Manure Spreader beater spline fix procedure.

[Stepover]

Most manure spreader designs have a 90 degree gear box with a splined shaft that tightly engages internal splines in a plug (about a 3 shaft) that is welded inside the beater. One of the most frustrating repairs I have ever encountered is replacing the worn out spline drive assembly inside a manure spreader beater.

I have done it at least a half dozen times and all too often the beater gear box wobbles and flexes the side of the spreader resulting in premature wear of the splines. I finally figured out a workable procedure. First of all it is important to remember that the beater pipe has many paddle welds and it is neither round or straight. Centering the plug before welding almost guarantees gear box wobble.

The plug is generally 3-4 inches long. Drill and tap three 1/4 inch holes equal distance apart around the circumference of the beater pipe about an inch and a half from the end. In other words about half the length of the plug. Completely assemble the gear box, plug and beater in the spreader and tighten all the original bolts tight.

Rotating the beater will make the gear box wobble. Now install and adjust three 1/4 bolts in the tapped holes and you will soon see improvement. In a few minutes you will have all three bolts tight and the gear box will run perfect. There are generally two 1 holes in the beater pipe about an inch and a half from the end 180 degrees apart. They allow you to weld the beater to the plug.

Tack one of the holes to the plug very lightly. Rotate the beater and if there is any wobble adjust the bolts to correct the wobble. The tack may break so just reweld it when adjusted correctly. When the beater is rotating accurately lightly tack the hole on the other side. Alternate from hole to hole adding several more tacks while checking the wobble. Apply a half inch weld to one of them and then completely weld the second hole and then the first one.

The beater and gear box must be removed for the final weld around the end of the pipe and the plug. You will have a perfect running beater that will have at least double the life. It is interesting to note that the plug on the beater I finished today was tight to one side but the beater and gear box run perfect. Centering the plug would have been a disaster. I hope this helps someone with this expensive and generally frustrating repair.

 

[rrlund]

My New Idea has a 6 spline shaft coming out of the gear box, same as a 540 PTO shaft. Mine started slipping one time and stripped them out. I cleaned it all up and took it, along with a 540 yoke, to a machine shop. They turned the old center out the the beater, milled the yoke down to the exact size of the hole, put it in and welded it. Seems like they charged me $400 if memory serves me right.

 

[DeltaSteve]

If there is some flex at the joint,can you convert to a 'Lovejoy' type of coupler?

 

[Stepover]

Anything is possible. The parts for our old New Idea gearbox are no longer available. I spent 10 days machining new gear box covers so the old gear box would accept an available heavier shaft with different bearing and seals and a new output gear that meshed with the old input gear. Over $900 - it was a gamble but it works perfectly. This spreader is almost 45 years old and works very hard winter and summer on our dairy farm and is in much better shape than most 10 year old rust bucket H&S spreaders.

No amount of centering and welding before installing the beater in your spreader will keep the gear box from wobbling and wearing out the drive splines. If the beater was straight as an arrow you could do it but they are not straight. You might do it if you had a very heavy jig that somehow aligned the internal splines of the drive end with the shaft on the other end. The procedure I outlined is better since you can see how it works before welding.

Boring out the old spline and inserting a new spline like you did will work if the original spline was correctly installed.

 

[Stepover]

RRLund:
Good way to fix it! See my post above please.

 

[rrlund]

Ya, I read it. When it comes down to precision stuff like that, I know how I want things to turn out, but when I'm done, I don't get the results no matter what I do. The wife and I were just simply trying to take a link out of each side of the unloader apron on the mixer wagon the other day and it didn't take long for me to say that I know why Red Green resorts to a pick ax in a hurry. Any time I can find somebody who'll do a job like that beater for a mere $400, I'm all over it. LOL

 

[patmax55]

I have this problem now and your solution sounds great. Your post shows you have good instincts when it comes torepairs like this so I'm going to ask a favor: Can you describe your usual method of removing the old plug? I have my own ideas but I'll bet yours are better because you've done it before.