Uh Oh - I broke my Farmall h (pics)

I have been subsoiling my pasture with the ole Farmall h. My soil is very crappy and is well packed and concrete like in nature. Subsoiling in the fall really helps my field drainage issues come the spring thaws.

Anyone wanting to give their tractor a good workout and blow out all the engine carbon then subsoiling is certainly a feasible way (at least in my soil). 1st gear and WOT and this subsoiler is all my h can handle in my concrete like soil.



Was going to finish my field yesterday when I noticed this busted rear wheel clamp:





Guess I am now on the hunt for a wheel hub clamp.

I've seen that happen on a few Ms, but not so much on an H. In fact, my M has one that broke, and was brazed back together. I have an unbroken replacement for it, and one of these days I might get around to swapping them out..

There should be plenty of them for the H in salvage yards.

Yes I plan to call the local salvage yard tomorrow. I am actually lucky in that I have reasonably close access to 2 different tractor salvage yards.

One yard I really like the owner and try to give him all my business if I can. The other yard I do not care for at all (although they are much bigger)and try to avoid them at all costs if I can.

Ebay is a possibility as well. Many have sold on there for as little as $10. There is set of 2 on there currently listed for $39 including shipping.

Heck Zach Hoyt may even have some. He has parted out a few h's.

Good thing about an h or an m - lots of parts out there. New ones are even available for $70 to $75 depending where you buy but I imagine they made in China.

I have one left, I usually sell them for $20 and shipping would be $5
for a priority mail envelope. If I mail it on Monday should get to
you Wednesday or Thursday. If you're interested let me know and I
will send it out.
Zach

Zach: Good to know. I will likely let you know something on Monday evening.

I plan to try my local yard that I like tomorrow. I actually do not need the part in a rush or anything, but I simply always try to support local businesses first when I can unless they totally try to price gouge then I feel ebay, Amazon, internet , etc. is fair game as I at least provided the local guy the opportunity for a sale. Typically the local business do not remain in business if the locals do not support them in these tough economic times if you know what I mean.

Does the hub clamp you have, contain the built in square key as a part of the casting? (that is the style that I had and want)

Yes, that is how they are all made. I have had hubs without the key
and used them but a clamp without a key would be useless, as I am
sure it would slip. When the hub gets loose on the axle it is the
hub key that gets broken off because it has no flex, the key on the
clamp does not seem to get broken because the clamp can move
around if the bolts are loose. Best of luck finding one locally, if it
doesn't work out just let me know.
Zach

Might be a good idea to check the other wheel clamp. As well as I can see from the photograph, the casting has crystallized. This makes the casting very brittle and weaker than it should be. It is possible to re-temper crystallized castings so that they don't break so easily. Probably much cheaper just to find replacements though...
SadFarmall

I"ve done the same thing trying to pop start one. Found a new
one from Steiner tractor for about 70

I broke one of those and a wheel hub at the same time at my first tractor pull. Turns out the bolts were not tight and casting does not allow for any flexing. Make sure the bolts are tight, all four of them.

Would have to look at the face of it to see, but that might be a classic fatigue failure, caused by repeated overstressing and a crack growing and stopping and growing and stopping. The crack could have initiated at a point of severe stress concentration, typically a sharp corner, then could have grown over time. Can take quite a bit of time. The initiating area could be rusty from being there a long time before the crack grew to failure. The thing might have a clam-shell-like look as you look at the face of the fracture. You might have overstressed other things too.

Hey Zach. I will take that Farmall h wheel hub. I just sent a PM message through YT (I hope it went through. That process - kinda acted funny but I have never done one of the PM's either so maybe normal...).

Mystery solved on this one. There was no crystalized metal or anything of that nature. The root of the problem is that wheel cast center has its keyway broken out. The wheel's keyway was not a fresh break either. It was an old break and the keyway was long gone from a previous owner. When the previous owner patched it back together he even used a hodge podge of mismatched bolt head sizes.

In essence, the keyway in the clamp was the only think keeping the wheel from spinning on the shaft. Has been fine for me for the few years that I have owned this ole tractor pulling my usual light loads (e.g. raking hay and pulling baler), but that subsoiler is all the h could handle in 1st gear WOT in my hard- pack clay soil and that is what did it in as there should be a keyway in both the wheel hub and well as the clamp.

I have it patched back together with a used clamp, so I can move the tractor around. I will be replacing the entire cast wheel center come spring (when warmer weather arrives). I can easily paint the wheel cast center as well as the rim when I have everything apart in warmer weather.

Until I replace that wheel center I will simply refrain from working the tractor hard.[/u]