Stalk Cutter Repair

I got the PTO on the 1850 fixed in time to go on a 3 day tractor ride. Came home and hooked onto the 15' Lundell flail cutter and started mowing weeds in new CRP. I noticed that the key in one of the drive sprockets was working it's way out, so I drove it back in and tightened set screw and went back to mowing. When I quit for the night, I was looking it over and saw that the sprocket was split in the middle. I got it apart Saturday afternoon and when the sprocket came off, the shaft was about 3/4" higher than the shaft it lines up with. I went to Farm & Fleet looking for a weld a sprocket. 1 1/2" bore with a 1/4"keyway and 16 tooth #50 chain. They had 1 hub that was 1 1/2" and 1 16 tooth sprocket but it has 3/8" keyway in it. Since the keyway on the shaft is wallowed out, I thought about working on it with the hand grinder till the 3/8" key fit and go that route, then I tried to put the sprocket on the hub. Hole in sprocket is smaller than the hub. So I will go to Motion Industries tomorrow and see if they can come up with a 16 tooth 1 1/2" sprocket that will work. Still not sure what I'll do about the keyway. My first thought was to V the split with the grinder and weld it back together, but it looks like cast iron, so I don't think that idea is going to work. My wife thinks I'm having fun! Chris

Since the end of the shaft is shot anyway, I would be tempted to just weld the new sprocket onto the shaft.

The hub you found with a 3/8 keyway is probably standard.

That would be a good opportunity to have the keyway on the shaft cleaned up to 3/8.

Keys need a good fit to be effective and stay tight. Trying to grind it would not give a good fit.

Can you see any reason for the misalignment? If that can be corrected all the better. If the shaft is in a bind when pushed into alignment, it needs attention.

Chris get a Browning taper lock sprocket and hub set. The worn key way will not be an issue. The hub will grip the shaft when the sprocket is pulled up on it. Motion Industry will have them but they are high in price. Call Industrial Bearing Supply 1-800-728-3701 ask for Darrin. They will be half the price of Motion.

You just need the shaft size, key way width, number of teeth on the sprocket and the roller chain size.