QA-42A - blew up the input gear today

[dgeary]

I was in the same boat a couple of years ago with my gearbox. Both shafts had deep grooves from bad bearings. The pulley/shaft interface was worn bad enough that the pulley had 0.25" run out. Hard on belts.
I considered buying another used gearbox but the cost for new parts was about the same or less than any used gearbox that I could find at the time. Plus you don't know what you're getting with a used part. So I just put new shafts, bearings, pulley, etc. in mine. At least the housing was still good.

 

[mpatterson]

Yeah, I don't really like idea of buying a used box, kind of a pig in a poke idea. Never know what going to get?
Have one guy I deal with who may have a complete blower he will sell??? Waiting to hear from him. Otherwise will be buying new stuff.
This virus crap doesn't help in buying another unit. In lock down so not supposed to be put "shopping".

 

[mfrade]

My point oh two, fwiw... even if you buy a whole 'nuther unit... unless you know for certain it was rebuilt with all new parts. You're right back to where you are now. If the rest of your current unit is in good shape, let your fingers do the walking and click on the colorful box above and let CCS send you what you need. You'll have a known good gearbox and your health will be protected at the same time!! Nod Nod, Wink Wink...

 

[gary noblit]

Mike, I look at repairs a tad different than some.I study a new purchase the same.What's the life of repair? How many hours per yr?? If life is 10 yrs and it cost $300. to fix it right then your real cost is $30. per yr.That seems very reasonable. If you use it 30 hrs per yr than operating cost is $1. per hr......By now you've got my point...fix it right and few worries for awhile.....of course Murphys law still is there...."If it whirs and churns it wears out"

 

[mpatterson]

Mike, I look at repairs a tad different than some.I study a new purchase the same.What's the life of repair? How many hours per yr?? If life is 10 yrs and it cost $300. to fix it right then your real cost is $30. per yr.That seems very reasonable. If you use it 30 hrs per yr than operating cost is $1. per hr......By now you've got my point...fix it right and few worries for awhile.....of course Murphys law still is there...."If it whirs and churns it wears out"

Very good point.

 

[mfrade]

Mike, I look at repairs a tad different than some.I study a new purchase the same.What's the life of repair? How many hours per yr?? If life is 10 yrs and it cost $300. to fix it right then your real cost is $30. per yr.That seems very reasonable. If you use it 30 hrs per yr than operating cost is $1. per hr......By now you've got my point...fix it right and few worries for awhile.....of course Murphys law still is there...."If it whirs and churns it wears out"

I look at it the same way. And that was my point. If you buy an unknown unit. you would have no idea as to the life expectancy. But if your blower has a known history and that includes any repairs.. and then you rebuild the drive box with new parts. Well, that's about as far away from the pig in a poke as you can get. Should have plenty of life left and lower cost per smiles!

 

[hydroharry]

Mike - the messages above make a good point in rationalizing repair costs. If you buy new gears, new shafts, new bearings and seals, well it's basically a new box. I suspect you're talking close to $400 or more - OUCH! But it would probably be good for 20+ years.

So, what would it take to get say 5 to 10 years out of it?
I think I'd be looking for a used gear box hoping it's in good shape OR good enough for you to overhaul using some of your current parts and some new.

If you look under the For Sale thread there is a listing for Narrow Frame Parts. Under the list it mentions 90 degree thrower gear box. It's probably a 3 bolt mount style for the older throwers, but then again you never know. It could be a 4 bolt mount. In either case it's probably has the 2:1 ratio (15 and 30 tooth) gears you could probably use.
Now, the guy is selling his box as part of a lot of items. I don't know if he'd separate it or if it's already be sold.
https://www.ihcubcadet.com/threads/narrow-frame-parts.8681/
And the other issue is how long are you willing to wait to find used stuff? That could force you to new parts. I know you're on the other side of the great divide (Canada) which makes prices of used generally higher. Throwers on this side generally sell for anywhere from $50 to $150 in all kinds of conditions. Generally the gear boxes are ok, it's the auger or housing that is shot. In my mind that's the part that makes it hard to justify all new parts. I'm not saying you can get a gearbox for $50 or $75 but if you have some time I suspect you can. I'm also not saying it will be a good box. It may be or may not, but I sure think I'd be looking that direction at least for awhile.

 

[mpatterson]

Mike - the messages above make a good point in rationalizing repair costs. If you buy new gears, new shafts, new bearings and seals, well it's basically a new box. I suspect you're talking close to $400 or more - OUCH! But it would probably be good for 20+ years.

So, what would it take to get say 5 to 10 years out of it?
I think I'd be looking for a used gear box hoping it's in good shape OR good enough for you to overhaul using some of your current parts and some new.

