Bent Driveshaft on Bushhog ZT25...Suggestions Please

[mechanic mark]

Safety first, wear safety glasses & gloves, if u-joints have grease fittings remove fittings first to prevent breaking them off. Remove clips or snap rings from yokes 1 & 2, with large ball peen hammer or similar strike with force yokes 1 & 2, one at a time, driving u-joint through one end of yoke, you should now be able to remove bearing caps by pulling them off carefully, needle bearings are inside, rotate u-joint & remove assembly. Let us know how it goes, thanks. Try looking up driveline repair shop in your town.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Well, they are actually a tractor dealer & service shop...and they are also a Bush Hog dealer.
Here is their site: Sievers Equipment Co.

I might call a couple more places in town before they are scheduled to come get it...to see if anyone else would take it on. A nice plus is the dealer I called will pick it up and deliver it...that is a must as I do not have a trailer. Some other shops do that too, I know.

Well I would be wondering what type of shop it is & what skills the mechanics have.
Most tractor shops buy the tailshaft tubing in 30 foot lengths and weld the end caps on because otherwise that would have to keep well over 1000 different lengths .
Just about every impliment uses a different size shaft and that will change again with almost every different tractor then there different bolt spacing & size.

 

[reynoldston]

Well I would be wondering what type of shop it is & what skills the mechanics have.
Most tractor shops buy the tailshaft tubing in 30 foot lengths and weld the end caps on because otherwise that would have to keep well over 1000 different lengths .
Just about every impliment uses a different size shaft and that will change again with almost every different tractor then there different bolt spacing & size.

Here in my neighborhood we have a couple of shop that specialize in drive line work. Its mainly a bigger thing with over the road trucks. It gets down to a science with angles and balance for over the road high speed. I can remember working on trucks that they extended the frames on. It just seem it wouldn't be as touchy with a lower speed brush hog..

 

[cprice12]

Had a shop come by and pick it up and look at it a few weeks ago.
This is them: Horton's Auto and Outdoors

I had contacted a dealer, but I feared their prices were going to be through the roof...like some of you said. They wanted $75 just to pick it up. The place I went with only charged $5. (weird price...I know) But right off the bat I am saving $70.

But this place said the driveshaft wasn't bent (just dented), but the U-Joints and bearings were bad/loose...and that is what was causing the vibrations.
So they ordered those parts and I'll hopefully get it back today and hopefully that was actually the issue. They've had it for a few weeks now...granted, most of that time was spent waiting on the parts to come in.
Parts/labor/deliver & pickup total is about $440. That might be high...but at this point, I don't care...I just want it fixed and returned so I can resume cutting with it.
They said an entire brand new drive shaft would have been over twice that because they parts are so expensive...but that is with ordering new parts.

Anyway...we'll see how it is when I get it back.
I'll post pics and updates when I get it back.

Wish me luck.

In the mean time, I've been cutting my 5 acres with my backup mower, a Craftsman garden tractor that has a very weak reverse gear for some reason (it's been very reliable, just had the reverse weaken last year...and when I mean weak, I mean weak...it has very little reverse power. Flat concrete ground is ok, it will move slowly...but in the grass with a slight uphill grade is a different story). So it's been a bit of a slow and painful first few mows to start the season...but I'm glad I held on to it when I got the zero turn...at least I can get the grass cut...kind of.

 

[cprice12]

Got the mower back...new U-Joints and bearings.
Cut 5 acres over the past two days, and the vibrations are down dramatically. Much, much better.
It still seems to vibrate a little more than it should though at full throttle...so I dropped the throttle to about 85-90% and that was perfect. It seemed to be running the best at slightly less than full throttle.
I know it is recommended to cut at full throttle, but 85-90% is hopefully good enough, because it seems to run about perfect at that level...or about as perfect as a 15 year old mower can run I guess. :smile:

Overall, I am pretty happy. We'll see how it holds up over the summer.

Here are the pics...not that they LOOK any different than the ones that were replaced, but here they are anyway...