mike1972chev
Well-known Member
Hey,
When I put my wide front end on my Super M,I lubed the ball socket with bearing grease when I assembled it.THAT was over 11 years ago!!! And that was that(wasnt even thinking about it ever again???) One day When I was doing the regular greasing of ALL of the zerks,it finally "sank in" that this area had NEVER been lubed in over a decade!!!!!I pulled the aluminum cap off and it was dry as a bone!
There are ALOT of grease zerks on an M,but what blows my mind,there is NOT one for the stay rod ball socket???? What the crap????
Simple fix,I just added one,I thought about the aluminum cap first,but it seemed WAY to thin to drill and tap.I thought it might weaken it also,AND the threads would be into the ball stud..So I drilled and tapped the cap its self.It is a tight area between the 3 bolts.So I took a 1/16" bit and drilled straight into the face of it,between the bolt pattern,HALF way the thickness of the body of the ball socket.(As seen in the photo.)After some carefull measuring,I took the same 1/16 bit and,starting in the socket area,drilling 90 degrees back toward th first hole,drilling into it.Finishing up,I went back to the face of the socket,and with a #7 bit drilled in slightly LESS the thread length of a 1/4 threaded grease zerk and then tapped it.
Now I can shoot some grease to this socket every time I lube the rest of the tractor.It will keep it lubed AND push the "crud" out of it that accumulates during normal use(metal debris,dust,weeds,ect.)
Like I said,just something SIMPLE to do,but is helpful! This will work on ALL IH wide fronts with the wishbone ball socket(H thru 1066 or more????)
I DO NOT know why IH never did this from the factory?????
When I put my wide front end on my Super M,I lubed the ball socket with bearing grease when I assembled it.THAT was over 11 years ago!!! And that was that(wasnt even thinking about it ever again???) One day When I was doing the regular greasing of ALL of the zerks,it finally "sank in" that this area had NEVER been lubed in over a decade!!!!!I pulled the aluminum cap off and it was dry as a bone!
There are ALOT of grease zerks on an M,but what blows my mind,there is NOT one for the stay rod ball socket???? What the crap????
Simple fix,I just added one,I thought about the aluminum cap first,but it seemed WAY to thin to drill and tap.I thought it might weaken it also,AND the threads would be into the ball stud..So I drilled and tapped the cap its self.It is a tight area between the 3 bolts.So I took a 1/16" bit and drilled straight into the face of it,between the bolt pattern,HALF way the thickness of the body of the ball socket.(As seen in the photo.)After some carefull measuring,I took the same 1/16 bit and,starting in the socket area,drilling 90 degrees back toward th first hole,drilling into it.Finishing up,I went back to the face of the socket,and with a #7 bit drilled in slightly LESS the thread length of a 1/4 threaded grease zerk and then tapped it.
Now I can shoot some grease to this socket every time I lube the rest of the tractor.It will keep it lubed AND push the "crud" out of it that accumulates during normal use(metal debris,dust,weeds,ect.)
Like I said,just something SIMPLE to do,but is helpful! This will work on ALL IH wide fronts with the wishbone ball socket(H thru 1066 or more????)
I DO NOT know why IH never did this from the factory?????
