PTO pulley removal advice

[winkangrin]

Hi guys and gals. So, Ive been wrenching on a ‘57 that came to the the ‘orphanage’ and had suffered a good deal of neglect and abuse at it’s former home. Amazingly, the old girl ran pretty well and was enjoying getting some use again, primarily as a backup mower while I had a flail on my 59 since it came with a mower deck, but then it started having issues with keeping running. Replaced the points, the condenser, then pulled the hood off and once I saw the advanced decay of all of the wiring, I bought a new harness, regulator, generator, replaced the ignition with Pertronix, replaced the gauges, plugs and wires. Still want to Time it, then hopefully its going to be back to work. But...

I wanted to take the attached mower off, and in doing so, I noticed that the PTO pulley was mounted backwards. I’ve never seen anything like this...the Splined center was bolted to the pulley as normal, but the two bolts were now backwards and there was no way to get a wrench on them. I was finally able to get the pulley separated from the insert, but now I’m left with the insert itself stuck to the PTO shaft.

I cant find any bolt or screw that is holding this onto the tractor. Ive tried heating it, soaking it in penetrating oil, heating even more, and actually broke my light duty puller trying to get this thing off. It wont budge. I just bought a five ton Gearwrench puller, I’m going to try it tomorrow, But first I’d like to ask: am I missing something here?

Any advice would be appreciated.

[Don McCombs]

Can you post a photo of the pulley hub?

[winkangrin]

This is not the actual stuck hub, built appears identical. I’ll get the actual stuck ones photo tomorrow. Thank you for your help.

[Glen]

Hi,
If the hub is stuck backwards on the PTO shaft, I would try using a slim chisel that will go into the 2 slots some, and hammering it in to open the slots some. It may loosen it some on the shaft.
Engage the PTO with the engine off, it will keep the shaft from turning while hammering on the chisel.

Clean the shaft splines if any of the shaft is sticking out to the rear of the hub.
Use penetrating oil on the splines.

If you heated the PTO shaft lots, it may need a new PTO seal.

[winkangrin]

I tried opening up splines with a pretty stout hand held pry bar, didn’t budge. The shaft does extend through the hub, but looks exceptionally good. Im on my second can of Blaster. I wonder how and why they put it on this way to begin with. I think my tactic may be to douse it again by with Blaster and crank it down and just let it sit there see if that makes a difference

[Glen]

Hi,
You could try hammering in 2 chisels, and leave them in it, then try pulling the hub off.
Be sure they aren't touching the PTO shaft.

You might need to buy 2 small chisels that fit it.

[winkangrin]

Thanks, that’s good advice. I’m hoping with the splines spread a little, and the constant force of the puller tugging on it for a few hours and the application of more penetrating oil that I will only need to apply minimum of heat And it will move.

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

If you are using a 2 jaw puller, make sure the jaws are in line with the notches, otherwise it will be trying to clamp the hub tighter. While the puller is tight, use a small hammer to tap on the hub. Be careful not to make any scars on it. You did not say what kind of mower was on the tractor, but turning that pulley and hub backwards would help line the belt up with the idler pulleys on a Mott flail mower. Their original pulley had an extended hub that placed the pulley just past the end of a pto shaft

[Dusty B]

Heat the pulley-apply freeze off generously to the PTO shaft, give it a minute to work!! This has worked for me when nothing else would loosen things up!!

[winkangrin]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I sprayed it with another good dose of blaster, affixed my new puller to it, and backed it off with a 1/2 drive 24” Matco ratchet.

If you ever need a really decent puller, I strongly recommend Gearwrench’s 5 ton ratcheting puller. It’s a beast, the legs index and stay where you put them and there’s no bolts to loosen up and fall apart. And, you can quickly, I mean in like ten seconds , convert it from a three leg to a two leg puller without any tools. They run around 70-80 bucks, but I got this for $36 at Sears. It’s Craftsman brand, but exactly the same as Gearwrench. An excellent tool.