Trencher Motor Replacement

[BobRip]

I did not have trouble with roots here. At another neighbor's house we ran into some 2X4 that were buried during the recent house construction. The trencher just keeps bouncing on these. It does tear then up, but it takes too long. We pulled it out by hand. On other digs I have found that one inch roots are easy, two inch OK, 3 inch can be a problem. I then get the stump grinder out. It goes through roots pretty fast. Do you have a stump grinder? It it good for breaking up the soil and cuts roots near the surface.

I have not had any issues with roots on the minihoe yet. You can curl the bucket and that does pretty well, but I don't have a lot of experience with it. Clint Blake dug a 20 foot long trench about 4 feet deep in roughly 30 minutes with my minihoe. He was very impressed and this was his first real use. He was so impressed that he bought his own a few weeks later. I think your 180 feet will go pretty fast.

I have a digging bar (six foot long, 1 inch diameter bar with a chisel on the end). It is very good for cutting roots. I have not used mine since I got the PT. If you get desperate this will help.

Bob Rip

 

[BobRip]

I had another trencher problem last week end. The nut holding the drive sprocket on came loose and the sprocket moved out about an inch. Upon inspection the drive sprocket had a crack in the keyway and the inside was distorted. The keyway on the motor shaft was damaged. I filed it down to take out the lip of metal generated. I ended up buying a new sprocket and the special socket. This time the socket was loose on the nut and was easy to remove after tightening. I used the impact wrench and then torqued to 100 pounds (PT had no spec on this torque). I also used red locktight on the nut. I just hoped that the damaged keyway will not fail soon.
When this kind of failure occurs I always feel kind of stupid, knowing that I must have done something wrong. On the other hand if the first special socket had fit right and I had some instructions about using locktite it might not have been a problem. Total cost this time was about $156 dollars.
On the other hand, what's the point in owning the attachment if you don't use it. And anything that looks like a chain saw and operates in dirt, rocks, and roots will wear out.

 

[BobRip]

I took two pictures of the sprocket. You can see the crack in the keyway and perhaps the distortion in the hole. The sprocket was about $90.

 

[BobRip]

Power Trac send me a new castellation nut with the sprocket. It fits the special socket a whole lot better than the old nut(it's loose). This makes installation of the sprocket very easy.

 

[bjustice]

Re: Trencher Motor Replacement I know this is an old thread, but

After trenching around a good size stump, I noticed that oil was leaking around the shaft. I had noticed earlier that a small tree has gotten up around the shaft seal. I suspect that this damaged the seal. I lost about 2 quarts of oil.

To replace the motor I found that I have to get a special socket from Power Trac. They "loaned" it to me. I gave them a credit card number and they shipped it to me. After use I mailed it back and hopefully they will credit my acount.
The socket is designed to go into the hollow of the drive sprocket shaft and loosen a castellation nut. See attached picture.

Bob Rip

Old thread, I know--but does anyone know the hydraulic motor model number? I would like to purchase seals, etc. Any additional info on wrench, etc. Do I have to go back to Tazwell for everything? Also anyone know if TractorTaylorNut was successful in identifying and purchaseing sprokets and chain From aftermarket sources? Thanks for any info.

 

[ponytug]

FWIW, I think that the tool is called a spindle nut socket, and while it looks like a Tazewell special, you can buy them. The question being the relevant size...the one in Bob's photo looks like it is slightly over an inch.

Ebay:

All the best,

Peter

 

[bjustice]

Thanks, Peter. That may be a better solution--I checked out ebay.
Does anyone know the size of the nut on the trencher motor--or the motor model number--or where to buy the sprocket?

Bill