# John Deere stx38 Help



## Drvw5 (May 19, 2017)

I have a John Deere STX 38 hydro and was changing the left rear wheel and when I pulled it off the shaft also came off with it. Tried reinserting the shaft and will not go in all the way I tried twisting and turning to tapping it with a hammer. I thought it was in all the way but the wheel cap will not go on cause shaft sticks out less than an inch to far. Also when have jacked up in air the wheels turn forward and back when in gear but will not move when on ground is there a switch or something


----------



## RC Wells (Dec 26, 2008)

The axle has a key way and relies on a key to lock the axle to the hub in the wheel.

Pull the wheel back off and look for the key to be stuck down the key way and locking the wheel part way off the axle. keeps the wheel from sliding all the way on, and now allows that wheel to spin on the shaft when a load is placed on the tire by placing it on the ground.

All mowers with keyed axles are a royal pain when removing and replacing a rear wheel and tire. Most give up and buy a new mower which is likely part of the marketing plan.

Use fine sand paper or emery cloth and sand all the rust off the axle, key way, key, and out of the wheel hub hole. Place the key with anti-seize, goop the axle with the same, then slide the wheel back on the axle. Once the key aligns it may take a rubber hammer to bump the wheel back into place.

Go celebrate when you are done because you just accomplished what 99.9% of others could not.


----------



## jhngardner367 (Apr 5, 2011)

If the shaft came out of the transaxle,you'll have to remove the transaxle from the tractor,and disassemble it,since it's held in with a clip,on the inside of the differential unit.
NOT a job for anyone that is not mechanically inclined.


----------



## wazzer (May 29, 2020)

jhngardner367 said:


> If the shaft came out of the transaxle,you'll have to remove the transaxle from the tractor,and disassemble it,since it's held in with a clip,on the inside of the differential unit.
> NOT a job for anyone that is not mechanically inclined.


Hi John i had that problem with my dads stx 38 replaced the clip in the hydro and it came off again is there a fix for this or should i get a new clip its just flat steel with a slot that slides over a groove in the axle


----------



## wazzer (May 29, 2020)

In case someone else has the clip falling out problem its caused by wear in the differential gears which allows extra endplay in the axle train.when it wears it creates a space allowing the clip to drop out so all you need is to make a thicker retainer that holds the clip in the slot and against the diff gear if anyone needs i can post photos.


----------

