1650 Drive shaft coupling ?
 

Like another poster, I too found a wobbly drive shaft at the rear that goes to a hydrostatic drive.
I've got the flex members loose on both ends. I think I have the "updated" drive shaft as there's rubber flex couplers on the engine side and transmission side. The book says to remove the engine side drive pin so the shaft can slide forward enough to clear the rear coupler. Ha! No pin of course, and No can do short of prying the crap out of something I don't wanna break. The shaft is holding in a ball "locater" in the rear coupling, so as far as I can tell, it's pretty much locked in where it needs to be. The manual says to buck the shaft with a jack while driving the roll pin out of the rear coupler so as no to damage the hydro pump. I did that, so I'm leary of driving the roll pin out of the front with no buck and possibly damage something there.

Help? Thanks much.

Not really clear on what your problem is but the easy way to get things apart at this point is to unbolt the rear engine mount bolts and tilt engine forward untill the drive shaft clears, It will and I have.
Now once apart you can figure what you ain't figure'n.

Scott

Knock the rear roll pin out of the coupler, slide the fan towards the motor, also remove the roll pin at the transmission/pump coupler. Now if your shaft is not to bad rusty you should be able to slide everything towards the motor, both couplers etc, enough so that you can remove the ball, after that you should be good to go on the rear, however I'm not sure about the front. If your shaft is bad rusty/painted you will need to try a wire brush on a drill to remove as much corrosion as you can, however if it's rusty I doubt you will do anything except as murphycc suggested.

Thank you Clint. I did perzactly as you said, and out it came! Looks like I'll need a new shaft and rear coupler. The centering bearing or bushing in the rear coupler was all worn, and the end of the shaft was egg shaped. I don't know if the bearing comes separate for the rear coupler or not. The flex members were pretty well stretched too.
The bad news is the engine has a really bad knock, I thought just maybe the wobbling drive shaft might have something to do with it.
On to another thread.

Yes they do.

Scott

Very cool:beerchug:
This board rocks!

1650 drive shaft coupling
 

Greg, I had the same symptom and found the same problems, a worn drive rod and coupling plus the pin at the engine end was sheared and holding by the stump on one side. Good luck. You know, every time I fiddle with this thing more problems arise. And it's only 31 years old.........

Bombur

Great job greg r, also the egg shape are you talking about the center end of the shaft ? It supposed to have a convex radius (small radius for the ball to center in). I would look into fixing the engine before running it anymore at all, it might be a lot cheaper if you can scrounge some parts before anything starts making contact inside the motor.

Thanks Clint, the end where the ball actually contacts was fine, it was the OD that mates with the centering bushing in the coupler that was egg shaped.
It's kind of disappointing that all this work is needed so soon. It ran fine with no problems when I "test drove" it before the cashola was laid on the barrel head. I knew then the mower deck might have needed work, and the drive shaft would've been small potatoes with that as well. But just when the property is starting to look good again, now the engine. There's only so much time in a day after 10 hrs at the day job; plus I'm batch'in it with the wife gone with her job all over the place for the gov't. I'm not staying up 'till 2AM either like I did on the Scout.

I just keep reminding myself, she's pretty, and she's stout; so some work and parts( read more money), and it'll continue to serve a long time to come. At least after 35 years she ain't a rust bucket.

greg r

My daddy has a nice 16 hp Kohler K341 aqs ( not sure about the numbers) it's on a snapper, I think case made some just like it as well, he was going to use it for a donor motor, however he has not done anything with it yet. If you lived closer you might strike up a deal with him, you might also look around and find a used motor, however if you have luck like mine it seems you can never find what your looking for when you need it at a reasonable price... other option would be to rebuild it, I'm not sure what wears on these motors as I have never been into one. I wish you good luck, and maybe a new post asking about the motor ( motor knocking as header) might get you more info. This site is full of info, and lots of people are just like you, and I they are digging in with both hands trying to keep these fine machines alive, and are willing to share what they have learned.

Clint