# Snap Ring Removal



## 8990TRAC (Jun 16, 2013)

Hi,

I need to get at the base of the gearstick on my 550 digger - it has a spring-loaded cover over it, held in place with a wire snap-ring:









I've been trying all morning to wedge screw-drivers in between the snap-ring and the gearstick, but I can only drive the ring down, onto the spring and I can't then get it out of the groove.

I've got a Knipex snap-ring tool, but it won't grip the ends of the snap-ring.

I'd be grateful if anybody can tell me how to get this stupid thing off!

Thanks


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## bbirder (Feb 26, 2006)

You should be able to get it off. Keep trying. Might be a good idea to hit the top with a pressure washer. If it does come off you wouldn't want all that crud falling in that case.


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## 8990TRAC (Jun 16, 2013)

OK - thanks...

I can get a screwdriver between the ring and the gearstick easily enough, but I can't get anything between the ring and the spring to then lever the ring up the gearstick...

Hopefully, I won't have to open the gearbox casing - I'm just trying to get at the pin fixing the upper gearstick to the stub that goes into the gearbox...that's what it looks like in the diagrams I've seen, anyway...


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## Hacke (Feb 22, 2011)

The fastest way is by violence. Probably the ring will be destroyed, but it is not expensive:
https://www.messicks.com/part/81804915/seat-slot
Fasten the ring to the shaft with a pair of vise grips, positioned with one jaw over one end of the ring and the other on the other side of the shaft. Position a chisel on to the other end of the ring and give it hard blows with a hammer.
Either the ring bends/opens, and you will be able to get a screwdriver on the other side of the opening and pry it away, or it breaks.
If the ring is not broken, you may be able to reuse it, after squeezing it together in a vise.

The best way is to get a proper tool:
https://www.knipex.com/index.php?id=1216&L=1&page=art_detail&parentID=1365&groupID=1454&artID=1721
Buying one is probably not an option for a job done a few times in a lifetime, but you may be able to borrow one?

You can buy a cheap pair of pliers for external snap rings, cut off the tips and modify them into something like this:
https://www.knipex.com/fileadmin/si.../KNIPEX/Anwendungsbilder/web/4521200H03D0.jpg
https://www.knipex.com/fileadmin/si.../KNIPEX/Anwendungsbilder/web/4510170H01D0.jpg
https://www.knipex.com/fileadmin/si.../KNIPEX/Anwendungsbilder/web/4521200H01D0.jpg

I like this type of pliers:
https://www.channellock.com/product/929/
https://www.sears.com/craftsman-professional-retaining-ring-pliers-medium/p-00947397000P?rrec=true
Works for both internal and external rings, the ratchet locks the pliers when engaged, and you can make your own tips when needed.


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## 8990TRAC (Jun 16, 2013)

Thanks for that - that's a great help 

I bought a set of these to do this very job:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Knipex-4510170-Special-Retaining-6-75-Inch/dp/B003UHUCQM
...but I just can't get the plier faces to grip the ring...they just slip off, every time.

Grips/Chisel/Hammer sounds like the way ahead...


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## Hacke (Feb 22, 2011)

Bummer, it is a great tool otherwise. One end of the ring seems to be cut square (even the new from New Holland). If both ends were cut like the other end, your tool would work.


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## FredM (Nov 18, 2015)

have you tried to just get the corners into the groove and gently squeeze the handles enough to get a very small screw driver under the ring?.


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## 8990TRAC (Jun 16, 2013)

Thanks for your help with this 

I think the main problem is, because I'm having to do all this through a hole in the floor, under the pedals, while I hang on the step outside the door and reach in with one arm, I just can't get a good angle with the tool to get it to grip...

I had a good old go at this:







...but I just couldn't get a good swing with the hammer because of the pedals being in the way, so I went for the old faithful angle grinder and cut the ring out of the groove:














Going by the workshop diagrams, I was hoping that the pin (43) securing the gear-stick to the selector would be accessible - mine seems to have failed in some way, as the gear-stick now rotates when you try to push it left or right. It turns out, though, that the pin must be the other side of the cover plate...














Looks like I'll have to get the cover and spring off the high/low ratio stick (probably the same way), clean off the top of the gearbox and remove the top cover...what a faff!


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## Hacke (Feb 22, 2011)

Upside: You will get the benefit of dealing with it on the bench.


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## 8990TRAC (Jun 16, 2013)

That's definitely the very narrowest of silver linings 

To be honest, unless it looks like it's absolutely not do-able, I'll be trying to fix this through the hole in the floor, with the gearbox in situ...there are nine bolts holding the top cover down and they're all relatively easy to get at through the floor - it looks like it's only the top-cover holding the gear-stick/selector mechanism in place, so hopefully nothing beyond that will need removing...

Why couldn't the selector be designed with a square hole for the gear-stick? It wouldn't be able to twist, then...PITA!


