I need either the final drive sprocket seal (JD part number AT12996, item 31 in parts image below), or a good used seal housing with seal (item number 32 in parts drawing) for our loader. Our local John Deere Lawn and Ag dealer tried a search and told us that the seal in no longer available, and no other dealers in his network showed any stock. Lavoy also told me last year the he didn't have any source, so I'm trying this forum to see if anyone out there can pull the rabbit out of a hat for us. My alternative would be to have my local machine shop machine our housing to accommodate a current seal size for the 3.312" gear shaft seal diameter and maybe use 2 or 3 double lip seals stacked to make up the 7/8" seal width of the original. Any leads, help or thoughts are most appreciated. Many thanks, -Tom
Do you have a local bearing and seal provider that can match it up? We have one here in PA that can match about any seal provided. One caveat, sometimes they can't because the seal or bearing was made for a particular manufacturer and no one else.
I haven't tried our local bearing suppliers yet, but have been researching seal applications and size charts for something close. Dimensions as found on other forums brought this up: Shaft diameter - 3.312", Seal outside diameter - 4.254", width - 0.750". My measurements were close but not as precise as the above. I thought I'd leave the precision measurements up to my machine shop if needed. That forum member also wrote that the custom JD seal has three dirt wiper lips ahead of the oil seal lip. As I had to destroy the oil seal which was obviously bad in removal, the dirt seals appeared to be either leather of some kind on fabric or rope. Since this shaft is the gear that drives the sprocket it's important to ensure a seal choice that can stand up to the abrasion of dirt and mud. Many thanks for the reply. -Tom
Prospects for finding something new or used for our seal quest look increasingly dim, so I researched an SKF Seal Applications guide and found that their CR30651 was about as I could get to finding something that would work. So I took the shaft and seal housing across the street to my friend's machine shop to have the housing and shaft modified to take the new stock CR seal. The cost of the seal is just south of $150 plus tax, and the machining is a few hundred $. I'm planning to put two seals into the modified housing for added protection which increases the total seal width to 1", 1/8" more than the original JD seal. This seal is apparently used on other construction equipment working in similar environments including excavators and earth movers, so once the pain of heavy spending wears off I should have a solution to another road block in the task of getting this machine rolling again soon. Thanks to all for your help. -Tom
Sometimes you have to improvise and it's not always cheap.
"Nothing runs like a Deere"... until ya can't get parts for one!
Nothing costs like a Deere... although there's some strong competition there.