[jechambe]

I wanted to share my restoration with everyone of the 49 snowblower I got in December. I acquired this snowblower along with a 318 from my brother-inlaw, who acquired it when he bought his house in Vermont. He used it up until about 2 years ago, when he couldn't get the 318 to stay running when mowing the lawn. I ended up getting the 318 with a mower deck and 49 snowblower for doing some construction work for them. Since then, I have worked on the 318 over the last few months, and restored it. Even though the 318 does burn some oil, it runs well. I have repainted all the sheet-metal, and acquired a 44 loader for it. Here is a picture of the 318.


I am now moving onto my 49 blower. Here are some pictures of it before I took it apart



It is in rough shape. Someone used a rattle can to respray everything, and so there is over-spray on everything. But, the sheet metal looks like it is in OK shape.
After I started taking it apart, I noticed that the drive shaft with the sprocket on it had NO bearing left, meaning no balls left in the bearing, and it was just flopping around in the hole.

I had a hard time to get the Auger sprocket off, but with a automotive pulley, I was able to get it off after a lot of PB blaster.


I did find that the Chute has a broken weld on the side, so I will have to find a way to re-weld that. It might be time for me to learn how to weld.

I got the gearbox off, and so far it looks OK, but one of the bearings has something coming off of it and it seems like there is a rough spot when rotating the shafts. It feels like its coming from the bearings, so I am going to replace the bearings in the gearbox .



Here are the pictures of the parts laying on my work table.


I am going to take the auger off this weekend, and then start to clean everything up. Because I am trying to restore it to look like it came from the factory, I was hoping someone could tell me what color the different parts were. My auger is painted green, but in a lot of the pictures I see, the Auger is black. Also, the quick attach mount to the 318 is green, but should it be black?

Thanks for looking. I will post more pictures as I do more work on it.

Jesse C.

 

[lt230s]

The best person for help is Gabby. He has done several 49 rebuilds and knows them in and out. Do a search for 49 and his rebuild threads will pop up.

 

[rwmeyer]

DO NOT learn to weld on your chute!!! Welding is difficult enough, but sheet metal, depending on the process, can ver very difficult!

OK, the "something coming off of" the bearing is either a shield or a seal. Either one, the bearing is shot! Don't cheap out, replace ALL bearings and keys. A quick note on keys. DON'T go to a box store and get plain ol' square stock. Fastenal and other industrial supply houses carry "key stock". Box store square stock is under-size and key stock is over-size (by specifications). You may or may not have to file key stock to get it to fit, but it will be the proper fit.

Gear box. Not sure which one you have. Some have a pipe plug on the cover, some don't. The Deere spec for the cover with a plug is 90w gear oil, and cornhead grease if no plug. Use cornhead grease...period! "Regular" gease will stay thick in colder temps. Cornhead grease thins down/becomes more liquid as the gearbox temp warms up providing lube to gears & bearings. Treat your gearbox as if where made of gold! This is the key to the 49. Everything else can be obtained/fixed/made to work, but the gear set in the gearbox is around $300-$500 to replace....IF you can find them!

I can't help much with paint color. My 49 came off of an early 70's 140 and is pretty nasty with most of the paint worn off or REALLY dirty or faded! Best I can tell, frame is green, rotating parts are black (pulleys, sprockets, auger) and the rest is yellow. Keep an eye on Gabby's repairs. He's pretty much the 49 restoration guru here! Bob

 

[jd140]

Is the serial tag made of brass or is it aluminum? If it has a brass tag it is a 1968 and would have a green auger and green mounting brackets. If it is a aluminum tag it is a 1969-1974 model and would have a black auger and black mounting brackets. This does appear to be an older #49 because of the round chute.

 

[gabby_in_wis]

The only thing I can see is a PO loved their hammer. The gearbox input shaft housing looks beat up pretty good. I don't know why anyone needs to hammer on that. The pulley on the input shaft can be a challenge to remove but no room to hammer the hsg. Your doing a good job. Keep going nothing really alarming yet. The seals and bearing in the gearbox were available the last time I need to rebuild one. As for color they were either green and yellow or black and yellow. Yours should be green and yellow ... Gabby

 

[indpndntece]

I may have a donor 49 if parts are needed. I am in North Kingstown RI. Your 318 with 44 looks great. I am about an hour 15 from you.

 

[jechambe]

I got a chance to take apart the gearbox, removed all the old bearings and seals, and took out the gears and shafts. Attached are some pictures. It looks like the inside end of the short shaft is a bit messed up so I got a replacement for that. The Gears look great through.
View attachment 251742


I do have one question. I have new Seals and bearings, but which way does the new seal go in? The new seals are a thin pressed metal seal with a rubber middle, the old seal was much thicker. Does it matter which way this seal gets pressed in? See the pictures below:



Thanks for the help!

Jesse C.

 

[gabby_in_wis]

Yes. it matters. The seal is supposed to seal against leakage out of the gearbox so the should be angled into the gearbox. If the seal is angled outward you will have leakage.

If there was pressure inside the gearbox the lube exerts pressure on the rubber seal causing it to fit tighter against the shaft. Am I making sense?

Gabby

 

[jechambe]

Hi Gabby,

Yes, I believe I understand what your saying. The rubber center part of the seal is angled in one direction, and there is a very small metal spring that is around the rubber, to help hold it to the shaft.



It looks like this is the correct way to install the Seal:


Thank you for the info!

Jesse C.

 

[rwmeyer]

Jesse, Yes, that's installed correctly. Bob

 

[gabby_in_wis]

You got it ... Gabby

 

[jechambe]

I was able to get the gearbox bearings installed. I have a cheap 12ton press from HF in my garage, and it made an easy time of installing these bearings. I have the long shaft and gear installed, just waiting on the short shaft to get here to install the other gear, and the corn grease. Here are some pictures:

View attachment 251862

I do have another question in regards to the Drive shaft. My original drive shaft sprocket was really worn, the teeth were all worn and very thin. I was able to find a used one on Ebay. I got a new bearing for the drive shaft, and after cleaning up the shaft using 1000 grit sand-paper, I went to install the new bearing. But when I went to put the bearing on, it slipped right on, without any hesitation, to the point that it is loose when its at the end where it needs to be. I was expecting to have to press this bearing on the shaft, but it moves very freely. Its to the point where when the shaft spins, the center part of the bearing does not spin. Is this OK? I am waiting for the collar that needs to go on the shaft after the bearing, would that hold the center of the bearing in place? Or do i need to try to find a new drive shaft? I guess you can still buy these from JD, but they are ~ $250 dollars!

Here are pictures of the shaft and new bearing.
View attachment 251868

Thanks for the help and info!

Jesse

 

[rwmeyer]

Jesse, You'll be fine. The collar you're waiting for is called an "eccentric locking collar". A counterbore on one side is eccentric to the bore in the collar. When placed on the inner race of the bearing and rotated, it locks the inner race to the shaft.

The collar will lock by rotating in either direction. Do yourself a favor...incase you get into this area in 10 years... and use standard tightening directions, "righty tighty, lefty loosey." Tighten clockwise, tighten setscrew, you'll be OK. Bob

 

[jechambe]

Ahhh, That was the piece of information I was missing. This is why I really enjoy this site, lots of information.

Thank you for the help!

Jesse.

 

[Mtechnik-3]

I have a spare 49 as well. Was debating using all good pieces to make one good one. 44 looks good on it. I am about to venture out to get one possibly next week.