51 H Transmission Metal Chunks

Changing the fluid for the transmission I removed enough metal pieces to cover about a 1/4 of the palm of my hand. They seem to be from a bearing race but I am not sure. There wasn"t any noticeable noise in trans and it seemed to work fine. What should be my first move to correct this or is this something that might not get worse.

It will get much worse unless someone left that in there after a previous repair. Start by jacking up wheels and listening, then maybe pulling brake covers off. Most likely inside axle bearing or brake shaft bearing. Hole in bottom coming up if not attended to.

Is it possible to replace the inside axle bearing or brake shaft bearing without removing the transmission top and just go in thru the side?

No, the bull gear has too come off.

Thank you for the help...and the start. I will let you know what I find tomorrow.

Was the metal from just the _transmission_ section drain or the plug in back?

If just the transmission part then perhaps P.O. ground gear a lot. Even so it's still worth further investigation.

Were any of the pieces rounded as if part of a bearing ball?

If you remove the deck check the hole that oils the reverse idler gear. The hole can fill with small chips and plug cutting off sufficent oil to shaft and bushings.

I will post a picture. After cleaning them up I can definitely see the shape of a bearing casing but have not found any round bearings so far. Just about to dive into removing the top cover.

Yes, you can replace the axle bearings and brake shaft bearings without taking cover off, have done many, but it is better to take the cover off for ease of working and cleanup.

I finally was able to get the top off to see if there was any damage (Broke 2 seized bolts) and couldnt find any obvious broken bearing races or gears. With that being said how many bearings are there in the trans and what should I be looking for?

Got the top off (Broke 2 seized bolts) and couldnt find any obvious broken bearing races or gears. How many bearings are there in the trans and is there anything in particular I should be looking for?

Quite possibly it is the pilot bearing on the front of the top shaft where it rides inside the front constant speed gear mechanism. Easiest way to tell is to just grab the top shaft at the front and shake it to see if it is loose or clutch it so you can turn the constant speed gear by hand and listen for any grinding noises. It is a needle bearing in there, and they can be a bear to diagnose. On the good side, they are super simple to fix, as all you need do is pull the drive shaft, pull the front cover (done from underneath), and the bearing will be readily apparent for all the world to see! And, it is the first thing you remove when pulling out the rest of the transmission anyway, so if you pull it and it is fine, you've not wasted any effort since it had to come out anyway.

If I am remembering right, there are a total of nine bearings in there. Two each on the top shaft and bottom shaft, one on each end. One on either side of the differential carrier that can be pulled out by removing the bull pinion shafts from the sides, but be careful pulling the bearing cages, as they are plain cast and you can easily break an ear off where the pulling bolts screw into them at, (don't ask me how I know this ). The ones on the inside ends of the axle shafts, accessible by dropping off the bull gears and then removing the four bolts in the circular retainers holding them in. And of course there is the above mentioned pilot bearing.

I actually had a noise problem in mine, along with the bits and pieces of "something" coming out in the oil, and when I pulled it apart, the pilot bearing came out in several pieces, but turned out that was only part of my problem. One of the spider gears turned out to be missing large chunks of several teeth as well. Good news however, I used that as an excuse to replace every bearing under the rear frame cover, along with all the seals too, and I found another issue that required a replacement part as well, that I would have missed had I not pulled everything out in the process.