LX4 Shear bolt replacement

[RalphVa]

Anyone have any advice on tips to help replace the shear bolt on my LX4?

Should I disconnect the PTO from the tractor shaft?

First time shearing the bolt. Luckily, I was just finishing up when I backed off the side of the trail and hit some large stuff that sheared the bolt. The PTO shaft was turning. No cutting/floppy blade noise.

Ralph

 

[Lawnjocky]

Ralph,
I haven't ever fixed a LX4 but I'm bet it's like other's I have done.
With the machine off, brake on and mower on the ground, do this.
1. If you have one (you should), slide the plastic gaurd up and out of the way. There will be lock's or catches to hold it in place.
2. Line up the shear bolt hole's by turning the drive shaft and possibly sliding it forward or back. If the mower shaft turns as well then put the PTO in gear (leave engine off) and turn the shredder blade by hand.
3. Push out the old bolt and install new one.
4. Replace plastic gaurd.
After you do it the first time it's pretty easy, just maddening that it happen's.
Back when I did a lot of shredding, I used to duck tape a replacement bolt to the mower and carry a couple of tools for when it did break.
Lawn

 

[RalphVa]

Thanks. Thought it was something like that. Was hoping that maybe they had some way of keeping the collar in place to/fro so one didn't have to hunt for the bolt that way.

Ralph

 

[RalphVa]

There's another problem with an Owner's Manual. The LX4 OM says to "bend back the plastic collar" to get it out of the way. Why the devil don't they just refer us to page 55-2 where it tells how to slide it back?

I decided to just cut the plastic collar off even with that hole in it for greasing the U joint. This is before I found the description on page 55-2 to unscrew the screw and rotate the collar to match up with a tab to allow it to slide back. Two contacts at the local JD place couldn't or wouldn't tell me this. The guy they have answering the phone at the service department is a complete do-do.

New shear bolt is in. Another thing they don't tell you is where to look for the hole. You slide the PTO shaft towards the tractor almost as far as you can to locate it. The PTO shaft is held onto the pilot shaft out of the gear box by a keeper clip. That keeps it from sliding off.

Found the old bolt. It was only sheared at the bolt head end. Both pieces were on the LX4 deck. Didn't have to punch out the old bolt.

You CANNOT rotate the PTO shaft out of the tractor. Gotta either rotate via the blade underneath to align the hole or remove the PTO shaft from the tractor to rotate it.

Ralph

 

[MikeFromVA]

Ralph,

You might be able to rotate the PTO out of the tractor if you move the selector to the mid-PTO only setting. I've found that this allows me to move the rear PTO freely...