TroyBilt Wheel Service kit for 2004-2005 Storm snow blowers with locking drive wheel problems. Kit to repair problem with locking wheels on TroyBilt Snow blowers.
Great video, thank you. Very clear and to the point. I repaired my neighbor's (same) machine a month ago because all of the bearings were seized up and the wheels would not turn. I just disassembled everything, freed up the bearings, reassembled all w/ new grease, etc. Worked fine for last couple snows. He told me today it wasn't working again. Drug it over to my garage, pulled the cover. The right outer hex shaft bearing fell off and the drive came apart. Don't know if the e-clip failed or the bearing disintegrated. Those parts are missing in the snow somewhere! Looks like they solved this issue by using the bolt on the right side w/ the new design hex shaft instead of the e-clip. Guess I'll see if he wants me to order up the kit and try again!
The E-clip is just a 3/4" clip you can get at the local hardware store in the "pull out drawers" of small parts. The bearing is part number MTD # 941-0563 or STENS #230-404 or you can find the same bearing using the generic bearing number of 6203-2RSNR (means 17mm x40mm x12mm , 2R = 2 rubber seals on sides of bearing, SNR=snap ring on one side of the bearing. I buy the generic 6203-2RSNR bearings in quantity for 3 bucks each and use them all the time. If you have a local industrial supply, you can get the bearing from them or order it on line. I would try a new bearing and clip for now and then next season, install the complete kit for 80 bucks and never look back. The kits seem to be out of stock at this time from my distributor but MTD may have them for sale. The kit has everything you need to repair the drive problem for very cheap money. If you price all those parts out individually, they are about 300 bucks!
Dan Small Engine Dan, thanks for the additional info. I went over to the neighbors after the snow melted a week later. Found the missing bearing and half of the e-clip laying on the sidewalk. Looks like he continued to try to use the machine for quite a bit after the bearing fell off. The bearing was seized up again. Not sure if that is why the clip broke or not. There is some damage to the outer edges of the large aluminum friction wheel that the rubber drive disc wheel drives off of due to his continued usage with the shaft flopping around. Hoping I can clean that up and reuse. Still waiting for the neighbor to see if he wants to fix. If not, I will offer to take off his hands and fix myself. I'm leaning towards the whole kit. Hoping you can answer a question: when I put together the first time, I had a really hard time getting the right side e-clip on because the groove in the shaft was not sticking out of the bearing enough to insert it. I had to squeeze the sides of the drive-train housing together a little (temporarily) with a large clamp to expose the groove. I had it apart a few times to make sure all was going together and I thought it was. Looking back now I am thinking possible the bearing was disintegrating internally causing the issue but not sure since it was spinning fine when I assembled. Any thoughts on this issue? Thanks!
Sometime when assembling the bearings onto the speed shaft, the frame prevents the clips from going on because it’s flexed open a bit. I never had to clamp it to bring it back into spec. You might want to slide the bearing onto each end of the shaft first just to see if they slide all the way in against the hex area of the shaft. Rust can prevent this causing a fight when try to get the E-clips on. If your housing was bent and caused lots of side load on the speed shaft bearings, the bearing will fail early. It sounds like your bearings were probably in poor condition to begin with. If you do install the drive kit, you can use the new parts to gage the width of the housing. The new parts are a bit more forgiving in terms of width so if the housing is slightly wider than it should be, the kit will still fit. If you friction plate has minor damage on the far outer edge, you can clean it up with emery cloth and it should be fine. Most of the time, the gear shift range doesn’t allow the friction rubber to go out near the outer edge so you probably won’t run in that area anyway. Use some 220 sandpaper as a final polish on it and it should be fine. You can replace the disk/bearing assembly by ordering 656-04055 ( replaces all these 656-04025, 756-04177, 956-04177, 656-04025A) and swapping it out.
Your video was very informative, got the kit for my mtd 8-26 snowblower that I got at a yard sale for short money now it runs great.
