf part in England but I found no avaliability in the USA. Also wondering if there is a procedure for insuring good line-up of pump and engine parts of the coupling when replacing. Looks like poor lineup would speed wear. Being plastic and the fact that nothing moves when this part fails it looks like keeping a spare on hand would be wise. I wonder if one could replace it with a standard Lovejoy coupling? I had to take both the engine and pump loose and move them apart to get the old one out.

[mpapiary]

Is this on the pump shaft in the engine compartment? Mine uses a Lovejoy coupling between the pump and engine.

[Matt W]

Yes mpapiary, That's the one. I thought a Lovejoy would work but not being sure I just ordered the part from Terramite. The new one is in now and alll is well. There might be a less expensive source, I just failed to find one.

What I learned: A 1/8" hole can be drilled through the sleeve into the hub and a pin inserted to get the machine back to the shop. McMaster Carr has a very informative section explaning about different shaft couplings McMaster-Carr. After looking through their information it seems the "gear and sleeve shaft coupling" Terramite used is probably the best system for this application ( McMaster-Carr ) considering the difficulty in getting to it for setting-up really good alignment. I was suprised by the torque values given considering the sleve is some kind of plastic (nylon). According to my calculations and their formula the plastic coupling should be good for 99 horsepower. According to the manual, after 1991 some type of U-joint arangement was used.
Matt

[Matt W]

Stripped another coupling today! Luckily I had a spare one on hand.