Repair To Deere 350 Series Crawler Tractors

Repair To Deere 350 Series Crawler Tractors TRACTORS Miscellaneous 30-1-37 Samuel B. Shirk, Penn Yan, N.Y.: "Deere 350 series crawler tractors use 4 5/8-in. studs to hold the transmission case and reverser housing together. If these studs loosen even slightly, there will be a shifting action between the two cases because of torque reversals from the reverser. This causes wear in the castings around the hardened bushings that lock the housings in place. And when this happens it becomes impossible to keep the studs tight. The studs will either break off or strip their threads, as I found out after I replaced the original studs with µ-in. studs on my crawler. Then the housings separate slightly and eventually strip the splines on expensive shafts inside. "This problem has sent many a 350 crawler to an early retirement at a scrap yard. I solved the problem on my crawler by drilling four holes, two from underneath and two from the top, directly centering the holes where the housings join. I used a reamer to fit the holes at precisely 5/8 in. and then drove a hardened pin into each hole to lock the housings solid again. "My crawler has been running like that for several years now and the studs are still tight. I suggest shimming the casings apart by several thousandths of an inch while drilling and reaming, then removing the shims to make a tighter fit and to clamp the hardened pins in place."

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