Stuck sprocket - need advice

[Andrew Blair]

Hey, somewhat unrelated but fun: the back of the PB blaster can has a melting styrofoam cup on it. It does what it shows too, in about 8 seconds. Went through about half a can and 6 cups playing with it. I'd imagine it would've done a good job on your sprocket.

[Wayne C.]

Originally Posted by dlavery

30 pound sledge: 30 pound sludge:

-dave

I'd like to know where you got that one. My friend has one we use for smashing rock in the quarries for mineral collecting but he got it years ago from an old railroad equipment source, now gone. My biggest is about a 15 lb-er. Of course the Bosch 60 lb electric breaker hammer makes it much easier than both....

WC

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Sanddrag,
Sometimes pushing the sproket further on the shaft, then grinding down the mushroomed end works better than forcing it off.
Dave, sometimes you are downright scary. Although using the two together does bring back memories of Gallagher and a watermellon.

[sanddrag]

I tired pushing (read: beating) it down the shaft but it wouldn't go. Yes, my methods are somewhat scary sometimes. When those bolts broke, they shot out a good 20 feet. And yes I continued to operate the device with bent bolts. Anyway, my scary methods are better then gnawing it off with me teeth though so what can I say.

Another scary project was using one of those thin plastic square Crystal Geyser one gallon water bottles as a 100psi storage tank (oh, and it was beautifully duct taped on). It was for a little air cannon. Anyway, I was waiting for the pressure to build up and thought "just a little more" and then the tank shot off of the piping arrangement and flew about 40-50 feet away. Surprisingly, the tank never ruptured despite how thin the plastic is.

Anyway, back to the sprocket. This sprocket had those two set screws, one of which going into a little bit of a hole drilled in the shaft. I think a previous owner of the mower must have jammed a rock in the blade causing the shaft to spin in the sprocket which made a nasty groove in the shaft (from the set screws) which resulted in the sprocket being incredibly stuck.

I'm glad it's all taken care of now.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

Anyway, back to the sprocket. This sprocket had those two set screws, one of which going into a little bit of a hole drilled in the shaft. I think a previous owner of the mower must have jammed a rock in the blade causing the shaft to spin in the sprocket which made a nasty groove in the shaft (from the set screws) which resulted in the sprocket being incredibly stuck.

I hate it when you follow someone who has screwed up the works and you have to fix it. (can you tell I have had to do this before?)

[Andy Baker]

It's good to see the sprocket is off.

I know I'm late to the party here, but if this happens to someone again here are a couple more ideas to toss in. (don't you hate it when people give advice when it is too late?)

1. Heat up the sprocket. Alot. Try not to heat the shaft. The temp. difference between the two parts will enlarge the hole in the sprocket.

2. When beating on something you don't want to deform, use a brass hammer. I love my little brass hammer used to assemble gearboxes.

Andy B.