4 replies to this topic

[Texas Deere and Horse]

So I mounted the Model 33 tiller on my 317 yesterday morning. i had noticed the last couple times I used the 317, I had a vibration that I could feel in the steering wheel and seat pan. i went to the garden and started tilling up the bed. By the time I got done, the vibration was very severe. I got off the tractor and raised the hood, the engine was vibrating a lot and I could see the drive shaft has a big wobble (1/2") out of round at idle. I shute it down and canmove the drive shaft side to side a lot and can feel the front U-Joint is loose.

Now for the question, how do I repair this. I understand that JD wants $220.00+ for a new complete shaft. Has anyone repaired one with over the counter parts?

[tractorbeam]

I should walk out and look at my 316 shaft, but is the u joint replacable? Sound like that's what has wore out?

[Texas Deere and Horse]

From what I understand, the 317 has a unique drive shaft only used on the 317. The U-joints are not replaceable with parts from JD. I hope that someone else has had this samr issue and has built one with parts from some where else. Thanks guy..

[tractorbeam]

The shaft on our 316 has always made a clicking sound just after the cooling fan for the 12 years we owned it. I always wait for parts to go flying in every direction, but it keeps going, even though the rings are pretty much done.

[JDBrian]

I had problems with the shaft couplers on my 314. The setup is different. You need to determine where the slack is. One common wear point is at the pin that goes through the hydro input shaft. This can literally chew the end off the input shaft and write off the hydro. If it's the shaft/ujoints that are gone you could look for a used one or have one fabricated using common available parts. It's definitely a weak spot on all the early 300 series. Another thing to note is that if your motor mounts are shot it will cause premature wear in the driveline, so check those while you are in there.