Need help re-installing Control Lever Assembly

[finishsuper]

I think I did a "no no", and now I'm stuck......

Last winter, my control lever was frozen in place. Rather than wait for it to warm up, or thaw it with a torch, I chose to put brute force to it, and promptly snapped it off, just below where the handle mounts on the housing. I purchased a new housing piece, and only today got around to switching it out (been using the vice grips clamped onto the housing, and it was getting to be a real pain........)

Removed the cotter pin from the bolt, then removed the nut. I began tapping a screwdriver in behind the housing to try to work it off the bolt, but wasn't having much luck. Deciding that there wasn't enough room to work on it there, I saw the 4 bolts holding the entire thing to the tractor, promptly removed them and took the whole apparatus into the shop.

After a few taps and some prying, the old part was off, the new part was on, the handle bolted back on, and I was heading back to the tractor to reinstall.

The end of the assembly has a bent rod, that must fit into something inside. I remembered the orientation it had come out with, and tried to slide it back into position. However, there is nothing there for it to slide into. I tried other positions, tried rotating it...... nothing.

Finally, I got out a flashlight, wedged my head down to peek inside and I looked, but I saw nothing. Can't find any drawings in the manual.

Did the mating part fall out of the way? If so, how do I get to it? Do I have to remove the plate off the top of the tractor (a dozen or more bolts?)

Yikes...... I think my 5 minute job just became an entire day's job....... Any help? Thanks in advance.

 

[Jason S.]

The end of the control lever shaft doesn"t fit into anything. The
end of it touches the top of the control fork inside. When you
work the control lever back and forth it either pushes against
the control fork or let"s it come back which works the control
valve back and forth at the bottom of the pump. As long as
nothing got damaged inside when you brute forced it, just
reinstall the control lever assembly and then adjust the
quadrant and you should be ok.

 

[finishsuper]

Nothing got damaged. I've been running the tractor all spring, just using a vise grip instead of the handle.

When I put the assembly back in place (holding by hand) and move the lever up and down, there is 0 resistance- like absolutely nothing is moving inside or being moved.

When I looked inside, I didn't see anything that the end of the rod would be engaging....... forks or a hole to fit in..... nothing.

Easy enough to re-install, just the 4 bolts, but I thought I better double check before I have to pull it all apart again.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[Jason S.]

Did you put a new cork disc in the control lever assembly? A
lot of your resistance comes from the adjustment of the castle
nut on the end of the shaft. The more you tighten it the more it
squeezes the cork disc.

 

[Charles in Aus.]

The control fork spring may have been dislodged .
Pull the side cover and look carefully at the whole
assembly.

 

[finishsuper]

Tomorrow I'm going to re-assemble it. And, no, I did not put a cork friction disk in. Will have to do that tomorrow.

I don't have a diagram to show me what I'm supposed to be looking for if I pull the side cover or the top cover. I assumed that there was supposed to be something in there for the rod to fit into, but when I looked and saw nothing, I began searching the manual, with no luck.

Will put her back together tomorrow and see if she works when I start her up. No blood, no foul, right?

 

[Jason S.]

You should feel quite a difference with the disc in. It has to
have the disc in place or the lift would be unusable because
the control lever will not stay in place. The spring that was
mentioned goes from the control fork to the lift cylinder. You
can reach inside and feel the spring after you take the dipstick
cover off. Just don"t try it with the tractor running...or you can
use a mirror and look up in there and see it.

 

[finishsuper]

Well, that was easy......

I put a cork friction disk under the hub, and then reinstalled the entire apparatus back into the tractor (4 bolts). Started up the tractor, lifted the brush hog off the ground, put it back down, lifted it again..... No sweat. Guess I "over panicked", but thanks for the input and the help.

Now, back to trying to pull that cracked steering wheel off so I can install the new one I bought......... :evil:

 

[Jason S.]

Heat will be your friend on that project. While you have the
steering wheel off its a good time to check the upper steering
column bearing.

 

[finishsuper]

Will do. That is..... once I get the steering wheel off...... Looks like I need a puller. Does anyone know if NAPA or AutoZone loans them out?

 

[Jason S.]

I meant you would need heat to get the steering wheel off. I
take the acorn nut off and spray it down good with penetrating
oil and then start heating. Spray it some more and heat some
more. Then I find an old nut that is the same thread as the
acorn nut you removed and put it on the steering shaft. Have
someone pull up on the steering wheel as hard as they can
while you hit the nut on the steering shaft with a hammer. That
has always worked for me.

 

[Inno]

On my 35 I ended up cutting it off with a cutoff wheel in a 4.5" angle grinder......much less pounding and potential damage, especially since the old one is being replaced anyway.

 

[finishsuper]

(quoted from post at 05:39:26 06/11/13) I meant you would need heat to get the steering wheel off.

Fire........good. Sledgehammer + Fire......... better.

Sprayed it, heated it, beat on it, wouldn't budge. Heated some more, sprayed some more, more beating....

About to give up, but took my 8 lb sledge hammer and took an upward swing where one of the spokes meets the hub. Launched that sucker about 10 feet. :shock:

Anyway, got the new one on, and ready to go back to brush hogging later today. Thanks for all the help.