B2320: The couplings on the ends of the propeller shaft are worn, and the outer coupling seems to be hard to find in stock. I was curious if anyone had ever deleted these couplings and replaced with a u joint. Also, has anyone ever converted this assembly to two piece to allow for replacement without splitting tractor.
B2320 propeller shaft
- Thread starter Rustyfenders
- Start date
Find yourself a local driveshaft company and take it to them. I can't see why you couldn't get a 2 piece driveshaft with a slip joint in the middle. I just converted my fixed driveshaft on my 1962 Chevrolet to a 2 piece driveshaft with a slip joint in the middle. If you are familiar with the X-frame GM cars you will understand why. Too long of an explanation would be required.
DustyRusty, it seems like this would work, and save splitting tractor. The linear offset between the fixed shafts is minimal, so I was wondering if one flex joint on the end would be sufficient. I was considering a keyed coupler in the center so as to establish a fixed overall length of the shaft, equal to the production model. Thanks for your input.
The center joint is going to be a male and female splined joint and there will most likely be at least a 3" overlap in the joint. If you want to add a second universal, I can't see how it could hurt, but I am not familiar with your machine so I can't give you direction about that. Post a picture of the original shaft. Please keep in mind that all advice given in these forums is worth exactly what you are paying for.
That's true and is improved with details concerning projects. Pictures of original shaft including "couplings" could go a long way. I thought the shaft has a cv joint at one end and a sliding coupler at other but your description makes me believe there's a cv on both ends. And you know what they say about one question bring two more up. Excessive wear on shaft along with you looking for ways to repair without splitting sound's this might not be the first time you've had this problem. If that's the case something else is causing it. IMO cv joints are better than ujoints for this application so the problem might be elsewhere and breaking them. Along with picture(s) include some details and history. Gear or hydro tranny? Hours on tractor,how many you put on it? Any known clutch failures in the past?
I purchased tractor used, and the shaft had been cut in half to remove. Both ends have a coupler with 4 ball bearings. Perhaps this is what you refer to as a cv joint. One of these was locked up, so I cleaned it up and replaced the bearings, put a heavy walled pipe over the shaft and pinned it to each section, and it works fine. At some point I may need to replace the ends and was wondering if anyone else had ever tried something different such as a u joint, rather than the coupling ball setup. To replace the factory shaft requires splitting the tractor, so a 2 piece would save a lot of work. If I replace everything with new parts, I probably will make it two piece and put a coupler in. Thanks for your comment, I was just wondering if others had tried something rather than splitting tractor. I do not have any photos. Thanks.
Let's start with getting the correct nomenclature for the parts. CV means constant velocity joint. A CV joint is different than a Universal Joint (also known as a cross-bearing). You cannot interchange them in a sentence or on the tractor. This is why I asked for a picture. I am not familiar with this tractor, nor am I familiar with the type of shaft it uses unless I can see a picture of it. The information that I posted was general information based on my involvement with auto and truck repair.
I'm not trying to rain on your parade but that's sort of a red flag if joints are loose again because these joints hold up pretty well as long as shaft is in alignment and not flopping about.
I think your present solution is as good as any to allow removing shaft without a split. I'll get out of your hair with questions pointing to underlying cause and let you look for those that have tried u-joints.
I understand the lack of a picture and my crude explanation left a little to be desired, but I was confused when I was looking up the parts and Kubota called the CV joint a "coupling ball outer and inner". I was just wondering if other folks had tried anything different as the parts are rather expensive, and creating a suitable two piece shaft was what I had in mind. What I did with the pipe over the shaft and pinned at the ends is working fine, and may last as long as the tractor. Thank you for your comments.
Since I bought the tractor used, I am just guessing that lubrication was a big issue with the wear. There are no grease fittings. It is doing fine with my method of modification, but always like to hear others ideas. You guys did great interpreting my crude explanation. Thanks for your time.
Here's what he's working with.
This one is from another tractor like my B2650HDSC where there's the coupling on both ends. Not my photos-
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Thanks for the photo. This is the setup on the tractor. The exploded view showing a splined joint on one end is probably the way I will redo it if it ever gives me trouble later on. As I mentioned, the shaft had been cut in half to remove and one of the ends was locked up. I re-joined the shaft by sliding a heavy walled pipe over the shaft and pinning at both ends. Tractor works fine as is, but just wondering if there would be a better way. Was handy to install without splitting tractor. Thanks.
You say tractor works fine but have you put a heavy load on shaft such as a mower? I fear even hardened pins can't carry much load. The solution might be OVERSIZE splines in place of pins. I say oversize because diameter of shaft measured at bottom of splines must be greater than remainder of shaft to allow female spline to slide up and down shaft. It might work if red necked with hex nuts and six point sockets instead of splines.
I had the same concern regarding the strength of the pinned shaft, and I have not used it for heavy mowing, just pulling a load. I suppose mowing this spring will tell the tale. Interesting idea on the hex socket concept...the "red necked" reference is not far off. I just completed a mule drawn tractor to brush hog with.
Red neck engineering is a necessary tool if one plans to keep a Kubota many years. Kubota stops furnishing parts and refuse to let the patent to aftermarket mfgrs.
NOS costs will give a nose bleed and salvage yards know it.
NOS costs will give a nose bleed and salvage yards know it.