Michigan 125 - no drive from front diff

[geobar]

Trying to save unnecessary work, I am looking for advice to diagnose why the front wheels do not drive my Michigan 125ADC Series II. The rear wheels move the machine when in 4wd, but in 2wd the input shaft to the front diff is turning but the wheels do not. One day after parking the machine with the bucket accidently set too low, I stepped on the right front wheel while getting down. Unexpectedly, it turned remarkably easily. It made me wonder if the problem could be local in that wheel, perhaps with the planetary gears within the wheel assembly. The wheel assembly has two caps that can be removed -- a small one (maybe 9 inches) with the oil fill plug, and a large one (maybe 18 inches) covering the whole assembly. Should I just remove them and see what is under there? Or can someone suggest a better way to figure out the problem? Can anyone recommend a source for parts for this 40 year old machine? Thanks

 

[Dirthog]

Pull the two small ones off and check the axles first the other thing is most older loaders like that did not have no-spin in the front so one wheel will turn and not the other

 

[geobar]

Thank you for the reply Dirthog. If I understand you correctly, when I pull off the smaller cap I will see the axle. Thus if the wheel spins but not the axle then the problem is with the planetary gears there. By the way, I should have included in the initial post that when I turned the right front wheel neither the other wheel or the drive shaft to the diff turned. If the system was good either the other wheel should have turned a corresponding amount or the drive shaft spin considerably. Right?