John Deere M-1948

[george baker]

Getting close to repair time on my 48 JD. I think I have a broken pinion shaft. I am not sure if there is a way to check this out before I take it apart. I was pulling a light load in the woods and it just stopped,although the engine kept running I got nothing to the drive wheels. When jacked up the left wheel turns free, the right has more resistance. Although i grew up around mechanical equipment, i really dont know if there is an obvious test i should run before I assume it is the pinion shaft. I am thinking of removing the final drive assembly and see what i find.
thanks for your thoughts.

 

[JD Seller]

You do have drive line problems thats is for sure. Drain the transmission oil and remove the rear cover on the transmission housing. You can look in and see if any of the transmission is turning. "M's" have a shaft that goes from the clutch to the input shaft on the transmission. These shafts are splined onto the input shaft. Is is common for them to strip the splines. You might be lucky and have a clutch plate shear its hub but I would bet the splines. If this has happened you will need to do a clutch and transmission split to fix both problems. As for one tire dragging more than the other. That is more than likely just the difference in the brake drag from one side to the other.

 

[Mike M]

Are your cast hubs tight on the stub axles ? Some of these commonly have worn out splines in the hub. Might be as simple as this ?

 

[george baker]

Thanks for the thoughts. Will give it a go.

Thanks