Barrel Kit
 

I paid to have my engine pulled (3185 w/B&S vanguard) and the leaking seal for the drive shaft replaced.

I pick the tractor up start it up and there is a terrible sound and no hydro. I return to the shop and they find that the one of the barrel's disappeared. I looked at these on line and they look like little pieces of plastic.

What is the purpose of these barrels and how can a piece of plastic determine if the shaft engages the hydro or not.?

Shop fixed and is delivering my tractor so he tried to fix the issue, cant complain there.

Img of barrel kit?
http://www.partstree.com/parts/cub-c...arts/759-3764/

Image where it meets tranny?
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discuss.../cub-cadet-pto

Sean

I've never seen a 3185, but I looked at the links in your post. It appears to me to be a constant velocity (cv) joint. A type of coupling connecting the engine to the drive shaft. You can look it up on wiki if you want more technical info. They're common on front wheel drive cars. In this case the plastic barrels are being used in place of the steel spheres found in auto applications.
I'd think more than one barrel would have to be missing for the driveshaft not to turn the pump.
Just my opinion. Been wrong before.

I think I'd find another shop from now on.

About those barrels
 

I just ordered barrels for my 3185 - I foolishly drove it with the shaft making noise back to the shop. Stupid. It broke and damaged several other hard-to-find parts. It also lost a set of the barrels. They are not plastic, they are rubberoid things. There are eight of them nested inside the adapter - held on their outside. The shaft has a end that looks like a cog, but isn't. It fits in the middle of the barrels tightly and all the rotating force is carried through that joint... And the 3185 has the barrels at both ends of the drive shaft. I see it as a joint that allows some slight bending without a u-joint, and that probably absorbs some of the shock of sudden stops and starts. They apparently rarely give trouble, but are hard to access. I had to remove the engine and am awaiting several parts - and two barrel kits (cause I dropped one from the complete set and can't find it). Actually the job itself isn't all that difficult and, since I don't live anywhere near a Cub Cadet shop, it's a do-it-yourself job.

I had to replace the barrel thingys on my 2145 earlier this Summer. Should have replaced front and rear but I just replaced the stripped front set. Kinda tricky to assemble but once you have the shaft/barrels assembled it's a tight fit and won't fall apart.
Bad part is you have to pull the motor (at least on mine) to access the shaft.

Yes, the img is the barrel kit.

Talked to a tech, he told me the shaft design gives much less trouble than the current CC which is run by a belt.

Thanks for the info guys makes a lot more sense now.

I was pretty disappointed that I had to take it back to the shop but he did drop it off at my house for no charge and no charge for the new found barrel issue. I have to wonder if it was reassembled from the seal job correctly....

I ran it around tonight the engine ran well, hydro was strong....
BUT...

The PTO #$%#$%$#% kept dying. I'll start another thread on the PTO as not to pollute the Barrel kit topic.

I'd be calling them and telling them about this, didn't do it before did it?

The intermittent PTO was one of the things they were to fix. I am planning to call in am but not clear why they weren't seeing the issue.

The plastic barrels can be challenging to install but once in place they are pretty trouble free. The trick to getting them to stay in place as you slide the engine to the rear is to use grease to hold the barrels in place in the cup on the engine.

Great pics! Thanks. I dont know how one could fall out as they described....