65 lift cover

Brendon Warren

Well-known Member
I'm trying to but new bushings on my rockshaft 0n 65 Massey Ferguson. I can get the shaft to slide part way out, then it comes up against something hard. Do I just need to hit it harder, or am I missing something. Thanks in advance!
 
Here's a picture I hope
a135053.jpg
 
I got it, you were right on the one way. I just had to give her one more good rap and it about fell out. Thanks for the advice.
 
Brendan, you just opened a can of worms.

I just replaced lift cover and bushings and rock shaft on my 65, because the shaft, bushings and cover were worn far beyond a simple bushing replacement. If your bushings easily slide out of the lift cover, your cover is probably shot as well. Replacement lift cover is available through the store here, but has 9/16" lift cylinder stud holes rather than your probably original 1/2", so you may want to upgrade the lift cylinder while you're at it.

The new bushings should be a press fit in the cover (bush diam = bore diam -.001). The rockshaft may be significantly worn (and at that point, egg shaped at the bearing points), so check it with mics (not calipers) in several places around the bearing points. If it is only out by a thou or two, have the shaft turned, if more than that, replace the shaft. Either way, once the bushings are installed in the cover, they will need to be line bored to fit the shaft (shaft diam +.003). Both of those operations benefit from having a machine shop and skilled machinist do the work. Not that you aren't that person, but as an FYI for anyone else reading this.
 
I'm definitely not a machinist by any means, so thanks for sharing your experience. The bushings were a tight fit in the cover, hopefully the shaft isn't too worn, the old bushings are pretty loose on it. I've got new bushings and seals on the way. I'm hoping it takes some of the slack out of it. I rarely use the 3pt hitch but I was going through the rest of the machine so I figured I should fix this while I had it apart. I'll keep you posted.
 
Brendon, sorry about mispelling your name - I'm usually more observant than that...

Another FYI, slide fit is only slightly worse than snug fit. Snug is where you have to tap it with a persuader to get in in (or out). "Press fit" means you use an arbor press (a few tons of pressure) to push the part into (or out of) place. Any slop in a bushing under potentially several thousand pounds of load, especially a place that can collect dirt, is asking to wear even faster. If you rarely use the 3pt, new bushings may take up most of the slop and you'll be good for years. If you don't have bore gages, make sure you test fit the bushings on the shaft and in the cover bores before you attempt assembly. My replacement bushings came about .020 undersized (inside bore) probably to allow for them to be cut to fit an undersized (turned) shaft. Bushings pressed into the bores will lose a very slight amount of inside diameter, so you may still need to have the bushings installed, line bored to shaft size + clearance, then removed, shaft installed, and bushings reinstalled. Depending on how worn and/or out of round your rockshaft is, boring may not be necessary, but I doubt it.

I had a special tool made to get the inside bushings put into place (a shouldered sleeve that bottomed on the cover when the inner bushing was at correct dimension with room for the O ring in the middle). I also had the outer bushings drilled and grease fittings added to the cover to provide some way of lubrication to the outer bushings and to push dirt and moisture out, rather than running the shaft 'dry' on the outside. The inside bushings are splash lubricated from the PTO ground drive gear on the pinion shaft.

Hope this helps
Well Worn
 
sometimes if these bushings turn but are not too loose in the cover, then bearing and stud fix will do the job of keeping them tight in the cover. Turning the shaft is not an option as you have to think of the splines! New shafts are not expensive.
Sam
 

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