I responded to an ad where a nice young man has a JD 70 diesel pony start for sale. I asked why the flywheel cover was off and he said that either the end of the crankshaft or taper lock flywheel was wearing on the cover and he was afraid it might wear a hole. He said the flywheel splines had gotten bad and he had a welding shop repair the splines. He was 100% for sure the man cut the end of the crankshaft off with the splines and then welded new shaft on and cut new splines. He said he had already hack sawed some of the crankshaft end off as it was way too long at first. First I have never ever heard of this type of repair and secondly could this actually be strong enough to support the demands of the two cylinder engine. How would you ever get it perfect? I know if you weld up and machine most combine shafts they will break in short time. He was positive that it was repaired in that manner. I believe he said it cost not much over $100 maybe 15 years ago. Would someone who actually knows John Deere two cylinders be interested in a tractor with such a repair? Nice guy and seems as honest as can be. Said the tractor had plowed for a couple hours and one shank sub-soiled with it maybe 6 hours after the repair. Just hard to believe that type of repair could be done. He can't figure out why the cover rubs. Maybe there is a wobble in the flywheel on a not so true shaft????? Decent looking tractor otherwise.