28 replies to this topic

[Chubien]

The seller just wants to sell the complete transaxle (80$).
That makes it a no go for me. I'd have to drive across the continent to get to it.

[Rainier]

That's a bummer. That thing has been on there for almost a year. As you can see the housing is open and hopefully not full of water.
To bad he won't sell just what you need. Hell I'm about an hour from there. I would be willing to go over there and pull the shaft! Not sure what that takes, but can't be that hard??

[Chubien]

Well if you go ahead and do this I call first dibs on the shaft !

[chieffan]

Either way you decide to go, clean up what you have or replace the whole shaft, your going to have to remove the shaft to get at it.  Be real hard to get at that gear with anything to clean it up.  They are not that hard to pull out, just takes a little time.  Much easier with the transaxle slid off the tubes. 

[Chubien]

I was debating how to get that gear fixed up.

I think for the time being I will try to repair that gear, at least to that I can engage it.

 

If I can get to it in situe I will do it that way, otherwise I will have to figure out how to remove the shaft and clean it up removed.

 

I'm not too bothered about the metal shavings going in the tranny, there was half of first gear ground away in there to begin with.... I'll just give the tranny a good cleanup when I'm done.

[29 Chev]

Could try a hacksaw blade - tie wrap or tape it to a piece of 1/2" x 1/8' flat steel to give it strength - the teeth on the bade should be able to clean up the gear teeth enough to get it to engage - just a suggestion.

[Chubien]

Well when one thing leads to another this is what you end up with

[29 Chev]

One step closer to a complete disassembly and rebuild - the Bolens Bug does not hibernate over winter!  One small step for you - one giant leap for your wallet.  .

 

Hope things go well and you get the gear cleaned up ok.

[chieffan]

Just a suggestion, I use old pickup jacks under the frame on each side so I have individual adjust-ability of both tubes.  Also I do not remove the tube clamps, just loosen them up good.  Guides the transaxle off and back on.   That brake drum can be a real problem to get off, and it has to come off to let the shaft out.  Worse come to worse, you can grind a small notch out of the drum just large enough to let the bearing slide by.  Don't seem to harm the braking any either.  Good luck with your project. 

[Chubien]

I tried to loosen the tube clamps and let the gearbox slide off the tubes but it just would not go, even used penetrating oil to get everything going but it was a no go. Having the gearbox off allows me to swivel it around with the wheels still on and it works great though so this was a nice surprise which came in real handy as I'm working on different angles.

The brake drum came right off in my case once I punched out that roll pin! I did not realize at first the shaft bearing would not clear it. Now I know.

[Chubien]

Finally got the shaft out, getting that last snap ring, the one on the needle bearing side was a pita, must have taken me 30 minutes to get that snap ring off, next one will be easier.

That bearing will not come off the shaft so I will need to figure a way to remove it without damaging it.

There are a couple of gear repair shops around me, I may just get a few quotes to see what it would cost to repair or replace that gear.

[29 Chev]

You could make up three pieces similar to the attached picture out of 1/8" x 3" flat steel to make a poor mans bearing splitter and use two pieces of threaded rod to go to a piece of flat steel at the shaft end and tighten the nuts on the threaded rod a little bit at a time to pull the bearing off - it should not be on the shaft real tight - hope this helps.

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[Chubien]

Finally got back to putting this back together, that bearing came off after soaking in liquid wrench for a day.

The gear repair shop would not touch that gear so I ended up using a dremel and carefully filed the face of the gear to help it engage smoothly. I also touched up the other gear that engages with first.

The gearbox had years of gear dust spread out throughout and I added to it somewhat by filing that other gear so I decided to give the casing a thorough clean out before closing it all up.

I decided to go get a couple of gallons of diesel and using a cheap plastic pesticide sprayer to power spay the inside, I'm glad I did, what came out of that gearbox was shocking! I repeated 4 times and used all the diesel I had, it came out really clean with hardly anything come out on the 4'th pass.

The replacement input shaft seal was difficult to get with a 3 week lead time, but Brian (bolens 1000) happen to have it in stock and I had it in 3 days.

Result: gears now slide like butter! Including first which would not even engage before this repair.

[chieffan]

Glad to hear you have it back to working again.  Nothing like knowing that you made the repair yourself.  I have a 6 speed that works the same way.  I don't take it out of gear until the motion has stopped.  Then shift out of one and into the next.  Missing some linkage I haven't come up with yet between the clutch pedal and the brake so the only brake I have is the parking brake.  Have used it a few time on a grade to stop the motion.  Enjoy your tractor.

Edited by chieffan, December 17, 2015 - 09:11 AM.