Great video, thank you. Very clear and to the point. I repaired my neighbor's (same) machine a month ago because all of the bearings were seized up and the wheels would not turn. I just disassembled everything, freed up the bearings, reassembled all w/ new grease, etc. Worked fine for last couple snows. He told me today it wasn't working again. Drug it over to my garage, pulled the cover. The right outer hex shaft bearing fell off and the drive came apart. Don't know if the e-clip failed or the bearing disintegrated. Those parts are missing in the snow somewhere! Looks like they solved this issue by using the bolt on the right side w/ the new design hex shaft instead of the e-clip. Guess I'll see if he wants me to order up the kit and try again!
The E-clip is just a 3/4" clip you can get at the local hardware store in the "pull out drawers" of small parts. The bearing is part number MTD # 941-0563 or STENS #230-404 or you can find the same bearing using the generic bearing number of 6203-2RSNR (means 17mm x40mm x12mm , 2R = 2 rubber seals on sides of bearing, SNR=snap ring on one side of the bearing. I buy the generic 6203-2RSNR bearings in quantity for 3 bucks each and use them all the time. If you have a local industrial supply, you can get the bearing from them or order it on line. I would try a new bearing and clip for now and then next season, install the complete kit for 80 bucks and never look back. The kits seem to be out of stock at this time from my distributor but MTD may have them for sale. The kit has everything you need to repair the drive problem for very cheap money. If you price all those parts out individually, they are about 300 bucks!
Dan Small Engine Dan, thanks for the additional info. I went over to the neighbors after the snow melted a week later. Found the missing bearing and half of the e-clip laying on the sidewalk. Looks like he continued to try to use the machine for quite a bit after the bearing fell off. The bearing was seized up again. Not sure if that is why the clip broke or not. There is some damage to the outer edges of the large aluminum friction wheel that the rubber drive disc wheel drives off of due to his continued usage with the shaft flopping around. Hoping I can clean that up and reuse. Still waiting for the neighbor to see if he wants to fix. If not, I will offer to take off his hands and fix myself. I'm leaning towards the whole kit. Hoping you can answer a question: when I put together the first time, I had a really hard time getting the right side e-clip on because the groove in the shaft was not sticking out of the bearing enough to insert it. I had to squeeze the sides of the drive-train housing together a little (temporarily) with a large clamp to expose the groove. I had it apart a few times to make sure all was going together and I thought it was. Looking back now I am thinking possible the bearing was disintegrating internally causing the issue but not sure since it was spinning fine when I assembled. Any thoughts on this issue?
Thanks!
Sometime when assembling the bearings onto the speed shaft, the frame prevents the clips from going on because it’s flexed open a bit. I never had to clamp it to bring it back into spec. You might want to slide the bearing onto each end of the shaft first just to see if they slide all the way in against the hex area of the shaft. Rust can prevent this causing a fight when try to get the E-clips on. If your housing was bent and caused lots of side load on the speed shaft bearings, the bearing will fail early. It sounds like your bearings were probably in poor condition to begin with. If you do install the drive kit, you can use the new parts to gage the width of the housing. The new parts are a bit more forgiving in terms of width so if the housing is slightly wider than it should be, the kit will still fit. If you friction plate has minor damage on the far outer edge, you can clean it up with emery cloth and it should be fine. Most of the time, the gear shift range doesn’t allow the friction rubber to go out near the outer edge so you probably won’t run in that area anyway. Use some 220 sandpaper as a final polish on it and it should be fine. You can replace the disk/bearing assembly by ordering 656-04055 ( replaces all these 656-04025, 756-04177, 956-04177, 656-04025A) and swapping it out.
great video, Doing a install as I watch,, great reference to follow. Thanks for sharing
Any chance someone has the kit used or cheaper? Can't find anywhere under 250... for that I'm thinking I'll just buy a new
Where are you finding this kit for $75? I can only find it for $200+ even when calling troy-bilt / mtd.
I think he was wrong....