rbargeron said:
No I don't. The shaft will bend back with just a couple hundred pounds applied in the middle - way less than it would take to hurt either the tractor or mower. If anybody thinks this is too much force, then they must think the original bending of it must have wrecked all these parts too, right? Of course not. Its just the same amount of force that it has once resisted just fine - but applied the other way. I've done a lot of successful repairs like this - really no big deal. But I suppose if someone has never done anything like this, it can seem scary. BTW, I have three presses of different tonnage. I actually do know what I'm talking about.
And to //greg//: If there is play in the bearings that support a shaft, then imbalance can agravate an oil seal leak. But the shaft has to be loose in its supports already. Seals leak when the path of the sealing surface becomes eccentric. If the bearings are not worn and if they fit right, that doesn't happen. Anyway, what's bent here is the shaft, not the yokes. The repair forces needed are actually quite low.
The problem I see with this sort of advice is, it's being given as if you KNOW the strenght of the gear box, as if you KNOW the strength of the pto assembly, and as if you KNOW how much force would be needed to bend and/or "un-bend" the shaft. Again, can you say without reservation that it took a force EXACTLY the same to "un-bend" as it did to bend that shaft?
There's a possibility that (if the shaft was in fact bent) the forces needed to bend it were quite considerable. Those forces used to bend the shaft in the first event may have been with-in ounces of what may have taken to have broke something.....Maybe not. You don't know. Neither do I.
A few years back, I bent a pto shaft when I raised the 3-point hitch after hooking up a mower for the very first time. I didn't realize it, but the pto shaft would hit the front edge of the mower deck while the hitch still had a few inches of lift yet remaining. This little oversight put a 2" deflection in a new shaft. The 3-point hitch on this tractor has the capability of lifting nearly 3000#. The mower was 1200#. So, that left 1800# of capacity un-used, and that force was applied to the shaft. It bent oh-so easy. Or so it seemed.
At some point in that event, there was as much as 1800# of loading divided between the pto shaft and the gear box. The "fulcrum" in this event was the leading edge of the mower. That point was approx. 2/3rds of the way between pto and gear box, closest to the pto.
Armed with that information, could you tell me EXACTLY how much load was applied to each point? Could you tell me EXACTLY how much force each point is capable of withstanding as a side load? CAn you tell me beyond any question that those points could take a SECOND loading equal to the first?
I can't and I was there. You weren't and you would HAVE to be speculating. I can't tell you and I know what sort of mower, tractor, and shaft I was dealing with. You don't know what sort of mower, gearbox, or shaft was used in MY case OR the one mentioned in the original post. Again, you would HAVE to be merely speculating.
Given the FACT that you're speculating on the events, without even knowing facts that would be VERY critical, that speculation is unfounded, and therefore, TERRIBLE advice, potentially destroying someone elses mower or tractor, or even possibley injuring someone.
Your idea MAY work. Just as likely, it may end in disaster. Not the sort of free advice any of us are looking for.
And by the way, when I took my bent shaft to a machine shop to be straightened, it required nearly 3000# of force (in a hydraulic press) to bend it back straight IN A CONTROLLED MANNER.
NO ONE can make a statement as absolute fact without having the facts.
