GC2310 snowblower driveshaft flew off...

[fireguy1451]

What ever they did, it worked, no probs since and man it can toss some snow. They replaced the drive shaft as the shaft was bent and one u joint was shattered. I learned from this to never start it in the garage as well as it almost went through the garage door

 

[DEWFPO]

I learned from this to never start it in the garage as well as it almost went through the garage door

? I don't understand. Don't engage the snowblower in the garage? If so, how did it almost go thru the garage door?

DEWFPO

 

[fireguy1451]

I park my tractor sideways to the garage door so when it came out from under the machince on the right side it almost got the garage door. I have 2 doors and go out the empty bay. wife was at work so her bay was the empty one and her door almost got the new "window".

 

[fireguy1451]

Northwood power was the one who sold and fixed it. They did an awesome job and they always treat me good when I come in, If they treat me this good I can Imagine they will always be my dealer when I upgrade (when wife lets me)

 

[DEWFPO]

O.K. I think I got it now... your talking about when the shaft came off, you were in the garage and it almost went thru the closed garage door.

DEWFPO

 

[DEWFPO]

Update : Due to a prolonged illness and cold spring the 2360 SB just came off today. I checked for play in the stub shaft from the Quick Hitch and it is fine. Only the slightest of play when I really jerk it, and no movement in/out at all.

I have confirmed that the play and vibration I have is from the front yoke on the long mid-pto shaft having too much play. I released the rear yoke and measured how much of the front stub shaft is still visible after allowing the rear yoke to completely come off the rear shaft and it is 1.620 inches. I triple checked my numbers.

As I suspected before, If I could get a new yoke for the front that is 1 inch longer, I would still have .620 inches of slack after clearing the rear stub shaft.

The stampings on the loose yoke are Weasler 6 or 8 - 19190. I can't find any listing for it anywhere on their website or the web.

Anyone have any thoughts? I'd like to get this worked out before the fall snow season begins.

DEWFPO

 

[irvingj]

Sorry about your illness & glad you're back with us! Do you have any photos? I've removed all the blower stuff on mine --the driveshaft extension, the quick-hitch assembly that hangs from the front "bumper" and the blower itself--here are a couple of shots of the shaft, etc. When you say "play in the front yoke" do you mean in the universal joint area at the quick-release, or are the mating splines on the straight section perhaps worn? BTW, the stub shaft length I mentioned earlier is measured from the face of the mounting plate, not the bearing face where I put the ruler (oops).

 

[DEWFPO]

Thanks for your kind thoughts.

I measured the rear part of the stub shaft sticking out of the rear of the Quick Connect and it has virtually no play, I feel an ever so slight movement if I really jerk hard on it but not much. Mine does not stick out as far as yours does. Mine only sticks out 4.75 inches whereas it looks like yours stick out 5.625 inches (almost 1 more inch).

The play that I have is between that shaft in your first picture and the splined yoke at the front of the long mid-pto driveshaft (opposite the one in your second picture). The universal joints feel tight, but I can easily rock that front yoke noticeable on the shaft. When it turned at PTO speed with a load it really wobbles.

DEWFPO

 

[irvingj]

Now we're getting somewhere...? (It's been too long since I last was a troubleshooter, I guess-- sorry for the wrong pic. Got the right end of the shaft this time!)

Attached, corrected photo of the sub-frame splined stub shaft, with the grease wiped off the end and the ruler placed against the "cross plate". Referring to pages 13 and 14 from the manual, the exposed end should extend 6-5/8" from the cross plate. Note that mine does.

It certainly seems that your splined stub shaft is not positioned correctly- either the set screws let go and the shaft slid forward, or maybe it wasn't positioned properly to begin with.

If the u-joint really feels tight, then most likely the metal on the splines & grooves is just badly worn. Perhaps repositioning the shaft so it protrudes the full 6-5/8" will allow clean metal splines to contact their respective grooves & all will be well. If not, perhaps the pieces are beyond salvaging and will have to be replaced. If repositioning the shaft seems to improve things, I'd say the problem is in fact worn splines and favor replacement... 2000 rpm can quickly turn nasty, as we've read in these posts.

 

[DEWFPO]

Now we're getting somewhere...? (It's been too long since I last was a troubleshooter, I guess-- sorry for the wrong pic. Got the right end of the shaft this time!)

Attached, corrected photo of the sub-frame splined stub shaft, with the grease wiped off the end and the ruler placed against the "cross plate". Referring to pages 13 and 14 from the manual, the exposed end should extend 6-5/8" from the cross plate. Note that mine does.

It certainly seems that your splined stub shaft is not positioned correctly- either the set screws let go and the shaft slid forward, or maybe it wasn't positioned properly to begin with.

If the u-joint really feels tight, then most likely the metal on the splines & grooves is just badly worn. Perhaps repositioning the shaft so it protrudes the full 6-5/8" will allow clean metal splines to contact their respective grooves & all will be well. If not, perhaps the pieces are beyond salvaging and will have to be replaced. If repositioning the shaft seems to improve things, I'd say the problem is in fact worn splines and favor replacement... 2000 rpm can quickly turn nasty, as we've read in these posts.

I'm sorry for the delay, I really appreciate your help. The photos of the manual pages and of your parts truly helps.

I measured the the length of the of the rear output shaft on the Quick Connect from the rear cross plate to the end of the splined shaft and mine measures out to be 6.3 inches. That is ~0.325 inches (~5/16") less than it should be (6 5/8 inches). Moving the shaft back the 0.325 inches to give me the full 6 5/8 inches most likely will not help much with the wobble. I would suspect that I need to replace the yoke since it appears to be worn beyond reason.

Again, thanks so much for your help.

DEWFPO

P.S. I still have not rec'd a reply back from Weasler Engineering on the longer yoke.