I hate it when that happens
 

I was out blowing snow with the QA42A for the first time today. I was almost done and all was going well when the auger stopped. Figured I broke the belt but when I looked down the drive shaft was spinning. Ended up either shearing the roll pin or it fell out of the small sprocket. Problem is , when that happens the shaft shifted out of the bearings and all the needles fell out. I am ordering some new bearings from Motion Industries on Monday. Are the needles not captured some how in the new bearings? Also , would it be better to substitute a bolt and lock nut in place of the roll pin on the small sprocket shaft? Hate to have another one fall out and lose the needles from new bearings. Or does the roll pin act as a shear pin? I probably did it my self by hitting the drift too fast. I was slipping on my stamped/sealed walkway and gave it a little rolling start, probably not a good idea. :bash2: Good thing I got the Ags on the 1200 and the plow as a back up.

One must always have a spare tractor and blade. Even better would be three tractors, two with blowers and one with a blade. One of the three should have a cab with heat and wiper blade. Even a radio would be a bonus.

Good luck with the fix. Wish I could offer some constructive help!

The needle bearings probably aren't caged. Don't use a bolt...if you do, it'll gall up the hole in the sprocket and shaft. Use a spirol pin. The old one was probably worn or cracked. It's not a shear pin, either. There are no shear pins anywhere in these. You can safety wire the new spirol pin to keep it from falling out.

How to you install the new bearings. They were hard to remove , took some pounding with a driver and hammer. The new race is so thin i would not want to beat on it. It also is just a press fit so it must be tight. I thought about putting the tensioner in the oven at 250 for 1/2 hr and the bearings in the freezer . Thats how we used to install cam bearings into the cam plate on TC 88 harley motors. The pot metal expanded in the oven and the bearings being ever so slightly smaller from the freezer , they would slip in fairly easily. I would be afraid to use a press for fear of distorting the race.:bigthink:

That sounds like a good plan to me. I've done that many times for other things.