YM1500 Axle Seal Leaking

[mjdupre]

My new (to me) YM1500 appears to have an axle seal leaking.
There is a puddle of what looks like trans or hydraulic fluid by the right tire.

Just curious if anyone has had any experience in changing one of these out on a 1500, is this a one day job or am I about to open a can of worms ?

 

[HoyeTractor]

Replacing the actual rear axle seal is not a bad job. Just pull the hub (sometimes VERY stuck though), & remove the 4 bolt housing that holds the seal.
The bad part is that oil leaking out around your rear axle seal means that you have oil leaking from somewhere else- either behind the brake drum or the internal axle seal has failed. Those are much more difficult to replace.

You can see in this diagram (for a 1500 red, 1500 green will be slightly different but you get the idea)--

REAR_AXLE_INTERNAL: Yanmar Tractor Parts


#36 holds the oil in the transmission. #58 (the outer axle seal) should only be holding water & dirt away from the bearing. The area between the 2 seals (the brake housing) should be dry.


Aaron
Parts@HoyeTractor.com
(940)592-0181

 

[mjdupre]

Thanks Aaron, That's what I was afraid of.

I'm contemplating doing it myself, with the help of a auto mechanic friend.

I was looking at a post in this forum by Eddie: Winter Repairs, it's not clear what model he's working on there. But it sounds like the tricky bit is getting the PTO cluster back in place.

Does the service manual cover this pretty well ?

Any tips appreciated, I'm planning on bringing the tractor home in a couple of weeks to give this a shot, unless someone talks me out of it.

Mike

 

[1danny]

Thanks Aaron, That's what I was afraid of.

I'm contemplating doing it myself, with the help of a auto mechanic friend.

I was looking at a post in this forum by Eddie: Winter Repairs, it's not clear what model he's working on there. But it sounds like the tricky bit is getting the PTO cluster back in place.

Does the service manual cover this pretty well ?

Any tips appreciated, I'm planning on bringing the tractor home in a couple of weeks to give this a shot, unless someone talks me out of it.

Mike

If you have a red YM1500 remove the wheel and take the bolt out of the hub and remove hub from axle. You will need a hub puller and most of the time you will have to heat the hub with a torch while pulling the hub off. Be careful not to damage the threads in the end of the axle with the puller. After you remove the hub remove the 4 bolts from the seal case and pull the seal case off, check the seal collar for grooves, I always replace the collar even if there are no grooves, replace seal and reinstall. It is a good idea to remove the hydraulic screen in the transmission and clean it while you have the oil already drained.

Danny

 

[mjdupre]

That's fine for the outer seal, but from the previous post it sounds like the inner seal should be replaced as well.

 

[Gizmo36]

They were back to back on my 2210.

 

[reb]

I had to replace an outer bearing on mine several years ago. That entailed removing the axle (which does not involve the PTO assembly, BTW). I replaced the inner seal and seal collar as a precaution. As I recall, the seal was relatively hard to find and a bit expensive. I wonder if it would have been practical to find a replacement for the inner bearing that was sealed on only one side?
A related question--Since the new outer bearing was sealed, was the new outer seal required?

 

[mjdupre]

Reb,
Are you saying that you don't have to pull the axle on the 1500 to get to the inner seals ?

 

[reb]

No. You have to pull the axle, but the first step, after draining the transmission, is to remove the plate on the bottom of the transmission housing (the drawbar is attached to it). Then reach inside to loosen the bolt holding the axle to a gear. You also have to remove the axle housing to get access to the seal.

A parts manual is invaluable in seeing how it goes together.

 

[mjdupre]

Reb,
Thanks for the info.
If I understand you correctly, you're saying that you can access the axle retaining bolt and clip by removing the case bottom and thus avoid removing the PTO transmission?

When you mention "remove the axle housing" are you referring to the entire axle cases (16/17) or just the bearing carriers (33/35) in the REAR_AXLE_CASE
diagram? (Hopefully just the carriers)


I purchased a repair manual but I was disappointed with the quality of the pictures and the lack of information on the rear axle area. I probably should have just gone with the parts manual.

I plan to bring the tractor home next weekend, it's at my summer place, and we'll give it a shot.

