Mower Deck Stuck on Spindle

[Nuru]

My 54" MMM on my JD 4100, got its collar damaged and I still managed to get it on the tractor and secure. Seemed easy enough, it finally snapped on after a few tries. Now i cannot get it off and the plastic part of the collar was torn and frozen, so I had to remove it. Now the rest of the collar the metal portion that connects directly to the Mid-PTO spindle does not want to come off and does not move. i can see the ball bearings that hold it on, but I do not know how to get the collar off of the spindle.

Any Ideas?

 

[TerryinMD]

Nuru,

Are you saying that you broke the collar on the PTO shaft for the MMM?

Wish you had a picture so that we could see what's going on.... /w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif

Did you drop the deck and remove all of the linkage first? Or is the deck still attached to the tractor? I know that I ALWAYS attach the PTO after all of the deck attachment pins are in place to get the correct alignment. When removing, I ALWAYS remove the PTO first.

If you remove the deck linkage and then jack up the front of the tractor high enough, you should be able to slide the MMM deck to the front of the tractor. This would then separate the PTO shaft leaving just half of the shaft attached to the tractor. Getting the MMM out of the way so that you can really see whats going on with that collar. Just make sure you put some chocks on the back wheels so that the tractor doesn't roll around.

You sometimes have to rotate the blades a little to align the PTO and shaft splines. Is there anything left that might slide so that you can remove the pressure off of the locking mechanism?

Looks like we need a diagram of the PTO collar to see how it could be removed. John Miller, do you have any diagrams????

Hope this helps....

Terry

 

[RoyJackson]

I imagine you got a burr or a piece of the plastic caught in there somehow.
Try levering down from the top off the MMM if you can get a pry bar in there. You'll have to go from one side to the other quite a bit, as levering it will cock it.
I've never worked on a MMM, so I don't know if this is really feasable.

Normally, you don't want to force something on....it'll be harder to remove.

 

[Nuru]

Terry; the plastic collar got damaged just prior to full installation, and thus it had to be removed, as I have the replacement plastic collar, but to put it on, I need to get the old one off. I will try to get the deck out of there.
I did the installation exactly as the manual describes and tried to remove it the same way, it was not budging at all.

Everything that is holding the locking mechanism is off the tractor, so somehow it is binding on the spindle, so, i will tryo to remove the rest of the MMM and thne get a really good look at the part that is still attached. Thanks for the tips!

 

[Nuru]

Roy, dunno, I removed the plastic part of the collar and typically thr ball bearins that lock it into place should cme right out, they didn't. I can see them but they are not moving. I guess if i remove them, then it will come off.

 

[Nuru]

Here is a series of pictures

 

[Nuru]

Another view

 

[Nuru]

One more

 

[normde2001]

Nuru, that looks like a quick-disconnect attachment where you push the outer housing away from the ball bearings against spring tension, allowing them room to move out of their groove, however it looks like it is lacking for lubrication. I would lube the bearings and housing with heavy (80-90wt) oil and go at it with a rubber or plastic mallet to try and free up the bearings.
All it takes is one stuck bearing.

 

[Nuru]

normde2001; that is what I thought, but the holes where the ball bearings go, are empty. I sprayed it with WD-40 to try and loosen the area up, but no dice yet. I moved the MMM out of the way, so I could get closer to make observations. The holes you see are empty, so I do not know what is hanging it up at this tkme. I have the replacement collar, spring, and ball bearings, so I can repair the until when I get the old one's remnants off.

 

[normde2001]

I know that thing is under the tractor and hard to work on, but if you could press the u-joint off the yoke that's stuck on the shaft with a big c-clamp and a couple of right-sized sockets, you could get access to the end of the shaft and maybe muscle it off there with a wheel puller.

 

[Dozernut]

Sounds like you have a burr. Try tapping the U-joint on further just a little ways, then try backing it off. This might dislodge the burr, allowing the shaft to slide off.

 

[Ozarker]

My guess is that pieces of what use to be the balls in those holes are lodged and rusted in the groove on that shaft preventing it from moving. You're going to have to take that U-joint apart to get it out of the way and then try to muscle it off with a puller. Of course that might damage the splines on the shaft depending on what is in the way.

Another option would be to disassemble the u-joint to get it out of the way and then get an experienced man to cut it off with a torch. A man experienced with a torch can cut that yoke without doing any damage to the splines on the shaft.

A third option would be to disassemble the u-joint to get it out of the way and then cut the yoke length wise with a hack saw. You can saw it on opposite sides about 3/4 way through the yoke material then finish up with a chisel and hammer to split it like splitting wood.

 

[Nuru]

I was thinking the same thing, but I will do that later if the easier methods do not work. Thanks for the tip/suggestion!

 

[Nuru]

Dozernut; I will give this a try and report back to you all after the attempt.

 

[Nuru]

Ozarker, I will examine each one of the holes and see if there are any remnants of the original ball bearings in there. It could be simply a remnant holding me on.

 

[mrcaptainbob]

Hacksawing and chiseling are a rough way to go. Use your die grinder with a cut off wheel. You can cut down to the spline root 180 degrees apart and that puppy would fall right off. Hammering on that shaft could cause problems with the seal and/or bearing on the other end.

 

[TerryinMD]

Nuru,

Looks like you've been passed a bunch of information which should help - I would think!!

I'm guessing that you've applied liberal amounts of WD40 all over and around that collar. Have you tried to slide the collar foward at all? Or is it that the broken off plastic part is the only moving part aside from the locking ball bearings?

There has to be something else holding that silly thing on. I'd try to remove the U-joint and just have the yoke attached to the spindle. this will allow you some room to work so to speak. As suggested earlier, maybe by moving the the collar and yoke back and forth a bit will loosen up any burr or debris to allow the removal of the collar.

Good luck.

Terry

 

[TerryinMD]

Nuru,

I may have stumbled onto something..... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

I just removed my MMM and I noticed that when you slide back the plastic collar on the PTO coupler it can "lock" into position against the yoke. So, appears as though there IS something else that may be preventing you from removing the PTO coupler.

Try to see if you can slide back the remaining metal collar since the ball bearing are gone. I bet with a little persistance and the right amount of pressure in the right spot you should be able to remove that troublesome coupler.

Hope this helps.

Terry

 

[jasonf]

What a mess.... I would go with applying lots of WD-40 before and after the coupling and I would get a good sized hammer and tap the coupler toward the case maybe 1/2 inch then spray WD-40 onto the area of shaft just exposed. Then try to pry the coupler back (use a piece of wood between the prybar and the case so as not to damage it. Do this a million times and maybe it will come off /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif. I would spray WD-40 into each of the Ball bearing holes that are now vacant and then tap the coupling back and forth. I'm not sure about appplying heat because this would melt the rubber seals around the PTO shaft and make things even worse /w3tcompact/icons/mad.gif. Maybe some WD40 applied to each grove of the PTO shaft would flush out any rust/burrs. I think lubrication is the key.... Let us know how it goes. Jason