GT2550 driveshaft install help please!
 

New member here,

I hope I am in the right forum for this question.

I recently bought a 2007 CC GT2550 with only 30 hours on it. Nice machine. My first and only piece of maintenance on it was to replace the leaky plastic oil drain valve with a Drainzit valve. To do that I have to lift the engine up a bit. In the process...and of course I didn't realize this until I had finished the job...the driveshaft managed to become disconnected at both ends. I have been trying to figure out how to reinstall it. There are eight rubber cylinders on each end (some sort of cushion for the splines that actually hold the shaft in place) that don't all seem to want to cooperate at the same time. I have not been able to find anything on the web on the proper procedure and there is nothing in the owners manual. Anybody who has BTDT can share the tricks to getting this done. Grass needs its first cut soon so I am running out of time to get this back together. Many thanks.

Yep BTDT. Trick is to put some grease on the inside of the couplers then put the plastic barrels in place. The grease will hold them. Do the end at the rear first and get the shaft in place. Then slide the engine back into the other end of the shaft. They can be a PITA. If you have any questions shoot me a PM with your phone # and I'll talk you through it.

:Welcome2:

Welcome to OCC! Good luck with your cub!

Grease Ok I figured it had to be something like that. I was actually thinking of using a rubber band but I will go with grease. When you say the coupling you mean on the shaft, right? Wasn't sure if it was easier to install them on the shaft and then insert it into the housing or install the cylinders into the housing and insert the shaft. Also, did you remove the floor pan to do the rear or were you able to access the diff without taking the floor off? Thanks for the help.

The best way to do it is to pull the fender pan and while it's off give it a good cleaning. You can remove the coupling it's only held on by four 1/4" bolts. Pic is what one end of it looks like together. The other pics is from the Cub parts sites

I did partially pull the fender pan...can't quite figure out how to get it around the pedals but that's no big deal. Your picture makes it look like the shaft and coupling are one piece, but maybe that is just how you install it. (If it was one piece then I guess the barrels would serve no purpose.) I was going to grease the shaft splines, stick the barrels on and then insert it into installed coupling and hope that all eight barrels stay in place while it is inserted. But based on your reply and your picture, it probably would be easier to remove the coupling and then insert the barrels in the combined shaft and coupling and then bolt the whole assembly back on. I will give that a shot. The other mistake I made was trying to get this back in place without removing the PTO belt which is tilting the engine on me and making it impossible to get the right angle. I will get this back together, I just like to learn things the hard way I guess. Thanks again for helping the CC rookie.

You can un-bolt the pedals for under the pan.