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## Joemowey (Jun 4, 2018)

8990TRAC said:


> Hi,
> 
> I need to get at the base of the gearstick on my 550 digger - it has a spring-loaded cover over it, held in place with a wire snap-ring:
> View attachment 56397
> ...


 I would cut the clip with a Dremel Model # 395 or like tool with cutoff wheel.Make Sure You can purchase a new clip , Sure You can though.


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## 8990TRAC (Jun 16, 2013)

Hello,

well, I went for it and changed the pin - here's the process...it's awkward and I couldn't do the job properly with the gearbox in situ, but I fixed the problem and the digger's drivable again, so I count it as a win:








The top-cover is held down with nine bolts - they take a 15mm socket. All of them are fairly easy to get at, even under the floor. The hardest one is the bolt behind the oil-filler/dipstick tube.








The best way to get at it is to pop the throttle-linkage off - it makes life a lot easier. Getting the plate off the gearbox and out from under the floor is a bit awkward; I found it had to be lifted and then turned through 90 degrees with the gear-sticks pointing away from the door, then it could be tilted and pulled out past the hydraulic pipes.








The underside of the plate was quite badly corroded - I guess condensation forms under it, so there was a lot of surface rust. Water had emulsified the grease around the gear-stick ball-joints, so it was bit of a mess.








The gear-sticks are held in place by a securing plate, which is in turn held in place with three, oval-form nuts. There are two washers with tapered inner-holes behind the plate that need refitting the right-way round.








Here's the high-low ratio stick; it doesn't moved left or right in use, so the pin which stops it twisting in the plate-hole hasn't worn down.








Here's the problem, though; the pin in the gear-stick has worn down to nothing.








Although the pin in the high-low stick was loose enough to pull out, the one in the gear-stick need to be drilled out - working up to a 7.5mm bit did the job. I though the new pin would need to be pressed in, but it fitted fairly loose and is held in place by the mounting hole in the top-plate anyway.








After cleaning the worst of the corrosion off the cover-plate, I re-greased the gear-stick holes - you can see the slots here that the pins go into.








The gear-sticks then slide through, back into place.








With both gear-sticks in place, I then packed them both with grease from the top, slid the plastic covers back into place and dropped the springs back on.








Here's the first hard bit - I got new split-rings, but my split-ring tool just wouldn't open them enough to get them down the gear-sticks any distance. The only way I could do it was to hammer them all the way down the sticks until them seated in the grooves above the springs...


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## 8990TRAC (Jun 16, 2013)

...







Back in the digger, I (very!) carefully scraped away all the old gasket without dropping any of it into the gearbox and then fitted a new gasket. There are four, strange, sprung pins towards the aft-end of the access hole, which the gasket aligns on, keeping it square.








Here's the second tricky bit. I'd put both sticks in neutral before removing the plate, so the selector holes should have been easy to find with the ends of the sticks. There's a locating pin that sticks down from the cover-plate in the bottom right-hand corner (as you're looking at it here), which goes into a hole, just next to the neutral sensor switch and the high-low ratio selector hole. It took a few goes before I realised that the thing the locator pin goes into can actually move on the selector shaft - it has to be pushed as far aft as possible before the pin will locate.

At this point, I also realised there was no way on Earth I was going to get the neutral-sensor switch wires back on. Realistically, the only way to do this would be to either drop the gearbox or lift the cab off - not only can you not see what you're doing, you can't get your hand in to push the wires onto the contacts. As the digger happily starts in gear, I knew somebody had bypassed the wiring in the past, so I just left the wires dangling; it refused to start, I'd just have to open the plate up and try again.








Refitting the cover was a matter of turning it through ninety degrees again, as before and then manoeuvring it into place without knocking the gasket off - not as difficult as it sounds, actually. The plate doesn't sit perfectly flat against the gasket, I think because the gear-sticks are sprung and push down against the selectors slightly.

I re-fitted and tightened the easy to get at bolts and then tested the gear-change - everything seemed fine, so I fitted the rest of the bolts, re-fitted the throttle linkage and then re-fitted the floor-plate and the gear-stick gaiter.

Despite the impossible to fit wires, everything basically went back together OK and I can now change gear again - hooray!


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## 8990TRAC (Jun 16, 2013)

As a bit of an adendum;

I _did_ manage to get new split-rings and pins, but only through Messicks, which meant shipping them from Pennsylvania to Scotland!

2x 83910227-624 Pin - $2.78
2x 81804915-624 Seat/Slot (split-ring) - $0.87
Shipping - air-freight - $25.88

Now...you might be thinking, surely I could have got them cheaper in the UK? Turns out, not... My local agri-supplier could get the pins, but not the rings and they wanted 5.50+VAT each for them...and they'd only sell them in a pack of five.

I tried to reason with them on the grounds that it had taken 40 years for the pin I had to wear out, so a pack of five was spares enough for the next 200 years, but was told "dunno mate...they come in a pack of five"...customer service at its best.


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## Hacke (Feb 22, 2011)

Thank you, very good information!


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