John Deere A rockshaft housing job and some mystery metal

pmarkel

Member
Drove my 49' A to the home farm today to perform some repairs. I bought the tractor last some and noticed that when I tried to fill the powrtrol, the hygard flowed right into the transmission case. Per advice from this forum and my trusty JD service manual sm2011, I figured to find the packings around the pto to be worn out. So I tore into it this afternoon and the problem became readily apparent. The inspection hole plug that separates the trans from the hydraulic reservoir was resting on the bottom of the trans case. I also found a piece of mystery metal that I cringe to think must be the tooth of a gear but from the little I looked inside I haven't yet seen anything broken in there. Since I have it apart I figure I will replace the packings on the rockshaft piston and replace the gasket but now I am not sure whether I want to take the pto pump apart to replace seals. Are these difficult to work on or should I go for it since I am in this far? Waiting to see which piston design is inside the cylinder so I know what to order. Thanks,

Pete
 
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Must have had so much water in it at one time that it popped the plug out when it froze?

Looks like you found a gear tooth, did you find where it came from, or it could have even been left there from a previous repair over the past 70 or so years!
 
Not the best picture of the tooth, I bet it from a bull gear, better roll it over & find out now.
 
I thought the same thing, 'i hope someone already fixed whatever this fell off of' but it seems odd that they wouldn't have flushed the trans...
 
the PTO worked fine on the Tedder. I will Jack up the wheels and rotate them this afternoon and see if anything jumps out at me. The rockshaft cylinder was frozen so I had to remove the rockshafts and pull it as a unit. I think I will soak the powrtol in some diesel. Any other rubber packings in the powrtol other than those in the plug ports that I would have to replace? thanks,

Pete
 
It is not uncommon to find the housings weren't flushed out properly and to find spare bits. I pulled a worn out motor apart for a guy that had timing
gear teeth in the oil pan, but all the gears were good. I really hate being in that position with a tractor or a used machine nobody knows the history
of. The customer don't want to spend money taking it apart, to find it's nothing when it wasn't showing signs of a problem. Then they moan like heck
when it blows up and costs a fortune . It's a no win situation sometimes !
Regards Robert
 
(quoted from post at 05:47:36 02/07/19) Not the best picture of the tooth, I bet it from a bull gear, better roll it over & find out now.
jacked up the left wheel today and turned the wheel, first in neutral, then in reverse, and so far I have found nothing suspicious. Bull gears look fine as do all the gears in the differential and the gears on the brakes (which I already had out to rebuild). Bevel gears on the pto look fine. I will check it more thoroughly before I put her back together but I spent more time taking the rockshaft cylinder apart (soaked in some diesel and hammered on it with a piece of wood till it freed up) as well as disassembling the gear pump.


Rockshaft piston and cylinder seem good but I was a little disappointed to see the piston is the kind that takes the leather cup (I like the design but its a $65 part thru deere). The gear pump seems ok, The big ball bearing doesn't seem worn nor do any of the gear teeth. The long bronze bushing does show quite a bit of scratching as does the shaft but the assembly did not feel loose so I wonder if I can't just hone it up a little and put back together with new seals? I will be posting pictures in a few minutes.
 
You might be able to find that leather cup from a hyd. supplier like buhm (sp?) hyd. You may have to punch your own holes in it though. Hard to tell in pic if the one side is worn or not ? if not worn and still pliable it will likely be fine reusing it. Those old leather cups hold up better than O-rings but are not ran on higher pressure systems.
 
(quoted from post at 15:38:43 02/08/19) Is that bronze bushing for the PTO shaft? I would replace it if it is. The shaft wobbling would not be good for the pump gears.
Mike,

Yes that bushing a2481r is for the PTO. It does not have much wobble not did it when running but it is scored. Unfortunately I can't find anyone who carries it.
 

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