Driveshaft/Track removal`

[Squid]

Hello,
First of all, please pardon me for not knowing any of the part names I'm about to describe.
I scored a (I think) 94 Kitty Cat from my local freecycle group. It was free. It's a bit beat up, but runs really well. The clutch works, but the driveshaft is spinning without turning the plastic star shaped parts which drive the track.

The sprocket turns fine, and the driveshaft turns with the sprocket also. The pin which joins the two is fine. I'm thinking there are broken shear pins or something which fix the plastic star shaped wheels to the drive shaft.

I want to remove the whole track assembly and see about fixing what's broken in the drive system. How should I remove the track assembly? Should I remove the bearing retainers and tap the driveshaft out? Or does the driveshaft go down and out with the track assembly if I remove the bearing retainer flanges?
Is the track assembly supposed to come out in one assembly? I see that the middle rollers and back rollers are attached to the side plates. Should I remove the side plates with all the wheels as an assembly?

Any advice is very much appreciated. I look forward to letting my daugter zip around in the field across my street.

Thanks very much,
Dave

[andreej]

I'm far from an expert but here's my advice based on my experience with an older model. Removing the side plate things as an assembly will be easier. Once you have that whole assemby out of the sled you can dissasemble it further if need be. As far as the drive shaft, loosen the locking collars on the bearings (this is done by loosening the set screw then using a punch and hammer in the other hole, tap it loose. I think you will need to tap it in the direction of shaft rotation to loosen it - if not, try the other way!). Then loosen the bolts that hold the bearing flanges in place. Assuming the pins that hold the plastic wheels in place are already missing, you should then be able to tap out the drive shaft. Before you start pounding on it though, you might want to take some 220 grit sandpaper to the shaft and clean up any rust on it. Give it a good coating of WD40 as well once it is clean.

good luck!

[Squid]

andreej,
Thanks for the reply.
I did indeed remove the sideplate/rear wheels assembly first. This worked well. The rear assembly came out nicely.
Getting the front driveshaft out was another matter. I tried hard to loosen the lockrings but could not get them to budge. I managed to take off the sprocket and then unbolted the bearing retainer flanges, and was able to hammer and force the driveshaft right side down and then pull out the whole driveshaft assembly from the bottom. Now I'm soaking the collars and I hope to get them loosened. The plastic 5 point track drive sprockets are stripped out where the pins go through. So, being the cheap guy that I am, I'm going to look into fixing them somehow. If it's too involved I'll buy new units.

I'll post an update to this thread to let interested parties know how it worked out.

Thanks again!

[Jonn]

Dave:

If you find you need new front drivers, let me know. I keep them in stock. Also, I'll be publishing a new website on November 1st and it has all the part diagrams for every year Kitty Cat including the '72 and '73. There will also be service and maintenance information. If you need diagrams earlier, let me know and I can email a copy to you.