Front Axle Pumpkin Vent

[dfkrug]

That's why I have a pnumatic grease gun.

That's a good solution.

I don't have "bearing buddies" on my trailer, but I am very careful about
never driving in water that can get into the wheel bearings. In the old
days, I would drive my 4x4 PU through rivers in the desert, but also
knew that I had to repack the hubs when I got home....about 8-oz of
grease in each front hub.

 

[arrabil]

Sorry for the delay. Didn't know I'd be partying all night.

An interesting development in the axle pivot bushings......

I started drilling the pivot and was expecting it to get real painful real quick when all of a sudden I had a hole all the way through. And it took less than twenty seconds. Hmm, strange. Then I noticed this grey-ish dust. Hmm, stranger still.

See if you can figure it out from the pictures before reading the next post.

 

[arrabil]

The bushing isn't hardened steel at all!!!! Must be carbon fiber or kevlar! Didn't see that coming... did you?

So how come I couldn't tell before? You can see the petrified grease I removed with every swipe of the towel for ten to twelve swipes per bushing. There was no sign of the fiber pattern until the muck was gone.

You can also see the burrs lefts by drilling. I used my el cheapo $5.99 HF rotary tool to clean it up and chamfer the hole. (I finally found something this thing is actually capable of doing without bogging down under mild pressure.)

 

[arrabil]

At this point I was debating whether or not I even wanted to add a grease fitting to the other pivot. But in the end my thought process went like this: I don't know how fiber bushings wear in comparison to steel ones, Deere greased it from the factory, Deere added seals intending for the grease to stay there, and it would still be easier to grease via a fitting then the alternative.

The pictures are of the installed fittings. They came out very well, I think.

[And yes, that is an orange tractor bucket there. Had to use the neighbor's tractor to carry all the stuff to his shop and back. Wowsers.... the fit, finish, NHV, and ergonomics are terrible in comparison to my 4200.]

 

[Rob-D]

At this point I was debating whether or not I even wanted to add a grease fitting to the other pivot. But in the end my thought process went like this: I don't know how fiber bushings wear in comparison to steel ones, Deere greased it from the factory, Deere added seals intending for the grease to stay there, and it would still be easier to grease via a fitting then the alternative.

The pictures are of the installed fittings. They came out very well, I think.

[And yes, that is an orange tractor bucket there. Had to use the neighbor's tractor to carry all the stuff to his shop and back. Wowsers.... the fit, finish, NHV, and ergonomics are terrible in comparison to my 4200.]

Looks good!
I'd like to see the Deere parts exploded view. Are those fiber bushing replaceable?

Rob

 

[arrabil]

Rob, the parts breakdown is the PDF on page two. I'll have to investigate whether the bushings are inside the pivots or on the axle housing. I'm guessing its the pivots as they look replaceable (middle picture in post #44). I'll clean the axle in the next day or two and know for sure.

 

[Zebrafive]

First lesson learned: no way is the power steering cylinder not going to move while removing the axle with the wheels still on. I'm thinking there is no way not to move it no matter how you get the ends off. The fluid shot out like out of a cannon. Its wasn't under much pressure but it did a good job drenching most of the underside of the tractor. Sigh. Good thing I have plenty of kitty litter. Next time... drain the steering cylinder before removing the axle.

Also some pictures of the wife holding the removed axle and the tractor ready for narrow row crop duty.

I aways plug/cap lines, hoses, fittings, etc. Mainly to keep dirt out, but also the fluid in.

 

[arrabil]

Time for some updates....

I cleaned out the axle housing and applied Ultra Black RTV to the pumpkin mating surface. Gotta make sure the side bolt holes get RTV all around as they penetrate the housing (unlike the top and bottom holes which are enclosed).

Cleaned the pumpkin mating surface really well too. Again, you can see how nice the gear wear pattern is.

 

[arrabil]

Next I installed the rear axle pivot bracket. I lubed it well. I lubed the axle housing pivots well too. You can see the new seal too. Its also well lubed. Theres a running theme here.

I installed the rear bracket on two bolts only. I tilted it down some and pushed the axle into it. Then titled everything back up and positioned the front axle pivot bracket in place. Positioned is putting it kindly. I had to gently sledge hammer the bracket to make it squeeze between the frame rails.

The pivot adjusting bolt must be removed for installation. Otherwise you're compressing air and the bracket won't fully seat on the axle housing pivot. You can see the excess grease getting pushed out. You can see the sledge hammer marks too. And you can see how nicely the installation of the grease zerks came out.

 

[arrabil]

There is no torque spec for the axle pivot bracket bolts. I should have searched better as there are 22 of these bolts installed on the frame. I'm sure the rest have torque specs. So I stupidly chose 215 ft-lbs based on the stronger bolts holding the spindle housing to the axle housing. Unrelated parts, unrelated bolts, unrelated problem created.

The first one torqued to 215 ft-lbs. The second one was taking an awful long time to get there. As I was thinking, "wow this is taking way too long," the bolt snapped in half.

Turning it out with a screw extractor wasn't working well because of the Loctite but it was slowly coming out. My neighbor wanted me to try his "new style" extractors. So I did. Those didn't have any elasticity at all and wham, a little too much torque and it broke off in the hole. So out came the axle pivot. Grrr.

I cut a slit in the bolt and welded a flat-head screwdriver bit into the slit. Then I ratcheted out the broken bolt.

Those bolts happen to be $4.57 each at Deere. At least they stock them. I chose 120 ft-lbs as the new torque spec. No problem there.

Lesson learned: Black & Decker isn't better quality than Harbor Freight.