Model 125 loose front starter pulley / PTO clutch issue???

[mrjeep81]

I haven't seen any one mention my favorite method yet. We use it all the time in my trade at work, HEAT. And I use it successfully on my tear downs and repairs here at home as well. Once the clutch is removed, some heat from a propane torch aimed right at the collar usually causes it to grow enough to break the grip the rust has on the set screw.

[capt jim]

Today was a celebration day....I have finally removed one of two set screws in the pulley....and two out of three set screws in the clutch. That leaves one more to go in the pulley....and one more to go in the clutch.
Note that there are not two set screws in each hole as was expected......
I guess someone has been in here before....LOL.
Over a couple of days, I used many applications of PB Blaster, along with some hammering on a nicely lathe turned steel rod fitting into the hex head set screws to set up some heavy vibrations, and it has achieved some success.
I will let the Blaster work overnight again on the remaining two set screws, and have a go at them in the morning with the allen key in the socket wrench. Next will be to try the impact driver, and if that fails I may just have to resort to drilling.
I am not worried about drilling out the existing threads. Once the clutch and pulley is out, I can set it up in the drill press, or in the mill, and bore the hole oversize and tap it for new, larger, set screws.
After I get the final set screw out, my next question is....can I use a puller on the clutch? Will the center button on the clutch handle that kind of stress?
more to follow on this exciting adventure...
Jim

[Matt G.]

You'll probably have a hard time getting a 2 or 3-jaw puller on there. This is what I used with a slide hammer...works great!

[_DX3_]

One of our members here made this video on PTO removal. It will work with the motor in the tractor too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O4FE1tE_AM

[capt jim]

It took a lot of blaster, and a lot of waiting time, and a lot of hammering, but I won out in the end.
When nice hardened hex keys stripped out, I went to a Torx bit..and hammered it in tight....that worked on one of 'em....but on the final screw I had to go to a square bit, and I hammered it in quite heavily. I have to confess that after all this nasty work and torturous frustration, I took some warped satisfaction out of bashing the offending screw with a heavy hammer.
Now, I can see whats behind all this, and I expect that replacement parts will be on order very soon. Some of the parts that were in there looked terrible....as though they had been abused in the past.
I can understand that after what I just went through.

[_DX3_]

Glad to see you got the PTO off. I am curious to see how hard the pulley will be. I ended up having to drill two 3/8" holes, one on each side of the center shaft, so I could use a harmonic balancer remover to get the pulley off of the crank shaft.

[Matt G.]

That bearing needs replacing, too...I wonder what happened to the seal?

[capt jim]

After removing the PTO clutch, which took a puller to get it off, I could see that some damage had occurred in this front area sometime in this machines earlier life.
In frustration and disgust, I next applied the puller jaws right on the bearing....knowing that it was shot and needed to be replaced. I didn't care if the bearing got ripped apart...it was going to be replaced anyway. Interestingly, the bearing came off the shaft and was no worse for wear than before I opted to destroy it.
Then the retainer came out, in two pieces, using the same puller again.
Then the pulley was relatively easy...flopping around as it was. It just slid off the motor shaft quite easily by hand.
This was a moment for celebration. The old stuff was now finally and at long last, off the machine.
Since I have a rear weight box, and no intention of using a rear PTO, I will most likely not reinstall the clutch. This Cub will be used just for the Danco loader, and eliminating the clutch will make my job easier to complete.
The clutch will sit in a zip lock bag for the next owner...if he wants to mess with it.
Now all I had to do was take the pulley into my shop and wrestle that last set screw out. Yeah, right!!!!
The screw was shot beyond use. I mounted the pulley in a huge vise, and began to work again on removing the final set screw. I applied a torch, got it smoking hot, but the screw would not budge...not at all, and I tried every bit I had on hand, Torx, square, etc, to try to get a purchase on it. Finally, I decided to just drill it out. That was a chore because the screw is recessed so far back inside that cup on the pulley that standard jobber bits couldn't rearch it. More frustration. With the drill bits just barely into the drill chuck, I could just barely get in far enough to drill out the screw....it was a nasty job, but with lots of patience, I finally drilled it out for a 1/4-20 tap.
Now the fun really begins. Taps are shorter than the drill bits, so I had to turn the tap inside the "cup" using a very tiny open end wrench....ignition wrench style.
This job was really wearing on me. I oiled, and tapped, and just about wore out my hands on that tiny wench and miraculously I finally saw the tap coming through the hole. Voilla...I was almost finished......then the wrench snapped. I was so close to completion, I continued on using a crescent wrench on the tap....then the tap snapped. So, now I am recovering with a frosty beer, and I am about to look up the cost of a new pulley. After all I have been through with this seemingly small issue, I am unable to approach trying to remove the broken tap.....primarily because the hole with the broken tap in it is so difficult to reach.
A new pulley may cost a bunch...but it may also help calm my frayed nerves.
Note in the pics, the bearing seal is lying loose with the retainer etc...just as it came out of the machine. See the tap tip emerging inside the pulley hub.
I hope that my efforts will serve to assist others who face this task, and I wish them much more success than I have had with it.
Jim

[jbrewer]

Glad you got it off. PB really is good stuff, but it's not FAST good stuff all the time.

It's sometimes satisfying to finally wield the Big Hammer!

John

[CADplans]

If you are not going to use the clutch, why not put a taper lock cast iron pulley on instead??