1. Pop plastic floor mat buttons to loosten rubber mat and remove the battery cover then clean (hose down) seat pan area under mat as well as other dirty parts.
2. Unhook battery - terminal ( safety to prevent possible short or any chance of motor turning over when working on propeler shaft).
3. From underneath the tractor remove the 3 fwd and 2 rear propeler shaft bolts (I used a hammer on the wrench to break the bolts loose without holding the crankshaft or hubs).
4. Remove 2 bolts in HST pedal ( making sure to keep nuts from back) remove pedal.
5. Extend seat to release spring tension, separate two electrical connectors, tilt forward pull 2 retainer pins and remove seat (caution if you remove the seat while it is in the down position and later trip the lever the base and seat base will extend violently and personal injury is possible).
6. Pull off 3pt lowering rate knob and remove mower height adjuster by removing nut from bottom of tractor and pulling out knob with shaft.
7. Remove all floor pan retainer fasteners and I also removed the two bolts holding the cover plate beneath the battery and removed. Lift the floor pan at the back and left hand side and disconnect the spring clip holding the diferental lock bar to obtain enough clearance to remove the propeler shaft from the top left hand side.
8. Remove and replace fan if necessary from the top.
9. This is a good time to replace the fanbelt, both propeler shaft boots, and repack both of the propeler cv joints.
10. To disassemble the cv joints pull back the boots remove the snapring pull out the shaft slowly over a pan to catch the 4 ball bearings. Before removing the internal circlip on the shaft to remove the inner ball coupling note the direction it is installed (I recomend taking a photo before removing as it is possivle to install backwards).
11. Clean the parts, install the dust boots on the shaft, slide larger snap ring on shaft then retainer washer on shaft grease the splines, slide the inner ball coupling on in the proper orientation (the balls will be closest to the shaft ends) install shaft circlip retainer.
12. Put spring in hub grease inside hub, add 4 new o-ring dampers (there was a rubber o-ring under each bearing when new that will need to be replaced), grease bearings and cups, place shaft assembly with o-rings and bearings in place into hub slide retainer washer and secure c-clip into place, slide boot into place. Do the same on the other end and reassemble your tractor.
Nothing was particularly difficult or heavy on the BX23, the fenders and ROPS remained in place the hardest part was getting started. The floorpan has very few bolts and was easy to lift for enough clearance (If I didn,t have the FEL bracket installed I could have removed the floor pan easily). Considering how much work this machine has done since new 350 hours in 7 years, it only needed about $10 in parts ($20 if you add a fan belt) and the job could be done in a couple of hours. I am very happy with the simple design and durability.
Note you will always have to replace the 4 o-rings on each coupling and you might as well replace both boots anytime the shaft is removed. I also will lube the joints and replace the boots about evedy 5 years or 350 hours from now on.
I now consider belly protection mandatory for any machine working in brush, sticks, grass etc.
2. Unhook battery - terminal ( safety to prevent possible short or any chance of motor turning over when working on propeler shaft).
3. From underneath the tractor remove the 3 fwd and 2 rear propeler shaft bolts (I used a hammer on the wrench to break the bolts loose without holding the crankshaft or hubs).
4. Remove 2 bolts in HST pedal ( making sure to keep nuts from back) remove pedal.
5. Extend seat to release spring tension, separate two electrical connectors, tilt forward pull 2 retainer pins and remove seat (caution if you remove the seat while it is in the down position and later trip the lever the base and seat base will extend violently and personal injury is possible).
6. Pull off 3pt lowering rate knob and remove mower height adjuster by removing nut from bottom of tractor and pulling out knob with shaft.
7. Remove all floor pan retainer fasteners and I also removed the two bolts holding the cover plate beneath the battery and removed. Lift the floor pan at the back and left hand side and disconnect the spring clip holding the diferental lock bar to obtain enough clearance to remove the propeler shaft from the top left hand side.
8. Remove and replace fan if necessary from the top.
9. This is a good time to replace the fanbelt, both propeler shaft boots, and repack both of the propeler cv joints.
10. To disassemble the cv joints pull back the boots remove the snapring pull out the shaft slowly over a pan to catch the 4 ball bearings. Before removing the internal circlip on the shaft to remove the inner ball coupling note the direction it is installed (I recomend taking a photo before removing as it is possivle to install backwards).
11. Clean the parts, install the dust boots on the shaft, slide larger snap ring on shaft then retainer washer on shaft grease the splines, slide the inner ball coupling on in the proper orientation (the balls will be closest to the shaft ends) install shaft circlip retainer.
12. Put spring in hub grease inside hub, add 4 new o-ring dampers (there was a rubber o-ring under each bearing when new that will need to be replaced), grease bearings and cups, place shaft assembly with o-rings and bearings in place into hub slide retainer washer and secure c-clip into place, slide boot into place. Do the same on the other end and reassemble your tractor.
Nothing was particularly difficult or heavy on the BX23, the fenders and ROPS remained in place the hardest part was getting started. The floorpan has very few bolts and was easy to lift for enough clearance (If I didn,t have the FEL bracket installed I could have removed the floor pan easily). Considering how much work this machine has done since new 350 hours in 7 years, it only needed about $10 in parts ($20 if you add a fan belt) and the job could be done in a couple of hours. I am very happy with the simple design and durability.
Note you will always have to replace the 4 o-rings on each coupling and you might as well replace both boots anytime the shaft is removed. I also will lube the joints and replace the boots about evedy 5 years or 350 hours from now on.
I now consider belly protection mandatory for any machine working in brush, sticks, grass etc.
