Big post with lots of pics inbound ...
So the day I got the tractor and mower dropped off at our place and I ran it for a little bit and the mower was vibrating like crazy. Like shake the tractor and mower apart vibrate. That's not good.
Couldn't really dig into it that day as I had some other things to take care of but was able to drop it on top of some wooden posts and crawl under it and check the blades and stump jumper. Found the pan welds on the stump jumper were completely broken off and the yoke beat big holes were it was welded and it was way off center. I also noted that one blade was higher than the other. That seems to be a problem.
I didn't have any tools to pull the stump jumper so I made plans to make it back up the next weekend to figure out what to do. I priced a new stump jumper and talked to the dealer I bought it from and we agreed he would cover the cost if it was just a new pan.
I talked to a buddy who had to replace a sj on one of his mowers and he gave me some suggestions and loaned me a pulling tool that uses a jack to pull the yoke off of the gearbox spline shaft. I used the forks to pick up the mower and flip it up against a tree, then strapped it to keep it from falling on me. Oh, hey, that's the little JD350C dozer that's been forever getting fixed. Works like champ now, just got to replace a bunch of rotted hydraulic hoses.
20V Dewalt grinder and a cutoff wheel made quick work of the pan removal
I read a bunch about the pan yoke getting stuck and taking lots of pressure, heat and a good sledgehammer. 20T jack made it easy and the thing popped right off.
Not supposed to do this I believe. Hmm, new gearbox is $1k and new shaft and gear is $800. Gonna have to try a different approach.
Put the wobbly POS on the trailer and took it back to the dealer and swapped it for a different unit. Stepped up to a 3" capacity cutter in a little rougher shape but works great.
That's it for this edition of davidg's tractor chronicles but let see next time if he gets completely soaked in hydraulic fluid after forgetting to tighten one of 14 hoses he's replacing on a small dozer.