Hi everyone, I am new to this forum. I recently acquired an old JD 1032 (the original and not the D series). I started working on it this weekend. (Yeah, Winter is just around the corner.) Greased all the zerk fittings, checked the belts, etc. Got it running and noticed that the auger and gearbox is wobbling around the auger housing. It's similar to the video of what this person posted. Sorry, I can't post a link apparently. Search for, Auger gearbox movement in the repairs and maintenance forum. Anyone know what might be the matter with this or has seen this? I would like to fix it if practical, but then again, I also realize that this is probably a 35+ year old machine so probably it's showing it age? The machine is solid otherwise. Solid linkages, No cables, etc. That's what drawn me to this machine in the first place. They sure don't make these today. Any problems if I use the machine in this state during the winter?

Welcome oljm
Sounds like you have a bent shaft someplace.
Here is the post you were trying to link to
Again, welcome.

once you post a few times(I think it's 10) you can do all sorts of things on this forum

I had a 826 JD and suspect your 1032 has a bad impeller bushing. JD calls them fans or blower in their parts lists here

John Deere - Parts Catalog

I doubt any shaft is bent, they're all 1" in the assembly. You could also have worn bushings at the auger ends combined with the impeller one. They use the same triangle bracket to support the bushings at the bucket sides and the impeller shaft. If left without attention and service the bushings can grind away and let the shaft wear into the bracket support. It's a pretty easy fix and you don't have to find JD bushings to make it work. A 1" ID flange bushing is pretty common to find. Finding the brackets may be more difficult. Also check closely the impeller (fan) blades for bends. The ends are long and can bend completely backwards giving the appearance of being fine. You really need to get the bucket off and hand turn stuff to inspect. If you remove the belt cover, (key off and engine not running) pull up and down on the auger pulley. If it moves around the bushing and or bracket are worn. If you get it all apart put the impeller up on a good flat surface. Sometimes the back plate of the impeller fan assembly (the flat steel circle with the blades welded to it) can get deformed if rocks get behind it or the blades took a hard hit. Also some had counter weights spot welded to the back, one may be missing and should be very easy to spot the missing pieces former space.


Forgot to mention, those blowers have two big bolts to hold on the bucket at the edges of the belt cover, the bottom of the bucket rest slots on a rod inside the tractor body. If the rod lost a weld, or one of the bolts up top is loose (or missing) the bucket will settle to the loose side and the impeller will be out of line and appear to wobble. This condition is usually very quick to see and you notice obvious uneven wear of the skids or scraper bar.

That video shows a Husqvarna, or similar make. I have one of those machines, (in Craftsman colours) and mine has had the same wobble as the one in the video since it was new.

Now 9 years old and no problems. I dunno if your JD is similar design. The Husqvarna drive shafts do not extent the full length of the rakes tubes and I think thats most of the problem since the drive shafts are a looseish fit inside the rake tubes, and the actual bearings are supporting the rake tubes, not the drive shafts. Kind of a half baked design, but the world is full of half baked stuff now.

The newer, higher end machines sometimes have a reinforcing bracket that braces the gear box to the bucket, which looks like a great idea, but I don't know if adding one of those to mine would break the aluminum gearbox, as I would need to add longer bolts and the gearbox does not look all that beefy as it is.

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions so far. I'll look into them and get back. With respect to JTCLAY's thoughts about the impeller and auger bushings, I noticed on the parts catalog that there are actually 3 more of these bushings inside the gear case aside from the ones on the impeller and auger support ends. How likely is it that these go bad since they should be well lubricated inside the big oily gear case? A question on the auger housing from the main body, it's probably not that hard splitting it in two, but how about putting it back together. Is it bad? Is it a 2 person job to align and get it back together? This beast is kind of big, heavy and unwieldy. Please keep the ideas coming.

If yours is similar to the Husqvarna, and it probably is, splitting should be a 2 person effort. One person needs to hold the back of the machine up while the two bolts holding the bucket are removed. As you can guess, the balance of the machine changes dramatically when that second bolt comes out. Same goes for reassembly. You need to keep an eye on the routing of the auger belt when bringing the halves together so that the belt stays on the inside of the brake lever, and doesn't end up on the outside of the lever which will result is a destroyed belt in very short order, and a second opportunity to split the machine to replace a belt.

If you don't have any leaks, I would guess your bushings inside the gear case itself are fine. The auger shaft is full length to the edges of the bucket. It is heavy to remove. It's not like pulling a Craftsman where you can one hand the impeller and rakes onto the bench. I did all the work on mine alone but a second set of hands would have been nice. For splitting the machine, any saw horse or workmate type setup will work fine for letting the tractor and handles rest. You have to remove the chute rotation handle guide at the handlebars or pull the gear mount at the chute. Once you get them apart you will see it is a very simple machine to work on. This video series is about swapping an engine, but it shows a lot of the assembly (parts 4 and 5 show most of what you need at this time). Member Shryp sent me this link when I first got my 826 and it helped me many times over doing my restoration. If you need pictures of specific parts, let me know I may be able to get them out of my old computer.

to SBF oljm

" This beast is kind of big, heavy and unwieldy."

Trust me, I know !!

Thanks for the info guys. I'll probably tear into my machine this weekend. I watched the rebuild videos on YT. How is the impeller pulley attached to the back of the housing? He mentioned some sort of "special tool", (is it just a 12 point socket?) used to for the fastener(s) though I only saw one square head bolt looking down the side of the pulley in the video. Are there any others? Any close up photos of these areas would be very helpful. It took him quite a while to "extricate" the impeller and auger assembly out of the housing, which is probably expected, is putting it back together also going to be a fight? (He didn't show the process much). I noticed he was wailing on auger/gearbox assembly pretty good with that hammer trying to straighten the auger. Wouldn't that damage something? I am probably getting a bit ahead of myself here. But are there torque specs for the bolts and fasteners on the re-assembly? Do you need to oil the sleeve bushing on the impeller end (i.e. periodic maintenance)? If so, they don't make it possible without splitting the machine obviously. Or are there some magic ports where one can lubricate this piece easily.