JD Trans Dissassembly

[slamiste]

I have a 1924 J transmission stripped down with the exception of removing the mainshaft assembly. I've had the entire assembly (mainshaft, main gear, slide gear, kick side bearing lock nut) loose in the case per the instructions I have but there's not enough clearance to remove the complete assembly from the case as the instructions seem to instruct. I believe I have to separate the main gear from the main shaft or remove the starter ratchet gears. To date I've had no luck getting either of these off the shaft. I don't want to get too aggressive with pullers / hammers without getting some advise. So.....
1. What holds the main gear to the mainshaft? The instructions don't mention anything on this subject and I can't see any clip, etc.
2. The smaller starter gear looks like it's double keyed to the tapered mainshaft. I've tried a small puller on it but no luck so far.

P.S. - I still don't have the inlet housing nuts loose on the cylinders. I continue to soak them while I work on not being able to disassemble other things. Sigh....

[Tommo]

The mainshaft should be free in the main drive gear and you should be able to pull one out of the other easily.
Go easy on the end of the mainshaft at the kickstart ratchet end as it's very easy to damage the threads here and make life very difficult for yourself later.
Slacken the nut so that it is flush with the end of the mainshaft and then make yourself up a top hat style pressure plate that will fit into the hole in the centre of the mainshaft and have the rim on it large enough to cover at least most of the nut. What you are making is a pressure plate for your puller to push against and hopefully not damage the end of the mainshaft.
I use a two legged puller that I have ground the legs so it fits nicely behind the kickstart gear and apply a reasonable ammount of pressure.
Now take a decent size brass drift and grind an angle on it to suit the slope on the sleeve that is keyed to the mainshaft. What you are going to do is give that sleeve a shock directly above one of the key slots that should be visible behind the nut.
One decent wack is generally all you need to shake the sleeve loose of the taper but if it is really stubborn you may have to support it on the opposite side by the other key slot and give it a second wack. If it comes to this it is generally necessary to have someone to assist as there's to many things for two hands to hold.
Once you've got the kickstart mechanism off the mainshaft, disassembly should be very straight forward.
Hope this helps.

[slamiste]

Thanks

Hey Peter,
Thanks for your suggestions on this thread and the inlet housing thread as well. I won't be working on this project again until next weekend at the earliest. I'll update the threads when progress is made.

Thanks again!