Old Craftsman Tractor - How to Remove Pulley

[ultrarunner]

I’d try heat before cutting the shaft… heat can do wondrous things… restoring antique cars often require a little extra persuasion to disassemble.

Sometimes you may think it’s not working only to try removing after all has cooled and the heating/cooling cycle turns out to be just enough to break the bond.

 

[cloves]

Thanks everyone will give all these suggestions a try. So that little bar that makes a "Q" is not some sort of locker that has to be hit out. I'll take a closer look to see if there are multiple set screws.

 

[2manyrocks]

Can take days of repeated heating, oil, and cooling to break the bond of rust that formed over decades.

Or maybe someone has that pulley for sale on ebay for that old tractor?

 

[MossRoad]

^^^ You are right as far as pricey.

45 years ago I bought a nice OTC puller set… some years I never use it but when needed I sure am glad to have it… it was not exactly cheap at the time but should last several lifetimes.

I’ve picked up a few others along the way for little back when I hit the auto swap meets… use to be a lot of them here but far and few between now.

I have an inexpensive puller that has served me well over the years. This spring, I was given my late brother in-laws very nice heavy duty puller set. Haven't used it yet, so it sits in a place of honor in the garage until needed. Just couldn't bear to see it given away or scrapped.

 

[MossRoad]

Thanks everyone will give all these suggestions a try. So that little bar that makes a "Q" is not some sort of locker that has to be hit out. I'll take a closer look to see if there are multiple set screws.

That little bar is a key. All it is supposed to do is keep the pulley from spinning on the shaft. The locking is done by the set screw(s), and, probably rust in this case.

 

[Little Red Tractor]

Patience, penetrating oil and pounding...sorry, but I'm a Baptist preacher and alliteration is what I do.

The setscrew is most likely on the keyway, so getting it out is critical. A bit of heat applied--propane torch directly to the screw, before the oil--might be a help. After taking the torch away, hit it, and the end of the shaft at the keyway, with the spray oil. Using an impact wrench on a the puller might be helpful as well.

 

[MossRoad]

You can also heat up the set screw with a torch, then shove a wax candle in there. The melted wax will get sucked into the threads and loosen it up.

 

[dbritt]

Hi everyone,

My father in law has an old tractor. His father owned it before him so I imagine its pretty old. Recently engine started spewing out oil from the intake hose from what he was telling me. He took it to an engine shop and they wanted heavy dollars to rebuild. Anyway he loves the tractor, so he just got a new engine put it in but needs the pulley from the old engine. He can't figure out how to take the pulley off. I told him I would try and get him help from the good tractor folks on here who have helped me in the past. I forgot to take a pic of the tractor but I did get a picture of the engine and pulley. I think to take the pulley out you need to remove the key but that's just my brain fog talking.

He says he's tried but nothing.

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Is that a 3 groove pulley? If so, that smaller left hand groove appears to be badly damaged. Perhaps it's not used in your application, or maybe it's a separate pulley just being used as a spacer. Doesn't look like it has had a belt running in it. As suggested by others, the answer is heat, penetrating oil, puller, probably repeated several times, but if the engine is no good and going to be scraped anyway, I would cut the shaft off and use a hydraulic press to get the remaining piece of shaft out. AFTER being sure all the set screws are out, of course. In my past life I had many, many 36" and 48" belt driven fans that I had to maintain, in poultry houses no less. The corrosive environment in those houses almost welded pulleys to motor and fan shafts. Over 30 years of that kind of work, I learned that heat, heat, more heat, and a good puller would work most of the time. But, if the motor was going to be junked anyway, I found that the easiest way by far was to just saw the motor shaft off, soak it a few hours in penetrating oil, put it in my 20-ton press, and be done with it. If I absolutely had to save the shaft, then the heat and puller always did the trick....eventually.

 

[dodgewade]

The pulley looks to be cast. Heat and cooling off will help tremendously.
Might drill two holes opposite each other between the shaft and outer pulley edge and tape them and use the T style puller someone posted.
Get a puller that has a fine thread center bolt. The ones with acme thread are junk (my two cents worth). Use half/half mix of acetone and trans fluid for penetrating oil. Soak it with this and put some pressure on it with the puller and walk away. Have a beer or three take a nap. . . . come back later to see if it's moved.

 

[THennessy]

Hi everyone,

My father in law has an old tractor. His father owned it before him so I imagine its pretty old. Recently engine started spewing out oil from the intake hose from what he was telling me. He took it to an engine shop and they wanted heavy dollars to rebuild. Anyway he loves the tractor, so he just got a new engine put it in but needs the pulley from the old engine. He can't figure out how to take the pulley off. I told him I would try and get him help from the good tractor folks on here who have helped me in the past. I forgot to take a pic of the tractor but I did get a picture of the engine and pulley. I think to take the pulley out you need to remove the key but that's just my brain fog talking.

He says he's tried but nothing.

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I agree with the allen screw down in the hole, but also spin and look for a 2nd allen, either 90-deg or 180-deg from this one. Then gear puller can be rented free with deposit against return from auto parts store