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Stuck... Drive belt pulley removal from LB crankshaft.

7K views 19 replies 8 participants last post by  LawnboyKS 
#1 ·
Ok guys, I'm kinda stuck here. Need to replace the lower oil seal on this F engine and can't figure out how to get the dang drive pulley off the crankshaft. The set screw is a flathead and has chipped out so a screwdriver won't bite on it, I've tried about everything. Plus it's "glued" onto the shaft with something. I tried a drill bit on the set screw and all it did was eat up the bit and didn't touch the set screw, hard stuff!

Anyone else had this come up? Any ideas? I'm kinda out and don't want to tear it up worse...
Yes, I'm aware I didn't need to take the cover off to replace the seals, but I had a brain fart and thought if I did that I could pop the seal off, duh...
 

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#2 ·
A couple thoughts- Heat the pulley set screw area gently with a propane torch. Then use an impact screwdriver on it. (Sears has them) Support the opposite side of the pulley before you smack the impact driver, though. No slot for the screwdriver? Cut one with a Dremel tool.

If that fails, there's always the Dremel to cut the pulley off.
 
#3 ·
Ok, A couple hours later and a lot of frustration and worry about hurting the rest of the motor and I finally got it off!

Had to prop it up on my drill press and was able to drill out the set screw with that. The hand drill wasn't getting anywhere. Used my large 3 jaw puller and impact to run it off the end. Took some doing for sure. Got the shaft all shined up, the new seals installed and the motor sealed back up. Now have to rethread the pulley, and put a new bolt in it to hold it on there. Think I will drill a tiny bit into the shaft to give a place for the end of the bolt to lock into to keep it from breaking loose.

The set screw is a good 1/2" deep in there and was seized tight. Hopefully I can remember how it all goes back together! Of course I'm still stalled out on completing and running it because of not being able to locate a new idler pulley for the drive belt. (other thread has pics) it was seized up too. Only idler I found was 1/4" wider and the stud it has to go over is to short to allow for the wider pulley and still put the nut on.

Who would think a machine that was in this good of condition would have all these issues!
 
#6 ·
Correct, I can get the set screw out of the hole in the crank without much issue.

But... My thoughts of just re-threading the pulley, a no go. Pulley split out the side when trying to run the tap through it, after drilling it out to the proper size for the tap. Sooo, now another pulley to track down, with the set screw. Luckily I noticed in my parts books that the same pulley was used for many years on SP machines so I assume it should be wasy to locate on eBay or the like. Parts manuals I bought came in handy! Was able to look up my model and get the exact part numbers without having to ask a dozen people and explain what I'm looking for!

Looks like it will be another week+ before the surburban purrs again :(
 
#5 ·
Glad you had success. I had the same problem about a week ago, only lucky for me, my screw slot wasn't stripped out. Mine came out with a ridiculous amount of heat.

That setscrew is a bit of a queer fish. It's not like a normal setscrew. It's got an extra-long tip that fits into that little hole in the crankshaft. I'm not 100% clear on what your plans are for overcoming the fact that you don't have it any more, but as long as you're looking for that idler pulley, I'd try and find the actual correct setscrew. That is, if you can re-thread the pulley to the stock size.

Let me know if you want pictures, as mine is still apart at the moment.
 
#7 ·
queer fish lol! I guess I will wait until I can track down, purchace, and get the set screw in my hand before I go hogging out the hole in the crankshaft again. I'm not at all sure how DEEP the hole is supposed to be.

I thought it was going to be a somewhat simple project replacing that oil seal and the belt, but once I saw how the pulley was glued and screwed on there, things went south. Yes, there was some sort of "glue", it was almost like the pulley had been soldered, or liquid soldered onto the shaft. I'm guessing from the factory. The upper seal had been replaced at some time, the lower looked original. (they were different anyway)
 
#9 · (Edited)
Thanks for the pic!

I've tracked down all 3 items, but the pulley for the crankshaft, ummm, YIKES. No one has one for less than $25 + shipping!!!! One guy on ebay has 44 of them for $41.67 + 6.95 shipping, EACH!!! yeah, don't think so!

Partstree had all 3 items, but overpriced on both the drive and idler pulleys as well. (3x higher on that idler I need). So I guess I'll just buy from 3 different sources. Still cheaper, buy a lot, even factoring in shipping X 3.

$80.83 from partstree for the 3 items and $56.40 from ebay and some "bonanzale" site.

That's a lot of coin to replace a **** oil seal and belt, and that's not factoring in the cost of the belt that was trashed from the oil... :crybaby:
 
#10 ·
You might try ordering from the Lawnboy site.....I found some of their prices to be pretty unbeatable......shipping is where EVERYONE gets you.

I had the SAME issues when I was redoing my 10515.......the pulley had to come off.......made me wish it was a push. BUT....after lots-o-heat via torch and an impact driver.......with custom-made-bit-made-for-lawnboy-set-screw-removal It gave it.

I dont want to have to do that again. My R7268 took 15 min to top and bottom......makes me wonder if I like SP as much as I do...........

Yeah. I do.

Glad to see another Kansan in the mix.
 
#12 ·
Thanks, and yeah I checked the lawn boy site, they wanted $42 something for the pulley as well, obviously where the guy on ebay got his price-point. I found the parts on ebay and then searched Google with the part numbers to see what came up.

I have one of those impact drivers, that you whack with a hammer to make turn. The bits for it are HUGE though, yeah I looked at the flathead and then the grinder and wondered if it could be 'modified', but i figured the heat from grinding it would have made it soft. And then with the head of it being broken out so bad... I tried the dremmel tool to cut into the pulley and the top of the set screw to make a deeper groove in it, but it didn't help at all.
 
#13 ·
Someone else shared this link with me once after the screw broke 3 screwdrivers and I broke the backside of the pulley trying to pry it off. I didn't have to order it since I was able to find someone that would let me try and pull another off of a poped f engine. That one took a puller and get it white hot, drill out the screw and yank it off with the puller, tap and retread a new screw. The original I had to cut off with a grinder.

http://www.lawnmowerpros.com/detail.asp?id=609976
 
#14 ·
Yikes! Well, glad I'm not alone with the issues! Any way to treat the set screw so it dosn't fuse permanently into the hole?? Anti-seize? Wouldn't want it coming loose though... Of course with even normal use it's a once in 10 years job to replace the oil seals. With the use I'll put on this machine it will probably never need changed again.

I found one for a few bucks less than that. But also, via google search, kept coming up with already ENDED auctions on ebay where that pulley had sold for 10 to 12 bucks! :banghead3
 
#15 ·
Argh! Just got an email today that said my order on my crankshaft pulley was cancelled because it had already been sold and wasn't removed from the site I bought it from, money refunded...

So now I'm back on the hunt for another *reasonably priced* # 609976 engine pulley! The school bus gets to sit disassembled for another week+ :(
 
#17 ·
Its an 8440 "suburban".

I found there's 3 different models of those pulleys, evidently they are different inside diameters (none give the actual dimensions). Of course the one I needed is the most expensive and hardest to find of the 3! I did end up getting one, just broke down and ordered from partstree. Couldn't hunt a better deal anywhere else.
 
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