Racinrick

I am sure glad you told me about the difference in bolts, avoiding another nightmare! Thank you! I really appreciate the help from all of you, I wish I had the sense to ask beforehand. As this moves along, I certainly will, and BTW I'll keep the Shinerbock iced down.?

Thank you! So much help here, I'm very humbled.

Will it slide out if I pull the PTO assembly from the rear? I'm sure there's a retainer holding it in somewhere in the middle of the case though.

My Lord, I had all this akbasswards. Yes, I thought you were referring to the gear in the front of the differential case. Yes, the front of the PTO shaft looks very similar to a 540, 6 spline. I see the MCV, what does MCV stand for? Did I say something about being an idiot on these IH transmissions? ? I realize this is not a private forum, but please guys, never fess up that you had a conversation with me because you may not sit well the associated degradation.?

I haven't been able to see that yet, the PTO gear is still frozen onto the PTO shaft, I think I will remove the PTO assembly from the rear and see if the shaft will slide out the back of the tractor, then I'll be able to understand if that was the case.

I must have misunderstood you, this thing was a real animal. The PTO gear is still frozen onto the PTO shaft in the differential case. One of the problems here is my novice knowledge (like none) of these higher HP IH tractors. I've dismantled some big Masseys, Whites, and a couple of JDs. On Whites I finally learned to pull the PTO assembly and shaft before splitting the transmissions, I think maybe this would have been the better approach on this IH as well. This one sure gave me a bloody nose that's for sure.

Well I finally got it the redneck way. I tried everything, even put longer bolts into the two housings to try and zip it back together enough to release the pressure on that gear. I never was able to get decent leverage with a pry bar, tried really long chisels soft hammered in to free up some space but never had over a 1/4 inch from the wall of the case. Glad I'm no rebuilding this unit, don't think it needed it anyway, but I did damage the front bearing on the differential case side. Last resort was to hook it up by chain to the front end loader and bounce it, reversing at the same time. It finally came loose and popped out. I have pics of what I've ended up with and would like advice how to avoid this nasty fight again. Next time I'm going to use that tool that was suggested. Thank you everyone, if I see you around town, I'll buy you a nice gold brown ice cold Shinerbock.

Wow, thank you all so much. It is definitely that large PTO gear hanging on the shaft. I could not move the front case back in place enough to get a pry bar in to relieve the stress on that gear, so I took the four retaining bolts out careful not to lose a hand in the process and then tried again backing the forklift. It's still stuck, but at least I'm not confounded about where the problem is. Also, my forklift started having fuel problems, would run for like 3 seconds and shutdown. The stuck gear problem and the forklift problem were getting the best of me from a frustration standpoint, then I started hearing thunder directly overhead. I'm doing this outside as my shop isn't big enough to accommodate all this, so I decided to tarp over everything, get some rest and recoil, and approach the next day (today) in a better frame of mind.

I have a 966 I'm parting out, separated the diesel engine from the tractor, and was pulling the front transmission/bellhousing case from the differential housing case. The rockshaft still sits on the tractor, and all exterior linkages to the clutch and etc were disconnected. I pulled the front shifter plate, unbolted the two cases and very gently eased my forklift under the front transmission case from where the engine had been. Applying a gentle lift to insure alignment I carefully eased back with the forklift. All was going well, the two housings separated about an inch then clunk...I cannot get complete separation. I've tried a pry bar from all directions, it will wiggle about a half inch either way right or left, up or down. It feels like there is a C clip or snap ring holding it together somewhere, but it's hard for me to believe it would separate an inch before it encountered a retainer of some sort. Someone please tell me what I'm doing wrong. Thank you in advance.