982 front to back repairs
 

A couple months ago I brought home a 982 with a 60" deck and 3pt. Deal was if I could get it running without much trouble and it checked out OK then I would buy. Couple weeks went buy and I had it running, drove it, and mowed for a couple minutes. Went ahead and paid for it and decided to get the bugs out of it before spring. For some reason, one of the mufflers was out of line preventing the grill from being installed correctly. One thing lead to another and I noticed the engine mounting plate only had 2 of its 6 bolts in it. Then I noticed one side of the plate was up off the frame. Oh well, pull the engine and see whats up. That's when I noticed the driveshaft was shot, everything but the fan that is. With all that out I decided to update the steering gearbox with a thrust bearing. Slightly different setup than regular Cadets but I persisted and got it done. With everything else apart I decided to pull the fender pan and give the chassis a good pressure washing. Also need to work on the hydro linkages as they are out of sync with the dash lever. With the engine out I could see a LOT of lost motion in the cast piece on the back of the front axle where the steering rods hook to. There is no bushing so It looks like I'll have to bore it out and make one. The battery tray in the fenders is the victim of a ruptured battery, need to get one out of a junker. There is some slight corrosion on the rear end and axle tubes as well but nothing I think will bother anything. Going to all this work I am going to pull the 3 pt and the back plate off the rear end to have a look inside. I am really curious as to its internal condition as one of the axle tubes has been off and reinstalled with gobs of blue silicone. Ordinarily I wouldn't be concerned but someone has been working on this machine that should not own any tools. They had the engine out, tried pricking the ball joint for the driveshaft on the motor to make the ball stay in. In the process they reinstalled the engine with new bolts, guess they managed to lose the old ones. Problem is they left 4 of the 6 out of the engine mounting plate and managed to sit the plate down on a loose nut, no telling how long it ran with the engine flopping around. They also decided to work on the hydro. First off they lost all the bolts for the fenders and put them back on with whatever they could find. Apparently they needed to replace the springs on the plate on the side of the hydro. First off they didn't pull the rear end, they took a grinder and cut the outside wall off the notch. :bash2: Then they put in the wrong spring. To add insult to injury they didn't put in the lightweight one or the pins in the end--looks like they shoved carriage bolts in the end of the spring. But they did tie all this on with fence wire, guess it was necessary to keep the springs from jumping out now that the notch has been turned into a slot. Oh yeah, they squeezed it tight with a pair of Chanellocks. Some people shouldn't be allowed to own tools.:bash: After all this I did find the deck had a set of never sharpend blades in good shape, although the idler bracket and pulley as well as the pulleys on the mule drive need help. It's getting 2 new belts as well. Did I forget to mention the brakes aren't releasing as they should? And the key switch is acting funny. And one of the posts snapped off the solenoid. And if I intend to mow grass with it this year I better quit looking for trouble! Anyway, looks like I'll be spending plenty of quality time the 982.

was the price rite? wish i could find one near me that i can afford i can buy cheap. the wife dont seem to add up parts but she sure does whine bout the price of the tractor. :bash2:

Umm wow... glad to see its in the hands of somebody that will repair it correctly and take care of it. Good luck with it that trunion looks pretty beat up for sure

Bought it for $600 so even with all the new parts I should be in decent shape investment wise. Supers are hard to come by around here and if you want a comparable green one you'll at least double the price. The only thing that has surprised me so far is the butchering of the trunion. Overall you could tell the machine wasn't abused, just well used. They all break eventually, this one just met up with a sloppy mechanic or two. The trunion repair makes me a bit nervous. Dad said as best as he could recall the dealer he worked for never went in to one. I am considering alternatives to fixing it, such as welding a piece back in there, but I'm afraid something might arc internally. The worst part is this hydro appeared strong and responsive when I took it for a test drive, I left multiple black marks on concrete and climbed a few hilsl that we don't ordinarily drive on just to see how it performed, which it did just fine.

