John Deere Auger

[Johndeere3720]

Jacob, when you have the auger on your tractor, does the auger bit hang vertical when you look at it from the rear? From your picture it appears that the 'A' frame that attaches the boom to the lower 3pt arms may be a little tweaked. If it is, the auger would try to go into the ground at an angle with the shaking getting worse as the upper flutes on the auger bounce off the side of the hole. To fix this, just crank up or down one side of your 3pt until it looks verticle from the back. Could be the driveline is bent. It looks as though it's had a few bangs in its lifetime. Make sure the u-joints and slip shaft are tight and lubed. And please, don't run it without the shaft shield in place. I could tell a story about that.:ashamed: Others weren't that lucky....Dan.

I dont think it is the A frame but the steel fram,ing that supports the gearbox. I think my neighbor hit something with it and bent it a bit but left it be. I've only hooked it to my tractor once and when I did, I noticed that yes, it is drilling at an angle as the hole is way off from where it should be. I am thinking that where the PTO shaft connects to the Gear box may be bent since the entire PTO shaft is strait. With the shield, my neighbor owns a steel fabrication shop and could easily patch the hole up for me. I will also have him heat up the steel frame and bend it back to get it strait.

 

[beenthere]

And it may be that the PTO shaft knuckles on each end don't match up, allowing some shake. Is it possible the telescoping PTO shaft can be re-assembled more than one way?

 

[Johndeere3720]

And it may be that the PTO shaft knuckles on each end don't match up, allowing some shake. Is it possible the telescoping PTO shaft can be re-assembled more than one way?

Im not sure. Tomarrow I plan to start taking it apart so I may know better then. Last night, I got some pictures of the hole in the PTO sheild. The second picture is of the PTO shaft where it hit the sheild. There are a few dings in it but it seems to be fine. The third picture is of the two pieces of steel that i am not sure about what purpose they serve. Any ideas? The 4th picture is the mount for the handel to control the level of the Auger. The 5th picture is of one of the 3 point pins that attach to the tractor. It is clearly bent as the camera was level in the picture. I will have to bend it back. My next pictures show just how big the hole is in the PTO sheild. I definatly want to patch the hole. Again, any questions or comments are welcome.
Jake

 

[beenthere]

While working on it, you might try removing the auger, and running it free. This may give you an indication where the wobble/vibration is coming from.

 

[tree farmer]

After spending some time looking at your pictures, I'm ready conclude that at some time one of the lower pins came off the hitch arms while the auger was running. Probably due to a lynch pin falling out. That would cause the whole assembly to fall sideways and down bending the frame and causing the u-joint to catch and mangle the shield. I suppose it could even twist the main boom. I have lots of round rocks and roots at my place that will kill the engine on my 27 horse tractor without snapping the shear bolt when drilling post holes. The shear bolts snap like glass when drilling with my 40 horse, but not without a violent shake and shudder. Nice thing about augers is they aren't very high tech, so a hot torch and a big hammer or press can fix a lot of ills. By the way, the pto shield I mentioned in another post is the round plastic tube that fits over the pto shaft from the tractor stub shaft to the implement gearbox. The one that spins with the shaft, but stops if it catches on your clothing or you. I had a jacket hanging on the back of the tractor seat while mowing a few years ago, heard a horrible noise and nearly was jerked off the seat backwards in front of my old brush hog. Jacket sleeve wound up on the pto shaft and tore the whole back rest off the tractor seat. Motto: If any safety guard is missing or damaged, repair or replace it before using that equipment again. Don't wanna "rain on your parade", but your family and friends probably want you around a bit longer.:thumbsup:...Dan.

 

[mjncad]

The third picture is of the two pieces of steel that i am not sure about what purpose they serve. Any ideas? Jake

They look like something a previous owner added to route hydraulic lines, or who knows what with.

 

[Johndeere3720]

Well, today i started restoring my auger. Started by taking off the auger bit and gearbox. We brought the gearbox and frame down to my grandpa's shop where we could start working on it. First, we cut the auger bracket off and cut out the bent area and made it level again. Then welded it back on. Now the auger bit will drill strait up and down and not crooked. Next, we commensed on taking the pto shaft off of the gear box. Well, we broke the bolt, so had to bore it out. Even with a lot of hammering it wouldntr come out. So we took the u joint off the pto and used the hydaulic press to seperate the PTO shaft from the gear box and the PTO sheild. Once I got the PTO off, I put the u joint back together. Next, i worked on patching the hole in the PTO sheild. In the end, it looked great! After a bunch of inspecting, i also noticed that the holes that connect the gearbox to the main frame were all bored out. Since the gearbox is cast iron, I cant weld on it so I was kinda stuck there. Then I grinded all the rust and old paint off the auger and primed and painted it. The thing looks brand new and i've only got $20 in it.

 

[beenthere]

Looking great!
Don't sweat the oversized holes you mentioned. They may have come that way, and no reason for them being a tight fit. This way, they won't rust together any time soon.
Did you check the shafts into and out of the gear box for true?

 

[Johndeere3720]

Yeah, my PTO shat was bent a little too so I took the sledge hammer and straitened er' out. Goin to JohnDeere today to see if I can get some new decals. Also gonna assemble the auger today. Caint wait to try it out!

 

[beenthere]

JD
I meant the shaft stubs coming out of the gear box...not the long PTO connecting shaft.