Need help with mower disassembly...

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Hey everyone,  I've been helping a friend out on his hobby farm working on a tow behind mower for his tractor.  He's wanting to take it apart to service it and can't figre out how to remove the plate in the pictures below.  As you can probably tell from the pics he has tried using a puller on it with no luck leading us to believe it might be threaded.  We dont know the model or make of the mower as it's old and all tags/id have been removed.  Anyone have any advice or insights?  It would be much appreciated! Attached Images
Reply:That is unlikely to be threaded, as I see splines in your picture.I'm no expert on these things, but if it were to come off easily with a puller, what's to stop it from flying off with a spinning blade?
Reply:I suspect there is a pin that goes through it. Did you already remove the pin? Once the pin is removed you may need to throw some heat on it to free it up. The puller appears to be the correct method.
Reply:Hello martinhowe, it looks as if the shaft is splined as opposed to threaded, at least from looking at the pictures. You may wish to screw the nut back on the shaft end almost down to where it contacts the bar, put the puller back on with a plate between it and the face of the nut, screw it down real good to provide the maximum amount of tension and then smack the end of the puller with a good heavy hammer, use a piece of brass or aluminum between the puller shaft end so that you don't damage it's end. This might shock it enough to break it loose, after smacking it recheck to see if you can gain on the tension of the puller, sometimes you'll gain just a little bit after every cycle of doing this, other times it might just "pop" and come the rest of the way easily. As you proceed, if it does move you'll need to unscrew the nut a bit as it comes. Looks as though you are already using some sort of penetrating oil, that's a real good idea and will help immensely in many instances. I would suggest heat, but considering the seals in the gearbox just beyond the part you're trying to remove you could cause damage that way and be further in the hole than when you started. Best of luck and regards, Allanaevald
Reply:.....what's to stop it from flying off with a spinning blade?
Reply:A trick I learned years ago to loosen a tapered ball joint... put the puller on with moderate tension, and then give the outer "sleeve" a good rap on the side with a hammer... the concussive force deforms  the joint enough to make it let go.
Reply:I had the same problem on my lawn tractor. Heat it up and pop it out. Put the nut back on to save the threads. I'd be nice if you had a brass/bronze hammer.HobbyistSS/Aluminum cartATD 130 MIGEverlast 225 TIGSteel cartEverlast PP50 plasma cutterHarbor Freight 130 TIG/90 ArcHarbor Freight 100 Flux coreOxy/Acet
Reply:Yea, I did one like that, only took me 2 days to get it off, it was on a brush hog, looked exactly like that, soaked it with "BLASTER" used heat and a BIG puller, It was really on there good...Get a bigger puller, and heat.....just a splined shaft....
Reply:The shaft is spindled like this one - http://www.tractors-equipment.com/im...tput-Shaft.gif.  The nut pulls the blade and mount into the shaft and keeps the whole assembly together.  There might be a set screw in the blade mount but I’ve only run into that once before.  If you have an air chisel put in the hammer attachment and use it to rap on the sides of the blade mount.  The object is not to hammer it off but to vibrate it loose.  Next apply heat and using your impact puller it should pop off. It might take a few beers and lots of cussing.
Reply:Put as much torque on that puller as you possibly can and let it set and cycle through one one full days warm cold cycle. Once in a very rare while that will help. The cast housing and the steel shaft expand and contract at different rates once in a blue moon it will slip a tiny bit during the cycle. I've had tapered shafts pop off in the middle of the night sometime. More than likely rust is the culprit here and a good well placed wham on the head end of the puller shaft is what it's going to take. One solid whack and you'll get another quarter turn on the puller shaft, then one more will get about a half turn then it'll be easier from there on."The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first, the love of soft living and the get rich quick theory of life." -Theodore Roosevelt
Reply:I'm going to assume he wanted to work on the gear box anyway. So don't worry about the seal, keep a good strong pull on it w/ the puller and apply some serious heat to the hub and don't be timid about using the hammer on the side of the hub and on the puller bolt. I had to pull the wheel hubs off my recently acquired rear tine tiller and it took heat all the way to get them off. As soon as I took the heat off things would grind to a halt. I cleaned up the bores w/ my wheel cyl hone and emeried the shafts shiny. There was liberal amounts of anti seize going back together. I don't want to have to do that again!!                                  MikeOl' Stonebreaker  "Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes"Hobart G-213 portableMiller 175 migMiller thunderbolt ac/dc stick Victor O/A setupMakita chop saw
Reply:Could try posting on TractorByNet.comA lot of great info over there on old tractor attachments.Just a thought, good luck.