Thanks for the update John.
You will have it better then new in not time!

Thanks for updating us, John! Keep up the good work on the 982.

Funny, I get both.

sad but true

While it's not a recommended repair for that trunnion, the way it's squeezed together (by removing the long outside portion) actually takes the slop out of the control and would improve operation--until it broke completely, that is.

I can certainly see your situation, the more you dig into things, the more you discover is needed. I'd remove the hydro, open it, remove the trunnion arm, weld on a new square (from xtrememotorworks.com) and put it back together. You could just cut off the old one and weld a new square on without pulling the hydro, just be sure to keep the trunnion arm cool with wet rags to avoid damaging the shaft seal.

Will definitely follow your progress!

Got the steering fixed on the 982. The piece the drag link hooks to from the steering box was worn badly so I bored it and put in a bronze bushing. The pivot bolt for the front axle was worn really bad as well, especially on the threaded end, The back half of the pivot rides on the threads, not a good idea. Took a new bolt and welded up this section and then turned it down. It really should be a fine thread bolt but I didn't have one, if coarse thread worked the first 30 years it will have to work awhile longer.:biggrin2:
Ordered all new ball joints from McMaster-Carr. The ones on the steering box and the end of the tie-rods closest to the wheels were an exact match other than needing to drill for a cotter pin, could have substituted a lock nut if I had them handy. That's as far as I got today, my quality time with the 982 has been interrupted by a breakdown on something green and 10X's heavier. Now I have both of them scattered all over the shop. :bash2:

Nice job John!:beerchug:

Good work, John!

John, sorry this took so long but here are the measurements for the carb intake air deflector plate. From the base of the air cleaner to the underside of the 3" air deflector is 0.833" and the Onan part # is 045-0521 and the spacers are part # 140-1686. How is that thing coming along?

Thanks for getting the measurements! I've had no time to work on the 982 lately, too many other projects in the shop! I was going to plant corn this weekend but the weather is not cooperating:bash2: So after some work on the planter in the morning, I may get a chance to put the Onan back in the tractor. Hopefully I can pull the rear end to fix the trunion once I'm through planting. I've got new parts piled on the workbench and a 5 ft deck piled high with sheetmetal in the back of the shop just waiting to be installed.

After 3 months of walking around it, I'm back working on the 982. Got the engine and front sheet metal installed. Attention is now on the butchered trunion. Welded in a repair yesterday, will post pic later. Had already planed on pulling the rear transmission cover to clean it out---that idea was reinforced when I found the right hand axle tube has been off and reinstalled with blue silicone. Given all the shady repairs I have found thus far, I wanted to see in the rear end. Can't believe we never noticed until yesterday but the right hand axle has been replaced (its yellow). The tube matches the rest of the paint on the tractor. I found a tiny amount of metal in the rear end, not enough to scare me. I am guessing it was something left over from the axle swap. My question is what could have gone wrong to need to swap an axle? Can't say that I have ever heard of that happening on a Cadet other than one that decided to jump off a trailer while going down the road. By the way, all bolts were tight when we pulled the rear and everything in the rear looks good--no plans to go any further unless I find something. The tractor looks like it has the original turf tires. Even though it has 3pt hitch, I don't suspect it of doing a lot of heavy pulling. The hydro performed great when I test drove it. Any ideas on the reason for the axle swap?:bigthink:

That's ironic you mention rear axel on your 982. As we were standing at his 982 just yesterday at the show, he said he done something, and installed 1 inch? fine spline axels because he broke his out in the 982. I don't remember the conversation to full detail. I was also incline to wonder if your 982 has an aluminum trans axel....perhaps the aluminum carrier bolts loosened up? Good trans axels, just not the heavy cast. I don't prefer the blue silicone for anything! All you need is a bottle of Indian Head, and thin card board, like a cereal box, or 12 pack and you can make your own gaskets for the carriers. Coat the bolts up good after they are clean upon re-assembly. Check the bolt torque spec's per manual first before you remove the carrier to see if a hole is not stripped?
Good luck, hope to see it up to par soon.

