B7200D PTO Shaft Fell Out

[Kaysquared]

Mowed for acouple of hours with my new Caroni flail ( love it) and was headed back to the barn for the day when i heard the PTO become a lot less noisy. Shut her down quick to see what was up. At first glance, he alignment of the shaft at the tractor end looked to be slightly different than i remembered, so decided to un-hitch the flail and have a closer look. When i pulled the tractor away from the flail, the PTO stub shaft pulled out of the back of the differential!
PO tells me he had to do some work on the PTO stub prior to selling to me, guess he forgot to bend the lock washer!
Now for my question. I would like to get the tractor back to my shop, but im afraid to move it for fear of the bolt and washer (as well as who knows what else) getting caught up in the gears when the rear tires start to roll. What do y'all think are the odds of me damaging sometine further by driving her into my shop?

 

[Stumpy]

Is putting both transmissions in neutral and pushing it an option? That or towing rear wheels off the ground are your best bet. Chances are that bolt and it's washer have fallen to the bottom of the diff case where they don't pose much danger but I don't think it's worth the chance of chewing up any gears.

If you need to tow it wheels on the ground I'd go as slow as possible and not start the tractor to try and avoid stirring the transmission fluid up and possibly washing a washer up into a gear. Perhaps use a 4WD truck in 4Lo?

 

[Stubbyie]

Agree with previous poster.

Had something similar happen and after looking at schematic diagram quickly figured out I couldn't tell EXACTLY what would and would not be turning in the gearbox when out of gear.

Might be a wrecker call to lift the rear and get it back to the shop but could be worth the slight (cash, off the books) expense. Or execute a field repair. I prefer the shop.

I was greatly concerned about killing gears and having fluid flowing around washing things into strange places. Even leaving pieces in the bottom of the gearbox could create problems over time every time you tilt machine. In this type case, caution seems to be the order of the day.

 

[Kaysquared]

Thanks Guys!
I thought it best to leave her where she is and try a tear down in the woods. Not ideal, but better than possibly doing more damage while trying to move her. I've got all of the stuff out of the way and removed all of the bolts that hold the top cover to the diff case and PTO cover, but it looks like the PO didn't replace the gaskets, simply globed on some RTV sealer and torqued them down. I can't for the life of me seam to break the covers free. Any tips or tricks? I don't want to beat too hard on anything for fear of breaking a casting.

 

[Stumpy]

Could still be something holding it together, I don't know. A big hammer and a short 2X4 section as a drift is the method that usually works for me unless I've forgot a bolt.

 

[300zx]

I like Stumpy's suggestion, using a block of wood and a hammer. I just took the cover off of my B2150 differential to reseal the gasket. It had two studs and one (or two) locating dowel pins. So, the cover needs to come straight up about an inch before you can move it around.

Good Luck,
John

 

[Stubbyie]

If I'm 'seeing' this correctly based on your description...

Here's what I did:

Make sure all the bolts are loose and find transmission case lid is stuck...

Confirm all pipes and lines and connections are apart.

Stand up straddling where the seat would be, facing backwards.

Grab the 3-point lift arms and use them to bump the case lid loose.

Had to work and wiggle it, came loose at rear first then gradually worked it loose all around. Had to use putty knife--carefully--to not push junk into the internals.

Caution: lid is heavy and bulky and hard to handle.

On mine there were two studs, one each side, instead of bolts. All the other ninety-leven fasteners were bolts. Lid has to come off over those studs.

For reassembly we couldn't find a gasket listed and dealer TechRep said to use high quality namebrand silicone RTV gasket maker.

Works like a charm. The time consuming part was all the sheet metal and supplemental odds and ends, not the lid itself. Spouse and I went slow and careful and took about 5-hrs to get the lid off and about same to reassemble not counting internal work. Even had to lay fenders over to get floor pan and seat out of way.

Keep us posted and let us know how it goes.

 

[lsmurphy]

Thanks Guys!
I thought it best to leave her where she is and try a tear down in the woods. Not ideal, but better than possibly doing more damage while trying to move her. I've got all of the stuff out of the way and removed all of the bolts that hold the top cover to the diff case and PTO cover, but it looks like the PO didn't replace the gaskets, simply globed on some RTV sealer and torqued them down. I can't for the life of me seam to break the covers free. Any tips or tricks? I don't want to beat too hard on anything for fear of breaking a casting.

I have a couple of putty knives I use for breaking covers free and cleaning old gasket materials.

If no other bolts..........use knife and tap lightly between the cover and the trans in different locations until the seal is broken. Then run knife around as you pull cover off.

 

[Kaysquared]

Thanks all for the suggestions and tips.
There are two things that happen as you get older; 1. you hopefully gain wisdom as you amass experience, 2. you become forgetful, sometimes erasing many of the things you learned along the way. Not sure which this situation falls under, but as it turns out, all the leverage/ prying/ swearing and head scratching simply was not going to overcome the one bolt that was hidden behind the top link bracket!!!!
Dif case top lifted right off after removing that sneaky little sob! Now I've been able to confirm that the PO didn't do a good enough job of bending the lock washer over the head of the end bolt, resulting in allowing the PTO stub to come free. Luckily it appears that there is no real damage to any of the internals, so now just a matter of new gaskets, clean the strainer and reassembly.
I'll let you know once all is back together. Thanks again.