If you look under the For Sale thread there is a listing for Narrow Frame Parts. Under the list it mentions 90 degree thrower gear box. It's probably a 3 bolt mount style for the older throwers, but then again you never know. It could be a 4 bolt mount. In either case it's probably has the 2:1 ratio (15 and 30 tooth) gears you could probably use.
Now, the guy is selling his box as part of a lot of items. I don't know if he'd separate it or if it's already be sold.
https://www.ihcubcadet.com/threads/narrow-frame-parts.8681/
And the other issue is how long are you willing to wait to find used stuff? That could force you to new parts. I know you're on the other side of the great divide (Canada) which makes prices of used generally higher. Throwers on this side generally sell for anywhere from $50 to $150 in all kinds of conditions. Generally the gear boxes are ok, it's the auger or housing that is shot. In my mind that's the part that makes it hard to justify all new parts. I'm not saying you can get a gearbox for $50 or $75 but if you have some time I suspect you can. I'm also not saying it will be a good box. It may be or may not, but I sure think I'd be looking that direction at least for awhile.

All good points Harry. Agreed.
I'm going to look at a complete assembly that might get me through this year???? Its a very fair price so far, but will see when I get there. I'm at the point now that new parts for this box will be the answer. Sad part is, I wouldn't want to put these shafts into a new set of gears and bearings and watch it explode again. The shafts are not horrible by any means, but I'm also not rushing to take out 4 bearings and 2 seals on a whim that they will work okay either.

I see what you are saying and everyone else, totally agree.

I know one thing, you guys in the South are certainly lucky when it comes to Cub stuff. It seems to be everywhere, and most times reasonably priced! Here, its darn hard to find. In any condition that is! If ya wanna buy green, that stuff is everywhere.

I'm actually considering hunting down a guy that has a Massey Ferguson blower and see what he'll sell it for to have for next year with the 1650 I was given. It still needs work on it, but might be another route to go too? So many choices, just none that are cheap! Will see what happens comes Friday, that will be D-Day for this blower.

 

[kmcconaughey]

I have two complete QA42 and one QA42A snow throwers and a spare 42" auger. One of the QA42s is my main snowthrower, the other two are spares. I had a second QA42A but sold it last year. I like to have spare parts on hand. I also have a 48" Dexter Rotary broom that was modified by the PO to use a QA gear box. The brushes are shot and the broom hood is beat up so the gear box is at this point a spare. Unless I decide to refurb it and get new brushes...

 

[mpatterson]

So I opened up the gearbox on the "new to me" QA-42A today while waiting on supper to finish on the smoker....surprise, surprise! No wonder it siezed up, there wasn't one drop of grease or oil in it! Looks like condensation over the years collected on the gears and rusted them together. Good Grief! Someone even drilled and tapped a fill hole in the side of the box I noticed afterwards and put a square plug in it. Too bad they didn't fill it up after putting the plug hole in! Hoping I can get the gears off it without too much problems and be able to take a wire brush to them to clean them up. They don't seem to be pitted, so that's a plus!

Harry, you asked me before about the gearbox - both of them are 4 tab boxes. The one I picked up the other day actually has an IH on the cover like my 4 tab one on the tiller. Nice to see. The other QA just has a plain flat cover, no IH stamped into it.

 

[sblunier]

Keyway would be a classic stress riser, if it was going to break, it would be there.

Could be as simple as a broken tooth locking it up and grenading the small gear.

I shucked a gear set once too. Replaced the gears with ones from a parts unit, filled it with corn head grease and went back to throwing snow.....


Looking at pictures after I posted above, looks like inner bearing failure was the cause of the gear set failure. (memory isn't too great...but then again, it did break 18 years ago......)

 

[mpatterson]

Keyway would be a classic stress riser, if it was going to break, it would be there.

Could be as simple as a broken tooth locking it up and grenading the small gear.

I shucked a gear set once too. Replaced the gears with ones from a parts unit, filled it with corn head grease and went back to throwing snow.....


Looking at pictures after I posted above, looks like inner bearing failure was the cause of the gear set failure. (memory isn't too great...but then again, it did break 18 years ago......)

View attachment 141625

Damn, that looks about as nasty as my gearbox did Steve!

 

[gary noblit]

Has anybody tried using the "good" silicone gasket maker and adding a cup of 90 wt to these gear boxes??

 

[sblunier]

.......Yes, corn head grease.....

 

[gary noblit]

Steve, enlighten me.The pic to me appears to be a liquid and you're calling it a grease.I have no "corn heads" so which is it? Sold how??

 

[bkattner]

I've got a combo of bearing grease and 80w-90 in mine, so far so good. Running like that for a few years.

 

[sblunier]

Corn head grease is made for gear boxes and is liquid grease.....like 200 wt oil.

 

[sblunier]

 

[gary noblit]

Steve,thanks for the reply and pic.It all makes sense to me.My experience has been that grease tends to move toward the sides of many gear boxes.Once it's out of the gears it's not going to flow back in.A "heavy" liquid makes more sense to me.....I don't know anyone that takes gearboxes apart once a yr to regrease...

 

[mpatterson]

.I don't know anyone that takes gearboxes apart once a yr to regrease...

Hahahahahahahahahaha
That would be too much like maintenance! lol, Who does that!!