Reply:On your third picture, I believe I see something round that could be a pin about 3/8' from the bottom of the flange. Its very unlikely, but worth a good look.
Reply:Martin-howe-do-you-do-this.  Good pics are vital for communication, your pics are good.The replies are full of good procedural tech-tips, re-review all of them: pen-oil, peening [pneumatic], bronze hammer and drifts [always on power transfer components], incremental tension & strike, and the last resort - HEAT.  The best recommendation of all was "it only took me 2 days".    All of the afore mentioned tech-tips are good for a light seize, from your pics I would treat this as a worse case scenario, so don't hurry.  Sequence and magnitude of each operation is the key, everything has to be in your favor.First: block the mower flat up-side down, clean all the crud out of the splines with a pick and fill with pen-oil and peen - do this several time a day for several days with the hope that oil will eventually penetrate out the bottom of the Blade-Tee.  In this position you can monitor the oil seepage, if it disappears it's creeping.   You also need a much larger puller, oil the threads and pivot center.   Big crescent wrench are hard on small drive hexes so use a box-end wrench or socket [with a cheater].  If, with a larger puller it fails to give, it's time for the Hot Wrench.  Using heat as a tool is very much like selecting a hammer.  You don't beat something repeatedly with a small hammer, you hit it once with the appropriate size hammer.  When using a Ox/acet. torch the trade secret is rapid heat input, the idea is to expand the Blade-Tee before heat conducts to the shaft.  To produce this amount of heat you need at least a Victor Jorneyman Rosebud [or equivalent in size] bigger is better.  Total heat time about 30-40 seconds on a side.   But first, cut a small diameter pipe stub to protect the threads.  Heat the narrow sides of the Tee vertically on a line, one side at a time, and the top next to the shielded thread.  With the proper size Rosebud you can reach a red heat in this short a period of time.  Let cool and repeat the oil and peen, then try with a bigger puller.   You will also need a full bottle of Acetylene to fire rosebud this large.  Please post your results.   Opus
Reply:Wow!  You guys are amazing.  thanks so much for all the advice.  I've called my friend to head over there asap and try some of the suggestions!  I will keep taking pics and keep everyone updated as to the progress of the project!  thanks again everyone, what a resource we've got here!Marty
Reply:there may well be a cross pin. otherwise ,the splines would have to be tapered so the nut would have something to tighten against.
Reply:Our lawn tractor was the same way to replace the drive belt.I put heat three pullers (which destroyed the pulley) I ended up having to cut the rest of the pulley off weld some angle on it and put it in the 20 ton press got it tight hit it with the hammer still would not go I did as posted above let it sit it one day put more pressure on it and it finally let go Manual says to remove one nut off the shaft and it will fall off which was obvious wrong..Hobart Handler 140Chinese Multi Machine
Reply:If you couldn't locate a set screw, or pin.........the thing is an interferance fit, or press fit.Forget about penetrating oil, it won't work.  Forget about whacking it, it won't workIf you have access to a rosebud, or large cutting tip........................Put stress on the puller, enough to make it stand tightHeat a narrow band on the hub to cherry red.  A narrow strip from top to bottom of the part.  It has to be narrow to keep the heat in.Do not touch the puller while your doing this.Heat to almost plastic, and listen for a slight "ting".  It's the sound of the hub moving.Retighten the puller, and repeat the heating process.At some point, you'll be able to tighten the puller while the hub is cooling, and it will go faster.DON'T EVER RELY ON A PULLER, WITHOUT HEAT, TO PULL A PART.  IT SIMPLY DOESN'T WORK.  YOU WILL DAMAGE THE PULLER, AND BE RIGHT BACK AT GROUND ZERODirect the heat upwards to save the seal, or put some scrap below the hub to deflect heat.This works, I do it on a daily basisOil and grease will catch fire, but don't worry about it.  After it's consumed.....no more fire"Any day above ground is a good day"http://www.farmersamm.com/
Reply:You got alot of good advise, hoped something worked.  I've had to remove a couple just like that, and what I did was to heat the bottom part cherry red and then put your puller back on and tighten. I had to hit and tighten for awhile but it finally turned loose.   (I'm calling the part where your puller is hooked up at the bottom)