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85_Ranger4x4
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The ol' B has had some fluid retention problems, mainly it seeps oil out the left axle, leaks oil out the right axle pretty bad, and the rockshaft piston leaks hydraulic fluid into the transmission... letting the three point creep down. Nothing major, just a little very well deserved maintenance after 62 years of hard work.
Before we started:
Under the knife with the rockshaft housing off:
John Deere's "Better Idea" for holding the wheels on, rather than use bolts like my A-C's they have this collar thing that locks it into the splines... after 60+ years they are very reluctant to move. They haven't been adjusted for the 30 years it has been in the family, and I am going to wager to say a fair bit longer than that too, they are STUCK.
The rockshaft housing came right off, as did the sleeve for the rockshaft piston (the piston is seen hanging off the front) I didn't expect the piston to still be full of oil, hence the puddle. This is what is used to lift implements for those that haven't been around one, the square shafts sticking out of the sides are like a crankshaft for the piston and turn when oil is pumped into it.
(With the three point on it to show what the rockshaft does http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_images/1/1167/301/2915150060_large.jpg)
The piston cup is pretty much shot, it is really wierd it worked as good as it did, hard to imagine that thing holding oil for any length of time.
A look at what is left on the tractor:
Here is the right axle, note the gunk on the axle and on the outer rim, that is rear end oil.
Left axle, just a little bit of gunk on the axle shaft, I have never seen it drip or puddle so I think it just has a seep. Needless to say it is getting fixed too.
A look into the final drive/differential/transmission. Don't need no fancy hypoid ring and pinion here, just straight cut gears. The big "bull" gears are how you gear something down without making the differential rediculusly weak. As you can see, Deere used kind of a funky design for the diff itself but it must have worked ok, it is rare for them to give problems. Someone has had problems with the right shaft before, notice how the nut is cranked down past the locking hole for the cotter pin (already removed) A guess is it spun a bearing on the shaft and wore the lip down on the shaft, the axle slides in and out a quarter of an inch so cranking it down didn't fix it...
A peek under the bull gears reveals what powers the PTO shaft. Aside from running the hydraulics it is a shaft that sticks out the back and runs mowers, augers... pretty much anything that turns. There is a coupler that connects this to the stub you can see under the rockshaft piston.
Since we couldn't get the wheel off of the axle, we removed it as an assembly. There are bolts that hold the cast iron center to the part that clamps on the axle, we got the nuts off but because the tractor was in the way we could beat them out. The came right out with the assembly removed and we could get a clear shot at them with a sledge.
The inner axle seal, as suspected is shot, the metal spring is showing. There is supposed to be an outer felt seal too, but we found no evidence of it.
The bearings were worn, but not terrible. This process isn't fun enough to risk it so it is getting new ones anyway.
As I left it Sunday in my parents garage, the dealership sent us the felts and piston cup for the later style and I ran out of time anyway. The right ones should have been in today, hopefully we can get it done this next weekend (still have to do the otherside too)
Before we started:
Under the knife with the rockshaft housing off:
John Deere's "Better Idea" for holding the wheels on, rather than use bolts like my A-C's they have this collar thing that locks it into the splines... after 60+ years they are very reluctant to move. They haven't been adjusted for the 30 years it has been in the family, and I am going to wager to say a fair bit longer than that too, they are STUCK.
The rockshaft housing came right off, as did the sleeve for the rockshaft piston (the piston is seen hanging off the front) I didn't expect the piston to still be full of oil, hence the puddle. This is what is used to lift implements for those that haven't been around one, the square shafts sticking out of the sides are like a crankshaft for the piston and turn when oil is pumped into it.
(With the three point on it to show what the rockshaft does http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_images/1/1167/301/2915150060_large.jpg)
The piston cup is pretty much shot, it is really wierd it worked as good as it did, hard to imagine that thing holding oil for any length of time.
A look at what is left on the tractor:
Here is the right axle, note the gunk on the axle and on the outer rim, that is rear end oil.
Left axle, just a little bit of gunk on the axle shaft, I have never seen it drip or puddle so I think it just has a seep. Needless to say it is getting fixed too.
A look into the final drive/differential/transmission. Don't need no fancy hypoid ring and pinion here, just straight cut gears. The big "bull" gears are how you gear something down without making the differential rediculusly weak. As you can see, Deere used kind of a funky design for the diff itself but it must have worked ok, it is rare for them to give problems. Someone has had problems with the right shaft before, notice how the nut is cranked down past the locking hole for the cotter pin (already removed) A guess is it spun a bearing on the shaft and wore the lip down on the shaft, the axle slides in and out a quarter of an inch so cranking it down didn't fix it...
A peek under the bull gears reveals what powers the PTO shaft. Aside from running the hydraulics it is a shaft that sticks out the back and runs mowers, augers... pretty much anything that turns. There is a coupler that connects this to the stub you can see under the rockshaft piston.
Since we couldn't get the wheel off of the axle, we removed it as an assembly. There are bolts that hold the cast iron center to the part that clamps on the axle, we got the nuts off but because the tractor was in the way we could beat them out. The came right out with the assembly removed and we could get a clear shot at them with a sledge.
The inner axle seal, as suspected is shot, the metal spring is showing. There is supposed to be an outer felt seal too, but we found no evidence of it.
The bearings were worn, but not terrible. This process isn't fun enough to risk it so it is getting new ones anyway.
As I left it Sunday in my parents garage, the dealership sent us the felts and piston cup for the later style and I ran out of time anyway. The right ones should have been in today, hopefully we can get it done this next weekend (still have to do the otherside too)
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