Dearborn/Danuser 22-11 drive shaft

[dbsoundman]

Hi all, I just picked up a Dearborn 22-11 post hole digger with a nice 12” auger bit, but the previous owner said the drive shaft was too long for his 8N tractor. I took a look at it today and noticed the shaft is a fixed length, not the compressible shaft I thought typically came with these things.

I can find replacement shafts no problem, but I’m not sure if they will mate up with the gearbox. I see a U joint at the gearbox held on by a castle nut, and the replacement shafts I’m finding look like they’re supposed to slip over the fitting on the gearbox and attach with a shear pin. Do I need a special driveshaft or will a new one fit? Bear in mind I’ve had all of 10 minutes to look at this thing so far.

 

[Jim.ME]

It is stuck and/or rusted. It supposed to slide, see the grease fitting in the side of the outer tube in your second picture? There is a solid square that slides inside that outer tube on the tractor end, your strap is on it in the second picture.

 

[dbsoundman]

It is stuck and/or rusted. It supposed to slide, see the grease fitting in the side of the outer tube in your second picture? There is a solid square that slides inside that outer tube on the tractor end, your strap is on it in the second picture.

Brilliant! Good spot. In that case, if the shaft is too long, I can just cut it down with a hacksaw as I’ve read on other pages, right?

 

[Jim.ME]

Brilliant! Good spot. In that case, if the shaft is too long, I can just cut it down with a hacksaw as I’ve read on other pages, right?

Those can be cut however it will need to be looked at careful as the tube square stops just behind the grease fitting, see the weld? The shaft is just round tube from there to the digger end. Sometimes the tube end has to be cut from the square socket end and the be shortened then rewelded. The internal square shaft of the other end can be cut as needed. Get it hooked up and check it out, it may be fine.

 

[dbsoundman]

Those can be cut however it will need to be looked at careful as the tube square stops just behind the grease fitting, see the weld? The shaft is just round tube from there to the digger end. Sometimes the tube end has to be cut from the square socket end and the be shortened then rewelded. The internal square shaft of the other end can be cut as needed. Get it hooked up and check it out, it may be fine.

You’re saying I might have to cut them apart and reweld if the required cut would make the extending portion too short?

 

[Greg NE]

You’re saying I might have to cut them apart and reweld if the required cut would make the extending portion too short?

You need to get it loosened up so it can slide again. The shaft needs to be able change lengths as the digger goes up and down. If it is the original shaft it should work on your tractor just fine. I have the same digger and one of my 8N's has the newer pto shaft in it and I need to use an adapter to drop it back down to 1 1/8" for the digger and it just barely still works as it almost bottoms out the shaft but is ok.

 

[Jim.ME]

You’re saying I might have to cut them apart and reweld if the required cut would make the extending portion too short?

Only if cutting it would make the outer portion with the internal square too short. And cutting would only happen after you get it free and moving easily. Then mount it on your tractor and try it to see if it needs to be cut. You may be worrying how to cut it for no reason.

 

[Ultradog MN]

Hi all, I just picked up a Dearborn 22-11 post hole digger with a nice 12” auger bit, but the previous owner said the drive shaft was too long for his 8N tractor. I took a look at it today and noticed the shaft is a fixed length, not the compressible shaft I thought typically came with these things.

I can find replacement shafts no problem, but I’m not sure if they will mate up with the gearbox. I see a U joint at the gearbox held on by a castle nut, and the replacement shafts I’m finding look like they’re supposed to slip over the fitting on the gearbox and attach with a shear pin. Do I need a special driveshaft or will a new one fit? Bear in mind I’ve had all of 10 minutes to look at this thing so far.

Perhaps he had an over running clutch on his N which makes the drive shaft too long.
You don't need to use an ORC with a post hole drill.

 

[dbsoundman]

Thanks everyone. I took a closer look at the digger and the manual today and I think it should work. I’m guessing the previous owner didn’t know the arms are supposed to telescope, as it is now they’re stuck all the way in so with it that way the driveshaft would likely be too long.

Now I just get to figure out how to free it all up. I treated all the telescoping points with some penetrating oil and ATF today, when I get back to it I’ll have to find a way to affix the whole unit to something stationary so I can pull/yank on the shafts to try to break them free. Unless someone else has a better idea, I’m all ears!

 

[Mad Farmer]

Could try heating the round outer shaft with a torch.

 

[dbsoundman]

Resurrecting my old post here...

Finally got back around to this auger. Got the extension arms freed up pretty easily by chaining the auger to a barn post and chaining the end of the arm to the tractor. The tube was full of old grease, dirt, water, and rust, so it was just stuck with gunk. With some fresh grease the arms slide in and out nicely.

However... today I found out what the previous owner was actually talking about. Someone shortened the telescoping arms! If I connect the arms to the underside of the axle (shown in the picture with a random pin in place just to hold it there), it's well short of the 3 point arms. I'm thinking someone converted this to use with a lift all system or something like that. You can see the weld between the end of the arm and the end of the "top fin" in the second picture.

So...what should I do? Keep the auger bit and get rid of the rest, and try to find an affordable mechanism? I found an old post from 2000 where someone from Danuser replied with a conversion kit to make this old unit work with the more modern "gooseneck" arm holding the gearbox, but I'm pretty sure that part doesn't exist anymore.

 

[Ultradog MN]

I don't know what your welding and fabricating skills are but the way the Dearborn version of that PHD hooked up to your tractor was rather doohicky and overcomplicated.
If it is going to be much work to replace any of the original parts I would dispense with all that and build a complete new lift for it.
Look at another brand of phd and basically copy that.
I had one of those and did not enjoy mounting it. That was 15+ Years ago.
At the time Danuser still sold a kit to upgrade the lift but I found a Ford phd and sold the Dearborn.

 

[dbsoundman]

I was browsing today and stumbled across this conversion, I think this is the route I’ll go.

 

[Ultradog MN]

I was browsing today and stumbled across this conversion, I think this is the route I’ll go.

I watched about half of the video.
Dunno why people on youtube need to be so darned loquacious...
If you watched it and have figured out how to make yours work that's what matters.

 

[dbsoundman]

I watched about half of the video.
Dunno why people on youtube need to be so darned loquacious...
If you watched it and have figured out how to make yours work that's what matters.

The important part is around the 3 minute mark. Basically the telescoping arms were cut off just after the link that connects each arm to the lift arms. They also reversed the arms and welded the telescoping part to the fixed part. They then put category I pins in the lift arm links so you can just attach it to the lift arms like any other implement. I’ll have to play with it and see what all I have to do but at least they proved that you can set this thing up without the arms going underneath the axle and it works fine. They used normal stabilizer arms between the 3 point lift arms and the axle.