QA-42A drive shaft grease retainer
 

Is there supposed to be a felt grease retainer in drive shaft under the retainer cap (circled in red)?

Attachment 87618

The parts list seems to indicate there is one under the retainer cap.
#6 in parts list: 475-609-R1 Retainer, Grease

They are listed as NLA. Anyone know if there are replacements available from other sources? Or does leaving them out cause any issues, other than grease being able to get out and dirt getting in the expansion area of the driveshaft and it requires more frequent servicing without it installed?

You can source them elsewhere, but it's not critical. Unless you run your snowblower somewhere I dont, I usually run in snow. No dirt or dust when the ground is froze.

J-Mech, Thanks. I may try to find one just for the sake of having it there to keep most of the grease in, not that it seems to loose much there. Most of the grease seems to come from the yolk end where there is a vent hole. For the dirt and dust, I was mostly thinking in the warmer seasons when it is sitting outside, but I do have a gravel driveway and lane, so there may be some dirt in the winter when mostly frozen. That and my slight OCD hates it when all the parts are not installed correctly... :biggrin2:

Interesting Steve. I just looked at my QA42A and that particular grease fitting has been removed and the hole plugged with a screw. On my truck plow all I ever do is lightly grease the exposed cylinder shafts when I remove the plow in the spring and store it until the next fall when it gets remounted. I've never had a cylinder problem.

He's talking about a driveshaft, not a cylinder. :bigthink:
Your truck plow doesn't have a driveshaft.

On mine, the grease zerk had been snapped off and the hole left open. I had to drill the remains of the old press fit zerk out and tap it for a new one.

Probably a good idea to remove the driveshaft at the end of the season and see how much grease is still in there and recoat it with fresh grease and put it back together. Not sure how useful the zerk is on the side as most of the new grease seems to get spit out the vent.

That is completely unnecessary. That shaft only telescopes a small amount. It does not need "fresh grease" outside of the standard grease job using the zerk. The reason the grease spits out the vent is that when the shaft telescopes, the grease seals it from getting air in. The hole in the end, lets the u-joint breath. Grease works its way to that end of the shaft, and spits out of the hole. This is the case for ALL driveshafts made with this style of grease fitting/set up. IT IS NORMAL. IF the splines on the shaft are not all getting grease, you may need to disassemble it and clean the splines, grease it up and reinstall. Then make sure that when you grease it with the zerk, it lubes the shaft. Outside of that, at the end of the season, grease it, oil it and put it away. If you constantly have grease spitting out the end of the shaft now, then you are greasing it too much. It only needs about 1 pump, for about every 10 hours of use.

J-Mech, Thanks. I do understand that there isn't a need to constantly grease. This is the first time greasing since I put it all back together after a thorough cleaning and replacing all the bearings and seals, so I probably used too much. Thanks for the detailed explanation. It has been a while since I have worked on any of these telescoping drive shafts that needed maintenance. It should be all set for this season now, and I will just do as you say, a single pump of grease and oil it at the end of the season, and not over complicate things.

J-Mech. Your right about the fact that this is a driveshaft and not a cylinder. I just meant to say that considering that it doesn't really telescope that much except when it is removed or re-assembled it shouldn't need a whole lot of grease and that lightly hand greasing the exposed portion of the shaft should be sufficient. I wasn't very clear in my explanation. Sorry.

The splines are not exposed, so greasing the exposed portion would do nothing of benefit. The shaft does telescope all the time. Every time the thrower moves up and down the shaft telescopes. Total movement is over an inch. Now, the travel isn't that far, but it moves all the time. Length of travel is really irrelevant, that it moves, is.