MF2360 drivehaft bent/broken GC2300

[acosltd]

GC2300 and MF2360 snow blower worked great up unill two days ago.
Heavy wet snow, UJ broke, hence drive shaft bent.
The shop had another bent one returned yesterday!
They can't find me a new and can't tell me when one is available.
I suspect there are lot more bent ones out there!
Any one know wher I can get a new one?
I live in Ontario
Thanks
Steve

 

[Wayne165]

If you have access to a machine shop they should be able to make one for you. We make lots of different ones in our machine shop all the time.

 

[irvingj]

That would be my advice as well- see a shop that specializes in driveshafts if you can't get one from your dealer. Failing that, there's a co. in the midwest (US) that I know carries the yokes that fit that driveshaft. I ordered a yoke with a bit longer splined section from them- if you want the address, I can dig it up.

You might also do a search for a long thread on 2360 driveshaft issues from a year or two ago. Hope you get it fixed up!

 

[massey driver]

I'am kinda nervous after hearing that your drive shaft has bent.I made my own quick hitch etc and drive shaft for my snow blower I haven't had the chance to use it yet but after reading this I'am almost thinking that maybe I should do something different with my shaft.I made mine out of 3/4" black pipe and now I'am wondering if maybe I should change and make it out of 1" round shafting.Kinda wondering if you high centered on something with the shaft to bend it or ??? Larry

 

[Wayne165]

3/4 black pipe will NOT work. Looking for a wreck!!!!

 

[acosltd]

Thanks for the good advice.
I went to drive shaft shop yesterday, as Massey (they want $500) has them on back order and could not give me a delivery time!
After reading posts on this site yesterday, I asked them to get yoke 1" longer.
They also suggested a slightly larger dia from 11/4 to 1/12 (I think)
They said they should have it ready sometime Monday.
By the way it broke with a full load of wet heavy snow and it was lifting approx 6 inches off ground at the time.
Just under designed for the load, I think.

 

[irvingj]

acosltd-- sounds like you read the post(s) about the driveshaft. Good education, as many of the threads on this forum are. I gather you found that a major issue was with the length of the splined end of the yoke; I don't think you can go wrong with a longer one. (Be sure to check those set screws!)

massey driver- perhaps Wayne165 can elaborate, but I think he was referring to the brittleness of black pipe- a sharp blow/shock, and it will shatter!

Steel --what type, I won't attempt to name because I don't know enough about metals-- is a better choice for a driveshaft; think of the torsional loads it has to handle.

I hope someone with more experience/knowledge in metallurgy will add to this, but I'm thinking black pipe is a potentially dangerous metal to use for a driveshaft.

 

[massey driver]

I guess when I refered to black pipe what I should have maybe said was its the kind of pipe thats used inside resturants etc: to run the natural gas through.This is where I've salavaged this pipe from.I'wouldn't dare use galvanized pipe as its way to soft plus not to nice to weld either.If me using this type of pipe isn't very good then I'll change it to a 1" solid shaft.If thats what I needs to do I'll do it next week when time allows.Hope someone can give more advice as to what to do thanks.as always Larry.

 

[Wayne165]

Black pipe is fine for air lines or natural gas etc., but not for rotational torsion loading. It will twist like a pretzel. Proper tubing(driveshaft tube is either a D.O.M. (drawn over mandrel) or a seamless tube is made to take the torque & twist of a driveshaft application. When we started our machine shop 27 years ago we made the same mistake as where you were heading. Have made many since for some pretty serious horsepower & they work fine. When yokes are welded on the whole unit should run very straight.If is assembled straight 99% require no balancing. I think I covered this fairly well & hopefully not too complicated. Any more questions please fire away.

 

[massey driver]

Thanks for the info Wayne165 one more question if I use a 1" solid shaft would that be Ok for my application the tractor has 17.5 pto HP so wondering if using a solid shaft like that total length of 32" between the yokes.any info would be greatly appr.Larry