1450 vibrations again. Woops!
 

First of all I'm afraid I misled you folks and myself on the condition of my tractor:bash2: As the tractor was on the service stand under the hoist I decided I might as well figure the vibration thing out. I went to pull the engine and I found the first problem. Only 3 bolts were still in the motor mount holding the engine. Those 3 were tight though. Ok I get the engine out and There is basically nothing left of the ISO mounts. What I looked at before is beyond me because I thought they were in decent shape. The fiber coupling donuts looked good but when removed where anything but that. This is kind of hard to explain but the holes had migrated together without tearing the couplers. Don't ask me, I have no idea! So I purchased some heavy conveyor belting the same thickness and I'm going to make my own. I'm also going to double them up as the originals were really distorted when bolted together. I'll let you know how this turns out as I go along.

Glad to hear you are finding some problem areas. My couplers looked like that on one of mine when i first got it.

Yeah the originals were really poorly made. I had a 1450 that had the same problem. I intended on selling it so I did nothing about it. Of course I had no idea about the vibration issues at that time.

I'm not getting my hopes too high yet. The parts are suppose to be here toward the end of the week. Hopefully by the first of next week I'll know if I did any good or not.
Keeping my fingers crossed!

Shaky 1450
 

Just got through totally rebuilding my 1450. Replaced my ISO mounts with some solid mounts I bought off of Epay. Shook so bad that I could hardly hold onto the steering wheel. Pulled the engine out and put in the RUBBER (mind you, not eurathane) ISO mounts in again. Do not crank them down Jethro, as they need to be able to move around a little. Difference between night and day. Now then, I did put in new rag joints as mine were worn. Paid $12.50 a piece for them from the dealer. Take it from someone who has tried to make his own rag joints (they will NOT balance right). The good thing about the OEM joints is that they went right in (and balanced). Another thing to look at is the brass bearing in the engine coupling. When you put the driveline in that coupling, it must be TIGHT. If it slops around, it will eat up your rag joints. Take off the driveline inspection plate between the seat and steering wheel tower. Watch the driveline. At operating RPM you should not be able to see the driveline vibrate. Alright, maybe just a little bit----but that's all! After doing these things, let me know if the vibration is still there. Can't stress enough that you cannot torque down those ISO mounts------that motor has to be able to move!!!

Shaky 1450
 

Another thing I forgot to mention is, when putting your rag joints back in, do not over tighten them. A lot of people do. They have lock washers for a reason. If you over-tighten them, it distorts the joint. This will also lead to vibration. Good luck!!

Do not use lock washers; use self-locking nuts. If you use lock washers, you will overtighten the bolts because the flex disc will compress instead of the lock washer.

The thing I can't figure out is how these rubbers went from looking good to nothing left in such a short time. This tractor did set for a long time so maybe they were just rotten and after I started using it they fell apart. As far as the belted couplings go I can't help believe if they are laid out correctly and proper tools are used that they shouldn't work. Time will tell I guess. Thanks for the information about the bushing, I will check that out.