Hey guys I'm changing the drive belt on a Cub Cadet LT1050 and the drive pulley is welded on. I've already bent it slightly trying to pull it off. I know a puller isn't the correct way but I'm running out of options. If anyone is familiar with taryl fixes all on youtube, he uses an airhammer on the pto bolt and has someone else pry down on it and it vibrates right off. Would that not vibrate the rod bolts loose inside? Other option is lightly heat pulley outer rim with heat? I'm worried I'll mess up the oil seal if I do that though. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
I use the air hammer technique and have been doing it for decades.
And no the hammer will not undo the con rod bolts.
To work you must have a pry bar behind it pushing it off while you hit the crank with the hammer
As for heat, yes it can destroy the oil seal if you flail the torch flame carelessly.
But you heat the boss, not rim.
Some can be really difficult to get off, every now & then one will take a full day to get off
Ok I wasn't sure if the vibration could cause them to come loose or not. I've got it set pretty low so maybe I should turn the adjustment knob up some. As for heating the pulley, I thought maybe heating the outside of it would cause only the pulley to get hot first and not so much the crankshaft so it might pop off. So I need to be heating the inner part of the pulley? I'm just going around it a few times. I dont wanna mess up that seal. I'll keep trying on the air hammer.
The important bit is applying a force behind the pulley while the air hammer is doing it's job.
I use some ball joint splitters or bearing pullers to load up the pulley
Ok. I tried the air hammer with no luck but that's just with me using one hand on pry bar which probably isn't enough. I thought about drilling 3 holes in center all the way through and putting bolts with nuts on the end and trying to pull it off that way.
Doing it that way you really need 2 people.
One to put a lot of force on the pry bar. two bars are better .
and the other to push down really hard on the air hammer
A bearing puller works really well
On of those split ones with 2 pieces that go behind the pulley and clamp together.
Then in place of the side bolts that go up to the cross bar you put normal bolts through both sides so they push against the mower .
Thus it becomes a pusher rather than a puller.
If they end up pushing on the crank case slip something under them to spread the load or they will punch a hole through the sump , learned that the expensive way.
Do them up tight till it looks like the whole shooting match is going to break then lit the crankshaft with the air hammer.
I put a socket headed allen bolt into the crank to protect the end & the thread.
Also the hole for the allen key stops the end of the air hammer point bouncing off .
And you really do have to lay into it. as soon as you see the slightest movement tighten up the push bolts
The crank has a very small amount of end float so the pushing device pulls the crank to its limit downwards and the air hammer then pushed the crank to its limit upwards.
So the amount of total movement of the pulley is only a few thou which is why you have to keep the pressure up on the pulley.
I'm about positive I know what you're talking about but can you send a link? I think advance auto has one and I dont have many places locally I can get tools like that but the one they have says it only opens 15/16". Cant remember what crank diameter is. What I saw is to silver pieces that bolt together and have a hole on each side, then there is a fork looking piece etc.
When working in confined space I use Allan bolts so the heads do not get in the way on the clamp plates.
Then some more Allan bolts through the holes where the puller would normally bolt into
The cheap Chinese ones use cast plates , not forged ones like the quality item does so you can strip the threads out if you put too much tension on them.
The forged ones also do not deform on the tapered separating plates as they are tightened together.
