less than 100 hours, broken pump coupling

[Oliver Wendell Douglas]

Front Pump Shaft Coupling Bolt Broke

I've got an L48 with less than 100 hours on it. A bolt broke in the coupler that attaches the drive shaft for the front pump to the motor's crank shaft. I stopped the motor immediately and removed the shaft and it looked straight. So I replaced the bolt and reinstalled the shaft. It runs and sounds good. However if a shine a flashlight on the shaft and look closely at it, it doesn't seem 100% true when rotating fast. Not so bad that you hear of feel anything, and not even noticible visually unless you shine a light on it and stare at it. Does yours run 100% true upon close inspection?

Part of the couplers are thin fiber disks. Are those intended to allow flex? I'm suprised a bolt broke rather than those disks

 

[Oliver Wendell Douglas]

Well, I pulled the shaft back out and disassembled it from the couplings and closely inspected all the parts again for any sort of problem. No problems were discovered so I reassembled everything with new fasteners and reinstalled it. Everything seems fine. So perhaps I was just being a little paranoid about whether the shaft was true after the bolt broke. I'm still not sure the exact role of the fiber disks in the couplings... but I expect they might be there to allow some flex or reduce shock.

 

[oldnslo]

Yes the fiber disks are there to absorb slight misalignment between the shafts. They also absorb the linear growth of the shafts due to temperature changes.

Roy

 

[rdln]

You need to stop buying from Mr. Haney

 

[Oliver Wendell Douglas]

Oldnslo, thanks for the information on the fiber disks. I guess even if the design was that the shafts would be inline, nothing is ever really perfect and those disks could account for that. The thermal elongation of the shafts didn't occur to me...makes sense though.

And yea rdln, Mr. Haney tried to sell me a piece of bamboo as a replacement shaft...