Ferret Fluid Flywheel rebuild

[Robin Craig]

Splitting the powerpack into gearbox and engine chunks is very simple, just make sure you block the engine firmly and have the gearbox supported, we use an engine crane. The blocking of the engine on a pallet makes it moveable in the shop and also gets height that allows the engine crane wheels under the gearbox.

Be careful to take the weight on the gearbox before you undo all the nuts and stress the aluminium flange, one could do damage if you do not watch that I think.

Having the engine crane taking the weight makes sliding the gearbox back off the shaft easy. There is some grunting and pry bars needed but no undue force.

Now we have the offending item exposed.

[Robin Craig]

We had ordered the seal and both bearings for the fluid flyheel locally but were short shipped the inner bearing.

We felt that replacing both bearings was the only sensible way to go and would be cheap maintenance, in the end when both were apart we were glad to make the decision because the seal and the front bearing are replaceable in situ as the flange unbolts.

Given the mess that dribbled out we wanted to split the fluid flywheel and clean it and really ensure a proper job. I am not about to get hauled over the coals because we did not perform due diligence.

I seem to have not saved from my phone the two halves split but here is my own unit apart from a few years ago during rebuild.

The old seal was well shot and the new John Deere seal just needs the washer ring flipping and the flange pointing out instead of in to make it all work.

We have bagged it all pending arrival of the other bearing and going back together on January 6th when we are back in the shop.