spokane 1
Silver Member
My hats off to you Benny I do believe you have the know how! (life lessons in mechanics) to step thru this repair... Use the digital camera a lot. the schematics at Montana tractors parts list should be enough instructions. Just be careful if any pin needle bearings are in mating shafts male/female sections,,this can be a hair raising experience at removal. Grease is used to hold pins into place to reset the sections.BUT removal of these sections requires a magnet placed underneath the sections (so the pins don't drop into the beyond.)
You have to sweep the entire tranny for broken bits anyway (I use paint thinner and compressed air)
Just chime in if you get hung up on removal... post photos of your problem and ill reply to the specifics the best I can.
Your repair requires shaft removal so this is pretty major. Just make sure you use brass punches to hammer anything inside the tranny to loosen their press fits check for snap rings too.
Now the MAJOR thing is once the repair is done is to dive into your mower deck or drill....and insert shear pins or a shearable PTO couplet (sometimes you have to manufacture it) And this problem will never occur again.
I finally did this on my rider mower after breaking 3 mowershaft housings. I reduced the torque on the blades to 20ft pounds and now they spin on the shaft when a rock or limb unearths itself into the blade. (its a pain to re torque the blades every mow job but much cheaper than endless housing replacements.)
The other banter about Montana tractors gears....is they simply did not harden the gears properly (exotic gases are used to achieve 1800-2600 degrees) then dipped in a oil mix to harden them off.
Reverse gears in Montana brand are considered "trash" the day they were installed. "use extra care when shifting in reverse grinding noise is a notification to slowdown in the shift or the clutch needs attention immediately" hop off and service it NOW....not later.
Looks like you have a 40-80 hour project just take your time....you'll do fine.
