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Treating a Power Shift transmission right

9K views 30 replies 5 participants last post by  BeansBaxter 
#1 ·
I picked up a Power Shift 1028 as a project a few weeks ago. I finally had a chance to open up the transmission and found the shift collar had split in half and the shift yoke for forward/reverse had broken tabs that ride in the shift collar groove.

Beyond properly lubricating the transmission and not jamming it into gear are there any best practices to avoid another failure like this?

It looks like there's some black silicone in each of the tubes for the shift yokes? Is that from the factory or evidence of a previous service? I don't see any signs of rust or water ingress so it appears to have helped seal things up a bit.
 
#2 ·
Well first off it is not a transmission out of a Kenworth where there you could double clutch the chain drive till the cows come home. I suspect that some of the metal used in there is of the pot metal variety. and storing it outside under a trap is the best idea that ever fell off the turnip truck. I have had mine now for 23years and never had a problem with it. but then there have been many winters of late where I have no need to use them. those winters were cleaned with the leaf blower or the electric blower. as long as you don't beat on it like a red headed stepchild you should see a long life out of it. there was a guy here back in 2013 that was having problems with his trans. I offered to go through it for him, but he would had to ship it from mass to minn. but then that engine chucked a rod and he scrapped it out. I took some parts from it kinda now wished I had him throw that trans in just to have a looksee of what was happening in there. I doubt it was anything major probley the same issue you have with a couple of busted up pieces in there. also you will want to check the endplay for bearing slop. AS ALWAYS LET ME KNOW THE SCORE ON THAT 1.:eek:k::eek:k::eek:k::eek:k::eek:k:
 
#3 ·
I'm imagining me as Tom Cruise and you as Robert Duvall…



I definitely intend to treat it well and keep it garaged. My guess is things got sticky in the transmission and the previous owner tried to jam it into reverse one too many times. I haven't checked the end play yet but plan on breaking out the feeler gauge later today.

Any thoughts on the stuff in the holes for the shifter yokes? Looks like some sort of RTV but I can't find anything in the Toro documentation mentioning it. You can see some of the remnants of it on the picture above where it stuck to the yoke. My thought is to just clean it out and leave the holes open.
 
#4 · (Edited)
spit-ballin' here regarding good practice ...would disengaging the traction (releasing the handlebar lever) before shifting benefit the tranny?

My old Allis Chalmers has warnings about shifting with the traction engaged.

Snowblowing sometimes does require alot of Forward/Reverse/Forward, etc. ...so having that discipline could be difficult at times.
 
#7 ·
No problem. I'm just learning all of this myself.

There isn't an interlock for changing speeds and that is specifically allowed per the owners manual. Due to the design of the transmission, all the speed reducer and output gears are engaged all the time. There's a selector tab that slides inside the collar of each output gear and can move even when under load.
 
#10 ·
I was hoping for a simple clean and degrease. It was a bummer to find the broken parts. At least I know it will be in like-new condition when I rebuild it.

I ordered the parts and they should be here next week. I called my local shop first but they didn't seem interested in my business so I ordered online from Pat's Small Engine.

I guess I'm acquiring a somewhat rare skill. :)
Maybe I'll have to get some referrals from Jackmels since he's just a few towns over and he got me into this mess in the first place. ;)
 
#12 ·
The proper way to shift through gears while not engaging the POWERSHIFT feature is to have the lever depressed select your desired number that 1-4 or 1-2 in reverse. than press down on the traction lever and have at it. as for the POWERSHIFT feature to engage it you have to the lever pulled back behind slot 2 while holding down the lever. sounds and looks like someone slammed it through the gears with out stopping and doing it the correct way. IT IS NO HYDRO TRANS where you can jam through gears without double clutching.
 
#22 ·
If that was the cause, I would expect the shift keys to be broken. The fact that it's the shift collar and associated shift yoke makes me think it was either being slammed from forward to reverse (note to self: check lockout mechanism in the shift control) or an improper grease was used and gummed things up enough that the intermediate shaft got stuck.
 
#13 ·
The black stuff is on the shaft of the shift yoke. I'll take some pics of the upper case and the internals where you can see it better.

It very well could have been service with bearing grease previously. That would explain the failure, wouldn't it?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#16 ·
I almost bought a powershift last week, cheap. Had a transmission problem so I watched a bunch of YouTube videos with tear downs and inspections. Someone snatched it up before I could pull the trigger, bummer.

It's nice to know there are a few members with experience with those transmissions.

I didn't realize that forward gears can be shifted on the fly, that's a bonus.
 
#25 ·
Here are some photos.

This is the top of the transmission. You can see the RTV in the two holes for the shift yokes in this photo. I'm guessing that's not normally there and was added by a well-meaning service tech.


Here's the transmission cracked open. I just noticed that the shaft for the shift yoke to change direction is cracked (see the top half on the left). This seems to confirm my hypothesis that the previous owner slammed it into reverse sufficient to break the shift collar and yoke and crack this shaft. I'm thinking some JB Weld should patch that up without interfering with the transmission operation.


Here's the bottom case. See the accumulation of grease and the multiple colors. I think POWERSHIFT93 is on to something. Looks like the well-meaning service tech from above didn't want to bother with Mag-1 and the previous owner eventually paid the price for it. That probably got things sticky enough that slamming the transmission into reverse seemed like the only option.
 
#31 ·
That grease looks like the cheap caramel textured wheel bearing grease.



Id assume the best grease for this application would be a NLGI #1 and moly fortified.


Toro specifies Lubriplate Mag-1. It's an EP lithium polymer grease that is NGLI #1 as you suggest. I don't see any moly listed but it does have anti-rust additives and a working range down to -60 °F. They claim high film strength which probably makes it desirable with spinning gears.
 
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