Farmall M Final Drive & Rear Axle Bearing Questions

keithg · Sep 17, 2010

I am currently working on a 47 M and looking at the inner/outer rear axle and bull pinion (brake) shaft bearings. I am curious how some of the forum members make the judgment call about replacing or reusing these bearings.

For example, I removed the entire wheel from the RH rear axle, placed a dial indicator on the axle next to the outer grease fitting, then raised and lowered the rear axle by hand............saw about 010" of movement, I assume due to original bearing radial clearance+wear in the outer bearing. Is this enough play to consider replacing this bearing? And will this amount of play prevent the new outer axle oil seal I am planning to install from actually sealing? Some of these bearings are expensive, at least through CaseIH.

I have the transmission cover off now so I can easily access all of these bearings. Tractor will be lightly used in the future, only rarely seeing full tractive load.

Thanks in advance for any pointers which may be provided.

rustred · Sep 17, 2010

if you only have .010 of play i would keep running the brgs. but of course remove the cap and give them an inspection to make sure they look ok also. the seal should still seal ok. just for running around still will be good for years.

sflem849 · Sep 18, 2010

I agree. Those bearings are REALLY big and with light use should never wear out IF YOU KEEP YOUR OIL LEVELS GOOD AND GREASE THE OUTERS. For the others who haven't looked. The outers are >$220 from CNH and I never had to buy the inners. I bought mine from a local bearing shop for $110.

NEKS · Sep 18, 2010

Pull the plug in the rear end of the 51 MD we are restoring and drained water out, some oil and ground up bearing parts. Somewhere in there, there is a little more then .010 play.

sflem849 · Sep 18, 2010

(quoted from post at 05:28:00 09/18/10) Pull the plug in the rear end of the 51 MD we are restoring and drained water out, some oil and ground up bearing parts. Somewhere in there, there is a little more then .010 play.

Probably the cage from the outer axle bearings. They had to be greased pretty regularly, but the inners recieved oil from the rear end. They are HUGE and would probably never wear out if the rear end had adequate oil. The outers required quite a bit of greasing and the grease had the potential to get diluted by the oil.

Anonymous-0 · Sep 18, 2010

If your tractor came from area that mounted corn pickers were used I would check all of them, they are big ball bearings but not failure proof. Its some work but if you want to rest easy only way is to remove them & clean completly, spin by hand to check for roughness. I would be very surprised if you didnt find a rough bearing from 4 axle or 4 pinion-brake shaft.

rustred · Sep 18, 2010

yes that is very true to take them out and clean them then lightly oil them and check for roughness,BUT under the circum stances he described what the tractor will be used for and have to give the best results that fit the application. the brgs only turn slow , no load on them, have .010 play, so i firmly believe they will pretty much outlast the owner. basically if you see no chips, race damage, rough balls put her together and let er roll.

Anonymous-0 · Sep 21, 2010

Wasnt worried about his use, but what about the previous owners history, believe me when I say its makes a mess in rear frame if any of these bearings fail & ball gets between bull gear & bottom of case or brake pinion gears. I worked in IH dealer for 47 years in SW Iowa where there were a lot of mounted pickers & you havent lived until changed out a broken axle or housing under tractor in field in a muddy ditch they tried to cross with a mounted picker.

keithg · Sep 21, 2010

Thanks for the responses.

I have been told by the original owner's family that this tractor was used with a mounted 2 row picker (2M or 2MH) until the late 60's.

I am taking the advice to disassemble the axles and bull pinion shafts so I can clean the parts and look at each bearing individually.

I started with the RH axle and have removed the carrier, axle and axle bearings. Inner bearing looked and felt great. Outer bearing didn't seem to have much wear, but may have a rough spot. I will try cleaning it again in case there may be some dirt in the races. I will look at the RH bull pinion shaft and bearings in the next few days.

sflem849 · Sep 21, 2010

(quoted from post at 15:03:08 09/21/10) Thanks for the responses.

I have been told by the original owner's family that this tractor was used with a mounted 2 row picker (2M or 2MH) until the late 60's.

I am taking the advice to disassemble the axles and bull pinion shafts so I can clean the parts and look at each bearing individually.

I started with the RH axle and have removed the carrier, axle and axle bearings. Inner bearing looked and felt great. Outer bearing didn't seem to have much wear, but may have a rough spot. I will try cleaning it again in case there may be some dirt in the races. I will look at the RH bull pinion shaft and bearings in the next few days.

DON'T CLEAN THEM IN SOLVENT AND THEN SPIN THEM WITHOUT OIL or you will be buying new bearings

This is especially bad when you do it with the air chuck when you are blowing the solvent out bc it spins at high speed w/o lube.

Farmall M Final Drive & Rear Axle Bearing Questions

keithg

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rustred

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sflem849

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NEKS

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sflem849

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Anonymous-0

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rustred

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Anonymous-0

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keithg

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sflem849

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