G152 Dead in the Water

[Digger 258]

G-152 (3cyl TX1300 I think)

I was pulling a light lumber trailer from the front of the house back to the barn. Backed the trailer into it's spot at the barn, and dismounted to unhook the trailer. Mounted back up, threw her in gear, and no movement. Just a rubbing / slight grinding noise. The noise slowly stops as I hold the clutch down (like a shaft is slowing to a stop.) I tried Hi and Lo range, and every gear. Nothing but that new and unsettling noise. I'm not sure where to start looking. I don't think it's the clutch, because it would seem that those wear over time, not suddenly. I don't feel anything different when I shift the gears. I am a novice, but I am thinking I need to check two things: First, I hear there is a pin that connects the axle shaft to the wheel, and second there is a "spline boss" connecting the clutch to the transmission input shaft. Anything else I should be looking at, listening to or checking out? your help is much appreciated!

 

[davesl708]

Have you checked the adjustment on the clutch? Also, anything stuck in the clutch linkage?

I always start with the simple first.

 

[Digger 258]

I inspected the clutch linkage and all looks as it should, but I did not measure the clutch adjustment - will do that first. Here's why I suspect the clutch is not the problem: With the engine running and the clutch engaged (pedal up) I get the grinding noise. With the disengaged (pedal depressed) the grinding slows to a stop. IIRC, it does this with the tranny in any gear or in neutral. So I assumed the clutch was working to connect/disconnect engine power from the downstream tranny (based on the noise) and so the problem must be downstream of the clutch somewhere. That said, I know so little that any assumption I make is shaky at best.

 

[Digger 258]

So I found the problem. My spline boss pin on the transmission side had come out, allowing the shaft to slide towards the clutch, disengaging the splines on the tranny input. I simply slid the shaft rear ward ensuring I aligned the holes, installed a crush pun I had on hand and I'm back in action. I got lucky in that it seems my splines survived. Hope my crush pin holds up to some plowing!

 

[fxrs55]

Glad it was an easy fix. I have a G154/TX1300F and the spline boss
in mine was shot and the input shaft in the transmission was almost
shot. I welded each spline on the shaft and then hand filed each one
so it would fit a new spline boss. The new spline boss at the time
I did mine was over $100. The input shaft was around $250 so I
fixed the input shaft but I had to but a new spline boss. Here is a picture
of mine. Be sure to put safety wire through the spring pins so they
don't work their way out.

Here is a link to a video of the shaft and old spline boss.

Bolens/Iseki Clutch Problems. G154 / TX13F - YouTube

 

[fxrs55]

Here is a link to the thread I made about the rebuild of my train wreck G154.
If you have trouble sleeping read some of this, It will put you right to sleep.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/iseki/273164-bolens-g154-iseki-tx1300f.html

 

[Digger 258]

Thanks much! I saw a copper wire through the one remaining crush pin when I first diagnosed this, and it looked like household electrical wire. That tipped me off to the fact that maybe I need a safety wire, so I stuck a cotter pin in there and bent it off until I learn what wire is ideal as a safety wire. Probably nothing exotic . . .fxrs55, I love your thread - I learned a lot and appreciate your time taken to document all of this. I bought my tractor as a combination desperation/inexperience move - I had new land, and absolutely no tractor experience, combined with low funds. Bought her off of Craigslist not ever having been in a tractor seat. I have to say I have worked the heck out of this beast doing all kinds of things it probably shouldn't, and I love it more each time. I now have a Power Trac 425 in addition to the Iseki and between the two, I can do more than I ever imagined. I'm pretty grateful that I didn't have to attempt to weld spines, because that is way beyond my skill with a welder . . .

Here's the spline boss before I fixed it.

 

[fxrs55]

Nice, Glade it was easy. Thanks for the picture. Its nice to
see what is wrong with other peoples tractor for
future reference.

 

[fxrs55]

I never heard of a power trac before so I googled it
and that looks like an interesting machine. How about
a few pictures?

 

[Digger 258]

Here's My PT-425. I real workhorse, but I noticed the non-traditional tractor layout turns some of my neighbors off. Of course, I have used it to help them all out a bunch. I really like it. There's a whole page devoted to PTs on the brand specific forums and the folks there are incredibly helpful. It was from them that I got the idea to start looking for a PT. But this being the Iseki page, here's my baby:

 

[fxrs55]

I see you have the front PTO thats nice. What do you have hooked up to it
in the picture of tractor towing the trailer?
Also is the PT-425 4 wheel drive? I'll bet your neighbors think it looks
good when you're using it to help them.

 

[Digger 258]

The PT-425 has four hydraulic motors on the wheels, and I think they are plumbed in two circuits, so it's a four wheel drive, but there is a differential effect that - I'm just not exactly sure how it works. I had traction that flat out surprised me in our big snow this year, and I could "crab" the PT with the articulated steering if I got in a spot where all four wheels spun.

On the G152, I had to rebuild the front PTO. There is nothing hooked up to it in that pic, but there is an electric winch on the front. I bought the tractor with a belly mower, which works pretty well if I adjust all of the mounts regularly. It has a small brush hog (3pt) which it struggles to power so I have only used it a few times. A Bolens front mount snow caster, which I tried this winter but I struggled with the cable lifts and I am not sure I get the rpm out of the G152 to actually launch snow out of the caster. Maybe the blade needs a weld on the screw where it meets the shoot to close the gap up some. Will have to figure that out this summer. Also have a snow/dirt blade on the front. I took a tip from the PT blade and put a horse mat rubber lip on it. I garbage picked a Deere 3 PT finish mower, but I think it was designed for much higher RPM as after a refurb, I can't really get it to actually cut grass- another project to figure out. The previous owner put a HF winch on the front to raise and lower the blade, but I think I have the cables from the 3 PT almost figured out, because the winch has a lot of lag so it's hard to be accurate. I think I need weight in the rear, but I'm not sure how much . .. I couldn't drive around in the snow with the caster mounted, which is probably a good thing since I didn't get the caster working so well anyway yet. It's really a good time figuring all of this out while I go, and the G is such a forgiving tractor to learn on it seems.