350 Steering clutch driveshaft

[jbloam]

I have a straight 350. I am replacing the steering clutch and brake band. Upon removal of the steering clutch drive shaft I found 2 round washers standing vertically back to back inside the dozer in the hub assembly. I do not see these washers in any of the manuals nor any reference to them. It is as if somebody put them in there to act as spacers at the end of the shaft. Anybody ever run across this?

[Jason37756]

I had a similar situation and thought adding some spacers might help, but I decided against it. That being said I'm interested to know how big the washers are? I.d. specifically. This might tell us where they may have been used.

I'd say there was some excess play and they seemed like a good idea at the time but shouldn't be there.

Jason

[jbloam]

They don't fit around or attach to anything in there. They are just standing up. I assume what I am seeing inside the the hub when I look in from the left side is the end of the right side clutch driveshaft. So these would be standing up between the ends of the 2 driveshafts when I put the left side back in the hub. My guess is they were placed in there deliberately and didn't migrate from somewhere else.

[Jason37756]

Where they in the clutch housing? One cannot see anything from the other side of the dozer from this area.

If the washers were in the clutch housing then they could have easily have fell thru the top cover. The hub that holds the clutch disks doesn't have room for anything to happen like this.

Jason

[jbloam]

As I said in the original post. These are inside the dozer where the steering clutch driveshaft slides into when you attach the complete unit back onto the dozer. They are inside the hub (think differential on a car- deere calls it a hub). I am going to take some measurements and decide at that point if I should keep them there. They don't seem like they are an original piece. If they were put in because of any end play issues in the final drive axle, to keep the clutch drive shaft from "walking" out of the pilot bearing maybe... that end play no longer exists since I put new bearings, seals and adjusted the shim pack correctly in the bearing quill of the final drive shaft. My only reservation is if they are there as a spacer to take up end play on the other sideof the dozer. Thanks for you interest in trying to help. I am out of guesses as to why they are there.

[gregjo1948]

Can you see any marks where the washers have rubbed. If so, I'd think maybe someone did install them as spacers. If you've replaced bearings and races, you shouldn't need to put the washers/spacers in.

[Lavoy]

I can't find anything in the parts book at all. The earlier crawlers put a spring in there to keep outward pressure on the drive shafts, but so far I can't see anything on the 350's.
Lavoy

[jbloam]

So I took my measurements. I inserted the clutch drive shaft into the hub (differential) inside the dozer without the washers inserted. I then measured from the mating surface where the final drive unit will mount back on to the dozer to the clutch drive shaft face that the pilot bearing will be contacting. I then measured from the mating surface of the final drive housing unit itself to the same face of the pilot bearing location in the final unit. After doing the math there is 0.14 inches difference. About 1/8 inch that the shaft would be able to move laterally. I also contacted the previous owner since I knew he replaced the right hand clutch right before I bought it and he said he did not put the,washers in there to correct any slop on that side. So I'm not putting the washers back in and that 1/8 inch will give room for thermal expansion. Thanks for the clutch kit Lavoy and for the website. I hope to have it back up and running before the weekend is out.