Flywheel Installation Problem John Deere 445

[445JohnDeere]

I recently put new rings and oil seals on a Kawasaki FD620D out of a 2000 John Deere 445. I pulled off the flywheel to do this. After the engine was reinstalled I could hear a random ticking sound coming from the flywheel area of the tractor. It sounded like the tip of a fan blade just touching something now and then. The sound remained after disconnecting the drive shaft and the fan. I pulled the engine back out and pulled the flywheel off. The flywheel popped off the tapered shaft while I was hand tightening the puller which is odd because when I originally pulled the flywheel off it required much turning by an impact gun on the puller. I am not surprised by this because at install the Flywheel nut seemed to become very difficult to turn before it came into contact with the flywheel. So I think the flywheel is not seated properly after the factory service manual torque has been reached. The only thing I can think to do is add a 2nd washer before putting the nut back on. Does anybody have any experience with this type of problem or can see what I did wrong? Thank you for your time.

 

[rScotty]

If the flywheel was located on the tapered shaft with a half-moon shaped key, my guess is that it shifted in the keyway. Normally that will be a parallel-sided key. A half-moon key has to be carefully installed so that the straight side of the half moon key stays parallel to the taper as the flywheel slides on.

To check this - or just for doing the job by best practice - you can slide the flywheel on without a key in the slot and measure how much threads stick out.
good luck,
rScotty

 

[445JohnDeere]

If the flywheel was located on the tapered shaft with a half-moon shaped key, my guess is that it shifted in the keyway. Normally that will be a parallel-sided key. A half-moon key has to be carefully installed so that the straight side of the half moon key stays parallel to the taper as the flywheel slides on.

To check this - or just for doing the job by best practice - you can slide the flywheel on without a key in the slot and measure how much threads stick out.
good luck,
rScotty

Thank you for the information. I did as you instructed and I added a couple of washers because I think there was something wrong with the threads closer to the taper. I put the engine back in and it is still making the same noise. However, now it comes and goes. I really don't know what it is but I am going to assume it is nothing too serious. I am just going to run it and see what happens.