Am I going to have to split my tractor to fix this?

KenB2920 · Aug 23, 2016

4570Man said:
Hose came off the fuel filter. This mower has always been feed ethanol free gas. The mower died and I got off to investigate. The muffler itself wasn't hot enough to ignite it. The gas was boiling off that. It must have gotten on the headers and it was hotter.

Craziness ...

4570Man · Aug 23, 2016

KenB2920 said:
Craziness ...

It gets even crazier. One of my buddies was giving me crap about it. Guess what happened to his mower the next week. It burned although not as bad as mine. He believes the fire started at the fuel pump, but it's really a mystery what happened.

KenB2920 · Aug 24, 2016

4570Man said:
It gets even crazier. One of my buddies was giving me crap about it. Guess what happened to his mower the next week. It burned although not as bad as mine. He believes the fire started at the fuel pump, but it's really a mystery what happened.

Wow, I bet not so funny to him now..... It will be funny again after time heals the wound.

Adiredneck · Aug 27, 2016

4570Man said:
I got the steering column off the tractor. Hopefully I'll get it split tomorrow, but more realistically it'll be Thursday.

View attachment 478530

I don't want to ruin your day, but I believe you will need to remove the wiring harness from the front of the tractor in order to get the two halves split. I had to do it on my project. You'll need to start on the fuel solenoid side first. It wraps around the front of the tractor and goes toward the back on the alternator side. It isn't too bad to do. The connectors are all different for the most part so you really can't plug them into the wrong spot.

I don't think there is enough slack in the harness in the middle for you to be able to work on it otherwise...

motownbrowne · Aug 27, 2016

4570Man said:
It gets even crazier. One of my buddies was giving me crap about it. Guess what happened to his mower the next week. It burned although not as bad as mine. He believes the fire started at the fuel pump, but it's really a mystery what happened.

My neighbor just started his on fire too. Actually a grass buildup over the muffler was the cause in his case, but the plastic hood was on fire and it's very close to the carb. Good reminder to clean and inspect those things and maybe mount a fire extinguisher.

4570Man · Sep 2, 2016

I got it split!

I also bought this.

Adiredneck · Sep 3, 2016

Awesome job! Remember, if you jack up the housing by the throw out bearing, you will lose very little fluid. On the lower seal, I ended up taking a couple of flat head screwdrivers, heating the tips up with a torch and bending the very tip over 90 degrees in order to get the old seal out. This is also when you want help to have someone keep constant pressure on the end of the driveshaft.

I was also able to pack a bunch of grease in the throw out bearing. Use plenty of grease on the shafts also. We had trouble getting the 4wd output shaft seal back in. We found a piece of plastic pipe that worked, but I would have preferred to have been prepared before. Get yourself something that will fit over the shaft and will allow you to tap the seal in evenly.

MHarryE · Sep 4, 2016

Now it's my bad luck. Mine started leaking today - when 3 of us standing by the tractor and one noticed the puddle of oil forming. The thing is the oil dripping, or rather pouring, was black like engine oil. Is the oil from the seal described in this thread black by the time it makes it out the seal and down the case or do I have something different? L5740 with 850 hours.

4570Man · Sep 4, 2016

Mine was leaking clear fluid that was definitely hydraulic fluid. The oil remains clear until it hits the ground. Check your engine oil. It wouldn't take long to drastically lower the engine oil level. At the worst it was leaking in a stream, but usually just a heavy drip. Running on the road ( in 2WD ) is when it leaked the worst.

Adiredneck · Sep 4, 2016

MHarryE said:
Now it's my bad luck. Mine started leaking today - when 3 of us standing by the tractor and one noticed the puddle of oil forming. The thing is the oil dripping, or rather pouring, was black like engine oil. Is the oil from the seal described in this thread black by the time it makes it out the seal and down the case or do I have something different? L5740 with 850 hours.

If it is engine oil coming out of the clutch housing, then the rear main seal is bad.

MHarryE · Sep 4, 2016

Confirmed mine is transmission oil. Engine oil level is right where it has been since I last changed oil. Transmission oil level is low.

4570Man · Sep 4, 2016

The case where its leaking should be clean. If it indeed looks like diesel motor oil and is hydraulic oil you might have a problem.

MHarryE · Sep 25, 2016

Here is my L5740 after 2 weeks at the dealer. Leak resulted from seal failure on the front wheel drive output (lower shaft in the detail pic). Not that difficult to replace one getting to this point but a lot of man hours getting to this point.

How quickly mine failed - never an oil spot on the machine shed floor until week of failure. Checked oil level at last fuel fill and was at the full mark. When leak discovered it took a 2.5 gallon jug to get it between full and low for loading.

4570Man · Sep 25, 2016

How do you get the drive shaft out of the machine?

MHarryE · Sep 26, 2016

4570Man said:
How do you get the drive shaft out of the machine?

View attachment 482625

Once down to this point the front drive shaft sequence is external snap ring, oil seal, collar, then bearing. The WSM says the drive shaft needs to be removed from the rear side. In my case, only the seal needs replacement so its remove the snap ring and seal. Dealer mechanic had it to this point and was waiting on the new seal.

4570Man · Sep 26, 2016

I got the seal changed without removing the shaft. I was unable to get the halfs back together because I couldn't get the splined shafts to line up. Any tips in accomplishing that?

KenB2920 · Sep 27, 2016

4570Man said:
I got the seal changed without removing the shaft. I was unable to get the halfs back together because I couldn't get the splined shafts to line up. Any tips in accomplishing that?

I really have no idea but can you turn the shaft my hand

4570Man · Sep 27, 2016

I spent over an hour trying to get it together. I backed at apart, turned the shaft, and pushed it back together. After an hour I gave up.

Adiredneck · Sep 27, 2016

4570Man said:
I got the seal changed without removing the shaft. I was unable to get the halfs back together because I couldn't get the splined shafts to line up. Any tips in accomplishing that?

Get some help. Put a man with a breaker bar and socket on the bolt in front of the fan pulley and turn while someone else is guiding the two halves back together. You only need to work it back & forth a little bit and they will come together.

MHarryE · Sep 27, 2016

The WSM doesn't give any hint of how to line up the splines. It only states things like, "When reassembling coat the halves with sealant xxx and torque bolts to guy. However you should only need to line the clutch and engine output splines as you put it in place as you should have the front drive shaft removed. That does mean need to rotate the engine a bit as you slide it together. I got a call today my tractor is ready for pickup tomorrow so I will ask the mechanic who did mine. That is his second seal replacement in 2 weeks as I had to wait until he finished a similar, but lower horsepower model, before he could do mine. Dealer service manager said he wouldn't lie to me - replacing that seal is not unusual so the mechanic they have working on them gets a lot of practice.