Farmall 450 Gas Ball Bearing??

OK, I was draining out my transmission oil out of the 3 different drain holes. the one in the rear of the tractor, about an inch in diameter, I found something that made me not happy. Other than the 4 quarts of WATER that came out... I found a ball bearing... I was hoping someone could tell me what part of the tractor innards it came from.. TA, IPTO, tranmission??

Thanks for any input on this.

By the way, the tractor seemed very drivable, I didn't hear any grinding, and I actually have a 5 row corrugator that I did 2 rows on just to drive around a little. I didn't notice anything weird.

Tony

the most common bearing failure is the bull pinion. you can take the brakes off and the plate behind the brakes and pull the pinions out and inspect them.

That bearing looks a little big for a bull pinion bearing. The axle bearings are bigger and also fail quite a bit.

What's a corrugator?

I think you should check the axles inner & outer brngs, if it hasnt already been done that you know of, next thing that will happen is another ball will ride around the bull gear and bust the bottom of the rear frame main housing. At least drain the lube oil and refill with new.

It might be left over from a previous bearing replacement, but you won't know until you do an inspection.

Hello sflem849,

I thought the size of the bering is quite big, I am hoping it is not from the tranmission, or PTO, or TA. is there any "easy way" to get to the axle bearing. I would assume take tire off and then start removing bolts...

I call it a corrugator, I guess other people call it a Toolbar. It makes furrows. Mine are spaces 30 inches apart. Basically makes little ditches for irrigation from a ditch with a siphon tube at each one of the furrows.

Here is a picture I got off the internet, I didn't have a picture of mine.

Furrow irrigation...that's why I am not familiar with it. Hopefully they won't take away my CCA liscense for that one :lol:

There is a little more to it than just popping the axles off. ASSUMING a 400/450 is the same as a letter series (which they should have the same makeup to the best of my knowledge) You would have to pop the PTO out to get at the bull pinion gear and their bolts. You would then reach in and hold the bolt with your wrench while you wife spins the axle with a pipe wrench. Then you can just undo the axle housings from the frame and pull it them off. They are very heavy with the axles in them.

You may be able to jack the tractor up and feel for play without removing anything. The other thing you could do before you go nuts is pull the wheels and then the cap. The outer bearings fail long before the inners because you have to grease them. The inners get oiled from the transmission WHEN THE FLUID IS AT THE CORRECT LEVEL. That is the big problem. AND it probably wouldn't be an outer because the ball would have to get past the inner to get into the trans.

What I would do, drain the oil and see what comes out for chunks. Fish around with the magnet on a stick a little to see if you find chunks of bearing cage, etc. Flush it with a little diesel fuel to really flush out the loose chunks. Re-evaluate the situation after that.

You need to pull the pto so you can take a look and clean it out. Count the balls. Want to get them all. Ya, it could be from a previous failure but you won't know if you don't look. Most likely inside axle ball bearings. They were the bad ones along with bull pinion. Make nice grooves in housing also when they fail. If it is an an axle bearing I much prefer to pull axle housing although you can push axle out with out doing that. Harder to clean it up though.

Just looking here---isn't an axle bearing ball more on the order of 1/2 inch as opposed to the 5/8 as pictured here? Been a while since we've had an axle bearing out.

Yes, that is my question. For that size of a ball bearing (5/8") I am just looking for suggestions on what/where it could be from. I was hoping someone would just say that size of bearing comes from _____.

Looks like most people are saying the Axle, but now you have me a little concerned... I would like to tear into the correct portion of the tractor the first time

Not sure how easy the PTO comes off, looks like one 1 and 1/2 pages in the shop manual, so how hard could that be..

(quoted from post at 14:23:18 03/21/11) Yes, that is my question. For that size of a ball bearing (5/8") I am just looking for suggestions on what/where it could be from. I was hoping someone would just say that size of bearing comes from _____.

Looks like most people are saying the Axle, but now you have me a little concerned... I would like to tear into the correct portion of the tractor the first time

Not sure how easy the PTO comes off, looks like one 1 and 1/2 pages in the shop manual, so how hard could that be..

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Then take the top off if you want to do it the right way. All the other crap you were asking about is small. Axles are the only big bearings that I can think of.

sflem849,

Sorry if I offended you. I am going to do it your way, once I get home. It just happened to be someone else questioned the size thing on the bearing, and I worry alot about starting something I have never done before.

I really appreciated all your helpful suggestions. Not sure if I can get the wife to use a pipe wrench though...

sflem849,

Sorry if I offended you. I am going to do it your way, once I get home. It just happened to be someone else questioned the size thing on the bearing, and I worry alot about starting something I have never done before.

I really appreciated all your helpful suggestions. Not sure if I can get the wife to use a pipe wrench though...

(quoted from post at 16:20:07 03/21/11) sflem849,

Sorry if I offended you. I am going to do it your way, once I get home. It just happened to be someone else questioned the size thing on the bearing, and I worry alot about starting something I have never done before.

I really appreciated all your helpful suggestions. Not sure if I can get the wife to use a pipe wrench though...

Click to expand...

You better buy a friend then bc it is a two man job. :lol: You don't have to do it my way. My way certainly isn't the IH approved way, but it is the way most mechanics go about it. Popping the top is certainly the best way to inspect everything and assess the components. It will also take you twice as long or more.

I don't think I have ever removed the top cover for replacing just an axle bearing or broken axle. It certainly wasn't hard to decide if the tractor had a mounted corn picker on it.