Believe it or not the blue silicone is not leaking, and it appears to be an old repair job. Whats more is the rear plate was put on with black silicone and it was dry as well. We try to use OEM gaskets and a product by Permatex that comes in a small white bottle with a brush. It's kind of reddish/purple. Easier to get back off than indian head. I've used thin cardboard more than once when a gasket was not available or time did not permit waiting on a gasket. Most of the time it works fine.

As for the rear, I haven't stuck a magnet to it, but it is supposed to have a cast rear end, sure looks that way also. I'll probably check it with a magnet to settle my curiosity. All I intend to do is mow grass so if it turns out to be aluminum, no big deal.

We've got no history on this machine other than the machinery jockey I got it from took it and a Farmall Cub in on trade. The Cub was well pampered and sold quickly. This wasn't running when he got it. We're just playing detective as we go.

Thanks for the update, John!

Made a couple U- shaped pieces on the mill and welded them on the trunion. Also had to weld up a couple worn places in the plate where the springs were causing irregular wear.

Also encountered what looks to be a home made pump mounting gasket. It doesn't appear to be made from cork and the center hole appears to be more of a slit instead of a punched hole.

Some great pics and really appreciate the details there John. Can't wait to see it all put together.

Looking good John. All IH built 982's have cast rears with aluminum tubes and have coarse splined axles. The aluminum rears in the CCC built tractors have fine splined axles and the cyclops supers have the fine splined 30mm axles which are even better. I wouldn't worry about the tube, probably just a po screw up.

We looked at the parts book and did some head scratching last night. The silicone between the axle and trans. is not leaking, nor is the axle seal. Can't really see anything in the parts book that makes me want to take things further apart. Before we reinstall the rear I'll check for any excessive play. If all looks tight I'll proceed with re assembly. Now if I can just remember where I put the 4140 to make my driveshaft. It's probably with the old shaft, which I have seen in a couple months!:bigeyes:

FINALLY got time to put the 982 back together enough to drive it! I had to make my driveshaft first. Got that done and went to install it and nothing wanted to fit right. There was no way of getting those roll pins in. Kept scratching our heads then I remembered the engine and motor plate had been out and were only in by a couple screws, thanks to the PO. Not to mention that the ball was completely missing from the ball joint on the flywheel--previous "mechanic" had tried to prick punch the inside of the housing so the ball would stay in---that doesn't work so hot on a swivel joint:angry: Anyway, determined that I had bolts in the tapped holes on the flywheel end of the engine instead of using the slots. Swapped that around and we could slide the engine to the front a lot more. After that things went well. Had to do some body and fender repair on the right side floorboard before I could put the fenders on. Something extremely heavy landed on it and really folded it up. Hammered for 30 minutes and you can't even really notice it. I drove it around after playing with the hydro settings. The hydro performs fantastic. Still may need to tweek the lever settings a bit. I must have drove it a mile, hopefully there won't be any puddles underneath it tomorrow.

While hooking up the driveshaft I di notice endplay as well as up and down play on the flywheel, not happy about that. You can't feel it with the shaft installed. After I run this machine a while we'll probably have to open the engine up and see whats wrong.

Somehow the PTO quit working. We'll try to trace that down tomorrow night.
The manual steering upgrade is nice. No where near power steering but it handles great, hopefully hanging that 60" Haban under it won't change that.

Here are some pics of the old and new driveshaft. Made the new one out of 4140PH.

Did notice something yesterday I don't particularly care for. You have to be in the seat of the 982 for it to run--regardless if the deck is on. Is this wired correctly? I am assuming this was changed by the time the 2072 came along because you don't have to be in the seat for that one to run, but you do have to be in it if the deck is on.

