B7800 clutch seal leak

[jrobb1981]

I recently discovered a hydraulic oil leak on my B7800 around The drive shaft coming out of the clutch. After researching, it appears the seal is damaged. Damaged was caused by brush hogging tall grass which got wrapped around shaft and then damaged oil seal. Its a design flaw, from what the mechanics told me, they have seen this quite often. I talked to the service dept. at my dealer and found the seal costs $9.00, need to split the tractor to fix, and labor would be $2200. Going to fix it myself this weekend. I found where a guy cut the drive shaft and replaced the oil seal, then had a shaft machined that he could easily remove to replace the seal, saved a lot of time and pain. Thinking of going this route in case I have to replace again in the future. Also going to install a shield to prevent problem from happening again. Anyone have experience with replacing with replacing this seal either splitting the tractor or removing and modifying the drive shaft. Any input would be appreciated.