b6200hst exploded 4wd ujoint

[seant]

Well, I wish I had an explanation for this:

First, I don't think there is supposed to be oil in there. Isn't that a dry joint? I think the front seal is leaking. Second, how does this even happen? I was discing at the time in 4wd and heard a bang. limped back to the garage (perhaps I should have stopped but I think the damage was done.

Looks like I need to replace at least the joint and the case. The case is pretty banged up. Cracks, etc. Think it's worth trying to weld or should I just get a new one?

Second, isn't there supposed to be a pin through that joint half to the right?

Any comments, advice, or commiseration appreciated.

Thanks,
Sean

 

[redmaher]

New universal and a new pin. The case is just a shield.

Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk

 

[seant]

My parts in and and I chose to replace the leaking seal at the same time. I'm now struggling to figure out how to get the nut off the drive shaft. Levers on the hubs don't seem to do much good as there's too much torque involved.

Any advice? I'd like to avoid disassembling the shaft further but can do that if I need to.

 

[Lil Foot]

I'm now struggling to figure out how to get the nut off the drive shaft.

When I rebuilt my front axle, I ran into the same thing. The shaft/differential setup is a little different, as seen in the pics in post #9:
http://www.orangetractortalks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21369&highlight=front+axle
I disassembled the entire axle, so your results may vary.
I used a impact wrench with a deep socket to remove the nut, then for re-assembly, I took a socket that would just slip over the splined shaft, & machined a slot in it that would accept a pin placed in the cross hole in the shaft. Then, with the nut clamped in a vise, I turned the shaft using the altered socket to tighten everything to the correct torque.
I can get a pic of the socket if you need it.

 

[Dave_eng]

Any comments, advice, or commiseration appreciated.

Thanks,
Sean[/QUOTE]

Sean
that style of of universal joint is called a Cardan joint.

The better ones dont have passages for greasing as the passages create weakness in the joint. The good ones are lifetime lubricated.

That style of front axle joint requires more respect than the newer style which does not have a universal joint.

Keeping the front wheels straight makes life much easier for the cardan joint. If you are steering while asking the front axle to provide a lot of pulling power you are seriously stressing the joint.

It is the same situation as a pto shaft.

This chart shows how much shorter the pto joint life is if running at an angle.

A cardan joint running at a 5 degree angle has a life expectancy of 450 hours. Running at 25 degrees and the life is 25 hours.

The cardan joint is not a constant velocity joint like found on all modern front wheel drive motor vehicles.

The ends of the axle on either side of the cardan joint do not rotate at the same speed which seems to defy logic. The end of the axle will speed up and slow down so that at the end of a complete revolution each half of the shaft will have turned one revolution. However, in between, there is a pulsing stress as the joint speeds up and slows down the rotation.

Hope this is some help for you understanding what you can do to have a longer service life from the axle joints.

Dave M