You do not need to be in the seat for it to run, I just step on the pedal and start it up. Turn off your rear PTO and it should start correctly.

No rear PTO. I'll check the parts book and see if it was the same harness for all the models ( I would think so). I saw a couple of factory looking jumper wires behind the dash. I remember one unused wire on the rear harness, I'm assuming that would be the hot for the rear PTO. Something must be wired wrong if it's supposed to run without the seat switch depressed.

Your pictures show a rear PTO on the tractor (or the good 3point kit), is there a second PTO switch near the ignition switch (or a hole where it would have been)? I would assume if you have the second switch your problem is the switch is on or unhooked.............I think just unhooking it isn't enough to bypass it.

I think you are looking at the shield for the PTO shaft. I think it is a standard part of the 3pt hitch assembly. No sign of there ever having been a rear PTO on this one. I'll look around behind the dash and see if anything looks "interesting".

I'll take some pictures of my rear PTO switch, or at least get some wire colors for you. Mine was built with a 3pt and PTO but was removed before my dad bought it back in 1993, so I have to keep that switch off or it kills when I am off the seat. Maybe all the 982s came with the wiring for the extra switch and your harness got molested.

John, if your wiring is original and all the switches working, you should be able to get off the tractor and keep it running as long as the pto is off. The violet colored wire off of the pto switch should keep the coil energized when the seat switch is open. I'm thinking your missing the orange/green jumper wire on the relay. Maybe one of the mods can post a schematic, if not I can email you one. Glad to see she's back up and running.:beerchug:

Now it cranks with only the pedal depressed. The only thing we did was to replace the PTO fuse holder--somehow it broke during teardown/pressure washing. Honest, we haven't done anything else to it, we just needed to get the PTO to work. Maybe we jiggled a wire? And I swear no alcohol is permitted in the shop so I know we weren't imagining the cranking issues. One of us had to hold the seat down (brake pedal was locked) while the other was spinning the engine over to see why we lost current to the coil (that was another story). Anyway, all systems are go at the moment.

Finally got the deck spindles shimmed out level ( I think) and mounted the deck back. I need to level the deck and set the gauge wheels. At least it runs and the mower deck sounds decent. I need to adjust the hydro linkages a bit more, not quite satisfied with the controls there yet. Then I need to install the air cleaner, tunnel cover, side panels, grill and go mow some grass.

This things going to hurt my feelings if it out performs my 2072:biggrin2:

:Announce: It's finally mowing grass!!!

I had to install the missing pieces for the air cleaner I had to make---thanks for measuring them Oak!

Leveled the deck and decided to try it out despite the fact its been pouring rain for a couple days. It was way to wet to do a nice job mowing, but it did make it a lot harder on the mower dealing with the wet grass, which is what I wanted--if something is going to come unglued then so be it. I let my "apprentice" mow an area that gets mowed weekly. Then I headed over to an area that only gets bushoged. Grass was very tall, wet and full of clumps from the bushog. All I can say is that Onan is a beast! The deck never attempted to choke up. After I mowed that I headed over to an area that is very hilly. This machine handled it like a champ. There are no front gauge wheels on this Haban so a lot more of the deck weight rides on the tractor. I went places mowing with this one I can't even think about with my 2072. That's not to say there is a problem with the 2072, we've got it setup to mow a very pretty yard, not to go all terrain mowing around the farm buildings!

Did encounter one small problem. Shut it off to change operators and then the starter wouldn't spin over. Crossed the solenoid and got it cranked. When I got back to the shop we started tracing wires. Found one of the terminals on the PTO switch had come off--someone had bent the prongs and it wasn't plugged in very well. It was the one that sends current to the brake pedals switch.


Put the side shields on and make a final adjustment to the hydro and then we'll try it in a yard and see how level it mows.

Good job John! Ya, those Onans are awesome motors when they run well. Looks like the "apprentice" had fun too.:beerchug:

Cool deal, John. Glad the 982 is mowing again.