Front Wheel Drive on JD650

prs · Apr 7, 2016

Sorry, my 650 is only 34 years-old and no where near ready for such repairs. Knock on wood.

prs

sporteus · Apr 8, 2016

sporteus said:
And the parts will be here Friday and they're coming from ....Fredrick's! So I guess Weaver just locates the part for you or something. Must be a comparable Yanmar part is all I can figure. I'll have to measure the new parts against the older when I get them. I'll let you know if they have a Yanmar part number on them, if they're John Deere, or if they're a generic aftermarket.

Got the parts today. No Yanmar or John Deere label on them, just a part number "AC-1364" and CHINA. No idea if that's a Yanmar part number, but guessing it's some aftermarket source since it's marked CHINA. I'll compare them up when I pull the MFWD this weekend hopefully.

sporteus · Apr 9, 2016

I was able to drop the housing on both sides and bring them inside to replace the seals the morning. Ran into my first gotcha, removing the spindle from the housing. Tech manual instructions below. Been mucking with it for over an hour and it's just no budging. Any advice? This is a stupid way to have to take this dang spindle out and I am worried about screwing up the drive gear (although it should be catching on the housing without screwing up a spline).

Barry 1 · Apr 9, 2016

My YM186D has that same axle,but haven't worked on it yet. Is the gear holding it?or the inner bearing race #19 ?? If the inner race is stuck,it looks like it will come out if you remove the upper snap ring,and you can remove it later. Is the bearing bad? If it aint broke,don't fix it.

sporteus · Apr 9, 2016

Well, the trick is... soak it with PB Blaster and go take a nap! A clear head and a couple of good whacks and it came off. Now I'm tearing apart the spindle housing and the needle bearings came out in little pieces and the retainer was completely shredded. Glad I got all the parts! Can't get the needle bearing housing out now, so it's soaking in PB Blaster while I relax and have dinner and maybe an adult beverage. Hopefully the right side assembly will go easier after I've done this one (assuming I'm able to get the new parts in there without a hassle!)

sporteus · Apr 10, 2016

OK, I've got a problem. Trying to get the old needle bearing holder out and it ain't going nowhere, not no how!! Got a 2lb slide hammer this morning with puller attachments and most of the lip has tore up. Sigh. Reading threads about welding a bead on the inside and it will contract the sleeve and drop out, but the bearing holder is about an inch inside of a 2" hole, so I don't even know if someone could get a welder in there (completely outside my realm of knowledge). I've heated it once with no effect, might try that one more time. You can't get at it from the opposite side to punch it out and there is a retaining ring under it that I can't get at until the bearing sleeve is out of the way. (unless someone mades a pair of long nose retaining ring pliers with a "U" shaped head. still thinking on this one.)

Any advice?