 

[reb]

[...you can access the axle retaining bolt and clip by removing the case bottom and thus avoid removing the PTO transmission?...]

Yes. Breaking the bolt loose was a real challenge. My BB was attached, so I welded a hook to a box end wrench and pulled on it with a come-along attached to the BB (for the right axle).

If you are going to replace the inner seal, I see no way to get to it without removing the housing (16 &/or 17). BTW, it is probably a good idea to replace the seal collar when you replace the seal.

Good luck.

 

[mjdupre]

Thanks for the reply.

I'm assuming that the inner seal must be shot, otherwise it would not be leaking fluid.

Sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun.

 

[mjdupre]

Brought the tractor home this past weekend and hope to start tearing it down this coming weekend.

Just a quick, probably really stupid, question first....

I'm assuming that the axle case/transmission/PTO and the hydraulic system all share the same fluid resevoir? I had assumed that the differential case would have gear lube, but after reading the owners manual the only reference to gear lube is for the 4WD version in the front end.

And yes, I am really new to this whole tractor thing.

 

[reb]

...
I'm assuming that the axle case/transmission/PTO and the hydraulic system all share the same fluid resevoir? I had assumed that the differential case would have gear lube, but after reading the owners manual the only reference to gear lube is for the 4WD version in the front end....

Yes, except the axle housings are dry. The inner seal ensures that. BTW, the shafts to the brakes go thru the transmission housing, too. I assume there are seals there and they are ok on your machine.

Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

 

[mjdupre]

Hopefully the seal on the brake shaft is OK.
I don't think that there's really any way to tell.

Since It's leaking from the rear axle carrier gasket (#34 on REAR_AXLE_CASE)
I'm assuming that it's the inner axle seal that's at fault, not the brake axle seal.

 

[Eddie]

Thanks Aaron, That's what I was afraid of.

I'm contemplating doing it myself, with the help of a auto mechanic friend.

I was looking at a post in this forum by Eddie: Winter Repairs, it's not clear what model he's working on there. But it sounds like the tricky bit is getting the PTO cluster back in place.

Does the service manual cover this pretty well ?

Any tips appreciated, I'm planning on bringing the tractor home in a couple of weeks to give this a shot, unless someone talks me out of it.

Mike

Mike,
I was working on a YM2020 which only has one seal in each axle. You have to unkey the axle from the gear on the inside in order to pull the axle out on it.

Sounds like the job on your tractor may be simpler.

 

[mjdupre]

Well we got it all torn apart yesterday, really wasn't too bad at all.
Doesn't look like anyone has been in here for quite some time, lots of sludge.

Did notice a bit of wear on the gear attached to the right brake shaft, but since the brakes seem to work fine, and we don't feel like rebuilding the entire axle case, I think we'll just leave that alone for now.

We've decide to replace both the inner/outer seals on the axle, the seal collars look to be fine. We're also going to replace the seal on the brake shaft, however I haven't been able to find a part number for that.
Looking at the Rear Axle Diagram now I'm wondering if it's part #19 ??

I also decided to remove the hydraulic fluid filter, it was really gunked up. Now that I'm looking at the hydraulic system parts diagram it looks like there was supposed to be a spring, #28 in the picture. I assume the purpose would be to apply pressure against the cover plate. There was no sign of a spring on mine, only the spring in the filter which seem to be just a bit short to apply any pressure on the cover plate. Otherwise the filter looks pretty good after a good cleaning. Any thoughts here ?

 

[HoyeTractor]

Looking at the Rear Axle Diagram now I'm wondering if it's part #19 ??

Yes, it is.

There was no sign of a spring on mine,

There must be a few different variations of that setup. Many of the YM1500s that we tear down for parts have different looking screens also. Some are longer with an internal spring, some have a perforated steel inner tube with no spring anywhere, some have a spring at the end... I think the style with the internal spring (the style we sell) does not require a spring at the end but ours are about 1" too long so they fit nice and tight. I would just be sure that it looks like it will seal on the tube and I think you'll be Ok.

Aaron
Parts@HoyeTractor.com
(940)592-0181

 

[mjdupre]

Got it all reassembled this weekend without any major difficulties.
So far everything looks fine, no leaks and everything seems to be working fine.

Thanks to all for the pointers/suggestions.