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**Country Boy** · 06-14-2011, 11:40 PM

Hope this is the right area for this...

I have a New Holland 499 Haybine. Been fixing it up year after year since I bought it, and its almost back to being like new again (cost a pretty penny to get it there). Right now I have to replace the bearing in the middle of the hex shaft that runs from one sickle bar drive gearbox to the other. The shaft is about 14 feet long with a hub on either end. The bearing I need to change is in the middle of this shaft. What I want to know is if anyone has any experience with changing this bearing and if they could please enlighten me on the proper procedure. I even purchased the service manual for the thing and it doesn't even mention the shaft in question. As it stands now, it looks as though I would have to remove the entire shaft, slide the old broken parts off of it, then slide the new parts all the way to the middle, then reinstall it. I'm hoping that's not the case and that the engineer that designed it isn't sitting in his easy chair right now laughing at my predicament.

Wouldn't surprise me, seeing some of the other brainy ideas that they came up with.

Parts diagram of the relevant area:

I need to change numbers 12-15, and the shaft is number 10. Looks like two pieces, but the parts listing shows it as one piece.

**Country Boy** · 06-18-2011, 10:20 PM

Well, I got this fixed today. Ended up having to remove the hex shaft (#10 in the pic above) by removing the three bolts on each side holding the hub (#9 + #5) together. Then I removed the bolts holding the hubs to the hex shaft. Lower the haybine to the ground to allow the shaft to move back far enough to get it out. Remove the hubs from each end of the shaft (I hammered a chisel into the seam of the hub to spread it and loosen it) and pull the shaft out toward the right hand side of the machine.

I used a angle grinder to cut the old collar (#13) off the hex shaft, then I cleaned the shaft up with emery cloth and a wire brush. I installed the new collar by driving it down the shaft. Use a pipe that just fits over the shaft to drive it so you don't hammer on the collar. I ended up having to grind the shaft a bit to remove the paint and round the corners of the hex over a bit to get the collar to slide. I also heated the collar with a blow torch as I went to expand it. Be darn careful with the collar as the new one cost me almost $200.

Once I got the collar on, I started to reinstall the shaft under the machine. I slid it half way back under the machine, then installed the bearing assembly over the shaft and then over the collar. Reinstall the hubs on the shaft, and reattach the hubs to the other halves on the gear boxes. Make sure you have the sickle bars in time before you tighten everything up. The manual talks about how to set the timing on the sickle bars. Attach the center bearing mount on the hex shaft to the frame of the haybine with the carriage bolts, making sure the collar is lined up properly. The set screw needs to be installed along with the jam nut to keep it tight. I left about 1/4" of the collar sticking out of the bearing on the side opposite the set screw so there would be plenty of room for the set screw and jam nut.

Took me about 2.5 hours from start to finish to get everything done. I just have to install the new shields over the shaft and then grease and oil everything. I decided to postpone installing the new upper roll drive shaft until first crop cutting is done. Its worn, but not badly enough to take the time now to replace it. Should have had the hay done a week and a half ago, but this thing has been holding me up. I just thought I'd type up how I did the repair for anyone searching for it in the future.

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