John Deere 40U - PTO Output Housing Seal?

[Glen D Anderson]

Good morning,

In the process of reinstalling the PTO output shaft assy. on our 40U...

I have questions about the seal used for the output housing to transmission case connection - Item # 5(M2348T) on the parts break down shown below.

After receiving the parts to rebuild the output shaft assy. & finding that M2348T was a cork seal I decided to go to the local bearing house to find an o-ring to fit this groove. Turns out that the cross section of a 236 o-ring is not quite large enough to provide enough protrusion to seal properly. A metric o-ring may work but is not a stocked item for this store.


So...back to the M2348T cork seal. Can anyone provide any info on how well these seal & any application specific installation instructions? Install with sealant? Soak in oil? etc.


TIA

 

[Mike M]

I would coat it good in silicone sealer. It will help it slide on and then seal it too.

 

[Glen D Anderson]

Thanks for the suggestion Mike.

This "seal" is so damn stiff / unpliable that I can't imagine being able to stretch it over the housing in order to get it into the groove without breaking it. LOL Once it's in the groove I could see some goop working to get it to seal.

I've got it soaking in some oil at the moment to see if that'll help it become more stretchy but I'm not overly confident...

(quoted from post at 11:33:14 12/08/21) I would coat it good in silicone sealer. It will help it slide on and then seal it too.

 

[Hotflashjr]

I did this rebuild two years ago on my 40U. I coated it in a light coat of gear oil and had no problems installing it that way. I
do not believe you could install it without some type of grease or oil on it because like you said it would bind or tear. Mine has
not leaked at all since it was installed.

 

[Glen D Anderson]

Thanks for the info.

Are you sure that the seal you used was the same one that is shown in my picture? The one I have seems to have no "give" at all...

It's been soaking in oil for almost 24hrs so I might give it another try this morning. Might even try putting it into some hot water. I guess it'll either work or I'll break it. LOL

(quoted from post at 13:43:42 12/08/21) I did this rebuild two years ago on my 40U. I coated it in a light coat of gear oil and had no problems installing it that way. I
do not believe you could install it without some type of grease or oil on it because like you said it would bind or tear. Mine has
not leaked at all since it was installed.

 

[Glen D Anderson]

Just a follow up to this thread.....

I was unsuccessful at installing the cork seal onto the PTO shaft housing. Despite having soaked it in oil for several days prior to installation I still managed to tear it.....par for the course. LOL

So, for those interested an MN7 40080 o-ring turns out to be a good fit for the existing groove and, perhaps, comes in cheaper than the OEM cork seal.