Broken shaft on PTO 3pt mower (New Idea brand)

[ss13]

Hello all,

I am new to this site and was referred here by a member of QDMA.com. Here is my question/ problem.

I have an older New Idea by AVCO 3pt rough cut mower. While using it over the weekend my father hit a rock and the shaft connecting the blades to the gear box sheered off. The shaft broke just below the gear box below the deck.

Here is my question. Does anyone know if there are replacements around or if the part is interchangeable with a different brand mower? If not, has anyone ever fabricated a new shaft?

Thanks in advance!

 

[pohorsky]

By the shaft, do you mean the vertical part coming out of the gearbox, or the horizontal bar that the blades are attached to? If it is the later, depending on where it broke they can be welded back together.

 

[Sodo]

I don't think you can walk out of a machine shop with any custom shaft for less than the cost of a whole gearbox, or a used mower. I'd be suprised if that gearbox isn't an off the shelf item, that you can just replace the whole gearbox. Possibly parts for it are available. Look fora brand or partnumber on the gearbox.

I had a sickle mower with a broken shaft & welded it. Shaft is no longer available & I searched the internet for months for a used part but none turned up. Possibly because they're all broken (?). During that time I hatched a welding plan, and it worked, mower works great! The number of hours researching was horrendous, but it was like fishing I guess. The repair took me all day, but again, like a hobby.

I was lucky that due to bearing size (large bearings) I was able to increase the shaft size at the weld area thus "the weld" is much stronger (!!! ....in my mind !!!) than original.

I posted my "repair story" here: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/welding/316994-welding-1-1-4-solid.html

To get any real help you need to post pics of the mower and the broken shaft. These fellas in the repair forum love carnage and need pics. If no pics they will go argue about somebody hauling a tractor with a sedan. :laughing: But seriously good pics of the problem will increase the activity and you're likely to get ahold of the right guy. At leadt do a "google images" search for a pic of your mower and post that, so they can see what type it is.

 

[ss13]

The shaft that is broken is the one that drops vertically from the bear box. It is the shaft that is actually connected to the blades. The make is New Idea and the model is 452. It is a 6' rough cut 3pt mower.

Thanks

 

[GManBart]

The shaft that is broken is the one that drops vertically from the bear box. It is the shaft that is actually connected to the blades. The make is New Idea and the model is 452. It is a 6' rough cut 3pt mower.

Thanks

First off, welcome to TBN!

Second, can you look at the gearbox itself to see if there are any tags, markings, lettering, etc? I looked at the few pictures I could find online, and the gearbox looks to be a fairly conventional layout, so there's a good chance you can get a direct replacement that will drop right in (ballpark $175 or so). You'd need to pull the old gearbox and measure the hole spacing, and check the shaft diameter, etc, but it should be pretty straight forward.