How to remove drive shaft on White GT-1855

I finally got it off late last night! Did everything you said except the heat part. I thought of it, but had gas everywhere so I didn't try it.

When you swivel the front U-Joint you can hear a sound of bearings in side and it somewhat catches. I wonder if this is causing vibration or something that made that oil seal kick out?

Or do these Oil Seals eventually go bad and do this?

Now on my parts tractor I can't get the rear of the shaft off. That will be todays duty. But at the front, the U-Joint is tight and binds a little. So I think I may be screwed either way.

I looked all over last night for a U-Joint for these and no luck. And of course MTD only sells the whole drive shaft at about $500!

I'm kinda thinking if the rear U-Joint is good on my parts tractor I can swap it with the front U-Joint on my good tractor. I just hate messing with these small U-Joints. The one on the mower had small bearings that were a pain to mess with and went everywhere when I broke it open.

And who knows, were these bad when they were on the tractor or did we mess them up hammering the **** out of them trying to get it off? Strange mine is screwy at the front U-Joint and so is the my parts tractor.

Fun fun!

I don't see a clip on this and hammered on it a little. Don't look replaceable. I'm assuming they have caps just like any other u-joint. However if you look up the part number for the drive shaft they only sell the whole shaft with the u-joints installed already. Any hints if you have replaced one of these?

Well after a couple of hours I finally got the drive shaft apart. Now that I know how its put together I found that if you use a Dremel cut off wheel and cut a triangle in the cover and pry it open to expose the pin you can then use a punch and pound the pin all the way through.

I used a little nail punch to knock the triangle out as that is all I had that was small enough and strong enough to pry at it. Try and cut the biggest triangle hole you can. For the punch use the largest punch that will fit in the hole and use the largest hammer you got as well and hammer away!

Then after the pins were out the covers were stuck in the yoke opening so I used a couple of clevis type pins to drive the cover out, they were about the same size and pushed the cover right out. I also soaked and kept spraying PB Blaster on everything....not sure if it helped or just made a mess of everything?

I tried the vice and a couple of sockets to push it through, but it wouldn't budge. Only way was to hammer the heck out of it!

Hopefully this helps someone else, cause I couldn't find much on these u-joints and how to take them apart besides the link I posted earlier. Now to see if there is a replacement u-joint. Sounds like there isn't, who knows.

VTXRider said:

Great update.

So the 4 pins press into the block. How far into the block and what depth? Is there a ridge in each hole that sets the depth of the pin?

Proper size dowel pins for new pins and new bearing cups from a u-joint. If the OD of the cups is a bit too big, the yokes could be bored to size, press fit. Looks like it could be rebuilt with the help of a machinist, hydraulic press and access to precision dowel pins that fit new cups. These are what William used.

Koyo M-661 Needle Roller Bearing, Drawn Cup, Closed End, Open, Inch, 3/8" ID, 9/16" OD, 3/8" Width, 7100rpm Maximum Rotational Speed: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

https://www.mrosupply.com/product/1497077-M661-Koyo_Bearing

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I'm not sure how far in the block the 4 pins press into the block. No way to tell that I can see, I would assume you put the block in the yoke and press the pins in as far as you can and then put the caps on and press it further till everything seals up and is flush with the yoke.

Using my Harbor Freight Caliber, so might not be exact:
The measurements of the pins are: Length: 0.677 Diameter: 0.375
The measurements of the caps are: Depth: 0.395 Diameter: 0.561

I see the cups that William used, thanks for the link. Not sure if thats what I need or not. Using a tape measure they look pretty close.

Luckily my brother works for a machine shop, I may have to get him involved.

Thanks for the feedback!

DLF_IN said:

The style you have was not meant to come apart. I would find a shop near you that can build or rebuild drive shafts.
I had that same style in a Bolens 1669L. A local shop rebuilt it using a Weasler N6 universal joint.
Dave

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Shame on White/MTD for installing such a part that isn't user serviceable! You can see where the small roller bearing pins in the cap dug into the dowel pins and are worn. Not sure if its just wear and tear or if its from my nephew hitting a clothes line pole with it when my parents still had the tractor. The rear key on the drive shaft was broke as well, you would think it would have sheared it off. The tranny is also messed up and feels like it has a tooth missing at times. I bet it is all a result of him hitting that pole, but that was probably 8-10 years or so ago though so who knows.

Thanks for the info on the Weasler N6 universal joint.

cashxx said:

The rear Oil Seal came out on the back of my motor on my White GT-1855 and sitting on the drive shaft. How can I remove the drive shaft? I don't have to take apart the universal joint to get it off do I?

I was hoping there is enough room just to move rearward, but doesn't look like it. Or you have to take the rear off first?

I think I had to take apart a universal joint on the 60" deck that I had and it had a bunch of small bearings that flew everywhere when I split it apart. I don't want to go through that again, I would assume the drive shaft is the same, which is why I don't want to split it apart if I don't have too.

Thanks,

Dan

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Hmmm.....just answered my own question! In the book it tells you how to remove the drive shaft. You should move it forward and the rear part of the shaft slips off. I didn't think they would have this in the manual!