L1500DT drive shaft issues.

mrflorida

New member

Equipment
l1500dt
Nov 26, 2018
13
1
3
Florida USA
Figured i'd start a new thread with just this issue and use to to brainstorm or add how it was fixed.

drive shaft (from rear transmission output to front axle) has crappy u-joints and the rear yoke has female splines that are rusted away.

Front side is the long yoke and slips on input shaft, but shorter rear yoke is splines and a roll pin to hold it in place. Well, the rear output shaft looks to have some wear but mostly the drive shaft yoke female splines probably held water and rusted away.

What i've found so far is that it's 18t and 25mm wide, the yoke is no longer available but the whole driveshaft is (over $400)

Options: machine shop make new end?
source female splined tube to weld onto old yoke?
buy new drive shaft?

I've found a few listings for slip spline couplers from kubota and am going to auto store to compare u-joints to a few foreign auto parts.
 

Attachments

SidecarFlip

Banned

Equipment
M9000HDCC3, M9000HD, Kubota GS850 Sidekick
Oct 28, 2018
7,197
546
83
USA
Your male end looks pretty rough as well. Machining costs on that driveshaft will probably be as much if not more than a new one.
 

SidecarFlip

Banned

Equipment
M9000HDCC3, M9000HD, Kubota GS850 Sidekick
Oct 28, 2018
7,197
546
83
USA
Pretty easy to buy either metric (ISO) joints or SAE joins. ASC has them both in their catalog and online
 

mrflorida

New member

Equipment
l1500dt
Nov 26, 2018
13
1
3
Florida USA
Pretty easy to buy either metric (ISO) joints or SAE joins. ASC has them both in their catalog and online
did not find anything from them on website, but I did measure the joints at 20mm x 55mm outside retaining clips. Found a few sources though. $15 range each
 

mrflorida

New member

Equipment
l1500dt
Nov 26, 2018
13
1
3
Florida USA
Tractor now has a working 4wd driveshaft, here is what it took to get the job done at the best prices I could find online.

18t 25mm spline coupler (shaft also, didn't need but was best price together. Came from Cyprus and was $40 something USD)
2x 20x55mm ujoint store $38 total shipped

lathe cut off old coupler (attempted to cut off at best spot, nothing crazy precise here as i'm only using a little hobby level 7x14 lathe for now)
Bored out inside of coupler to press fit yoke end and welded on (really need to invest in larger lathe and mill next year)

With the new coupler that fit was nice and snug on the output shaft from the transfer case so I'm pretty confident in its ability to last a long time once again.
 

Attachments

Last edited:

Ironman2

Member

Equipment
L185 or L1501, tiller, brush mower
Aug 28, 2018
38
0
6
Warburg, AB, Canada
Nice job on the repair.
It is almost always cheaper to repair than buy a driveline. On cars the spec for drivelines is .025 run out and low speed implements is .100. This is easy to achieve even by eye with no lathe.

When looking at the damaged splines, I did have the thought flitter across my mind that there was a long term lack of grease.:rolleyes: