case 580e 4w drive problem

[Jerry11]

We bought a 580E about a year ago in fairly good condition. The previous owner was obviously not very mechanically inclined and did minimal repairs. Last week we could not get the 4 wheel drive to work and found at some time they have snapped off the clevis from the cylinder that pulls it in and out of the wheel drive gear and tried to weld it back on-obviously not very well. It looks like a big job to get the old part out and replace it. Any good suggestions? Thanks for any help.

 

[alrman]

There are 2 types of 4wd set ups on the 580E. Early one has selector ponting out to front of machine & later towards the rear. Either way the 4wd range housing must be split to do the job.
The early type was always a PITA to do - the later seemed to be a better design. Only ever saw the front ones get broken.....

 

[sheepfoot]

Jerry11, I have fixed many on the d/e machines, remove your linkage out of the way, grind the end of the shaft flat, center punch your shaft, with a 3/8 angle air drill, drill a center hole about 3/4 to 1 inch in the shaft with a 1/16 drill bit slow and steady, step up the hole size until you get to the drill bit size for a 3/8 24 tap, tap you hole out, take a 3/8 24 bolt about 2 1/2 inches long, thread it down, cut to the lenght needed, broken off threaded piece plus hole depth, use some loctite on the threads going in the shaft and install, rehook your linkage, note i use a short set of drill bits snapon left hand cut and a cut down one for the tap size, i hang a cheater chain and use a large screw driver against the flat of the air angle drill head for pressure to drill it, and it takes about two hrs once you do one, like alrman said also you can pull it apart and drill or replace the shaft to,

 

[Jerry11]

Thanks. That sounds like a possible fix. Dad is going to buy an angle drill this afternoon so we can try it. We have had a few tight spots in the past but always found a work around. We will have to have one for this job. It should be also useful on a few future occasions. We were thinking of making a coupling but this sounds like a better choice if we don't goof it up!

 

[Jerry11]

My memory tells me that I saw a post a while back that said that there was a way to put the 4 wheel drive in gear that minimized stresses on the lever and the transmission. I looked but did not find the reference. Thanks.

 

[alrman]

Good Luck on the repair - hope the weld has not hardened the shaft too much.....

 

[bowen]

Jerry11, I have fixed many on the d/e machines, remove your linkage out of the way, grind the end of the shaft flat, center punch your shaft, with a 3/8 angle air drill, drill a center hole about 3/4 to 1 inch in the shaft with a 1/16 drill bit slow and steady, step up the hole size until you get to the drill bit size for a 3/8 24 tap, tap you hole out, take a 3/8 24 bolt about 2 1/2 inches long, thread it down, cut to the lenght needed, broken off threaded piece plus hole depth, use some loctite on the threads going in the shaft and install, rehook your linkage, note i use a short set of drill bits snapon left hand cut and a cut down one for the tap size, i hang a cheater chain and use a large screw driver against the flat of the air angle drill head for pressure to drill it, and it takes about two hrs once you do one, like alrman said also you can pull it apart and drill or replace the shaft to,

Wow... I have read this 14 times. I do ok till I get to the "cheater chain"...

 

[trevor b]

sounds like he hang's a chain and sticks a pry bar through the chain to apply pressure on the drill . tb

 

[bowen]

sounds like he hang's a chain and sticks a pry bar through the chain to apply pressure on the drill . tb

OK, makes sense.
I always have trouble geting broken bolts out, seems hard to not get the drill sideways to damage the threads.
My eyesight may have something to do with this

I know that some use the "left hand cut" drill bits because just drilling will help take the old threads out. I've never tried this.
Maybe I need just some more tools...:cool2

 

[sheepfoot]

bowen, i have both a 1/8 size chain with a small clevis on one end about 36" long with a s hook to make adjustments and one that has a 1/2 " black iron pipe 24" long welded to the chain, I was on a job 35yrs ago that a man showed me that trick while drilling an I beam, have used it a lot over the years when the mag drill could not be set up. I also use both rh/lh drill bits a lot and cut them down as needed to the size i need for that job then replace my set with a new one. Left hand bits are the way to go when you need them to remove bolts broken off, they will catch and spin the bolts out often not always tho!.

 

[Jerry11]

I think dad was not quite square or was just unlucky and broke off the small drill. We could not get it out so we made a coupler to fit over the stub and the rod. I works a lot better than it did before it broke off so that is a hopeful sign. It looks like they ran over something and broke off the whole assembly-a real mess. Thanks.