What have I done now?

[charlesellis]

Since I've had the 52 with a rotary mower belly all apart--new tank and paint after rolling it, new wiring I'm working on--I've had to rely on the other 52, the one with the 22 sickle blade. While cutting 6' tall dead weeds today, I slammed into something down low. It did not sound or feel good. The left side hook came off the bolt, and I have had no luck getting it down so I can tighten the bolt back. But what worries me more is a steady drip--one per second-- of fluid coming out of the (loose) hand hole cover. What have I done?

[Eugene]

Guessing, depending on the type of fluid dripping from hand hole cover.

Engine oil coming from rear main crankshaft seal.

Or gear lub coming from transmission. Transmission could be over full or leaking front seal.

[charlesellis]

OK. So how do I determine which it is? Can you determine where the leak is without tearing things apart?
Charles

[Bill Hudson]

Assuming the Cub is parked on a fairly level surface and the geometry of the torque tube, oil leaking out the hand hole is coming from the transmission. To confirm this, back the Cub up a slight incline, stop and the oil leak should increase dramatically. The shape of the torque tube makes a pool of oil in front of the transmission and when tilted in the proper orientation it will drain the pool -- out the hand hole.

Oil leaking from the rear seal would have to go uphill to leak out the hand hole not to mention get past the (normally poorly fitting) cover plate on the bell housing.

Bill

[Eugene]

Can you determine where the leak is without tearing things apart?

Loosen or remove the plate on the bottom front of the torque tube. Let the oil/lub captured in the bottom of the torque tube drain out. Might be hard to tell the source of the oil/lub considering the amount of stuff/crap accumulated inside the torque tube.

Engine oil level going down? Crankshaft rear seal.

Drain the transmission and refill to the plug on the lower left side. Over full transmission will leak past original seals.

Tractor split is required to repair both seals. Depending on how much engine oil or transmission gear lub you are losing - might want to just keep the fluids up to level and live with the condition until other repairs, such as clutch, are necessitated.

[Don McCombs]

I concur with Bill. What did you slam into something with? Front wheel, rear wheel, sickle bar? Did the tractor stop dead or continue on? That should help with the diagnosis.

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

If the transmission seal is leaking, the oil will gather in the torque tube just in front of the transmission. When the front end is lower, or if you have a sudden stop (slam) that stops you dead it will run forward and drip out the hand hole cover. Engine oil normally drips out the inspection cover behind the oil pan, unless it has enough dirt packed around it to seal it. Remove the hand hole cover and let what is accumulated run out. if only a table spoon full or two comes out and it stops, I would suggest keeping an eye on transmission oil and engine oil level and using it without anymore tear down. Transmission oil is checked via the small pipe plug low on the left side about even with the gear shift. Only supposed to have 3 1/2 pints in it.

[charlesellis]

Thanks for your suggestions (which I read after checking on the cub this morning). My dipstick still reads full, so it sounds likely it''s the transmission. Next time I'll check the transmission fluid. It was the sickle bar that hit something. It stopped the tractor, and the bolts holding the wooden bar to the eccentric housing (right term?) were causing sparks as they hit the housing. I guess I bent something, as I cannot get the left hook back down behind the bolt.

All of that raises a question which I hope is OK to ask on this forum. Is it OK to tell the forum where I live and ask if there is a cub mechanic that can help me...for pay, of course? The man who used to work on my cub retired.

Charles

[Scrivet]

Have you loosened the right side bolt and the rear bolt before you try to get the left one on? Also may help to raise the bar up on something and/or let the bar down on the ground. Wouldn't hurt to have it in the mowing position and not in transport. You could be fighting against the hydraulics (or manual lift) holding it up. The wooden bar is called a pitman. It should be a straight line from the eccentric bolt (it probably has a real name that I don't know either ) out to the knife and on down the knife. This straight line should almost be 90 degrees to the shaft running up from the rear of the tractor. Eyeballing it for now should tell you if/where something is bent. Have to have that left bolt in correctly first though.

I have a hunch that if there's someone that can help out near Birmingham AL that reads your post they will contact you without you having to tell them what part of the country you live in. ((Listed in the column on the left side of your posts))

[Glen]

Hi,
Here's a pic of my Cub 22 mower so you can see how it fits together, and how it looks aligned right like Scrivet said. Have a Merry Christmas everyone.

[thiggy]

Good to see that there is another Cubber in the B'ham (Hoover) area Charles. I hope your problem is not too serious.