Case 446 brake drum bushing

[smith2]

Anyone have this problem? The spare transaxle I was going to swap into my 646, upon inspection, is missing the inner brake drum shaft bushing. It would be hard to remove, no debrie in lube. Did it come from factory missing ? Also can't see a retainer, yet it stays together. There is about an 1/8 th inch side play.

 

[hydriv]

I have no explanation for what you say you found.

The bushing cannot be removed unless the brake drum shaft is first removed. In order for that to happen on a 200 or 400 Series tractor, the trans-axle must be dropped out of the tractor and opened up. The brake drum shaft has a gear on it and the bushing is sandwiched between that gear on the inside and the brake drum on the outside. It is not possible for that bronze bushing to travel in either direction. The gear is secured to the shaft by a retainer clip and a Woodruff key ties the gear to the shaft.

I have never heard of this bushing wearing out, either....because there is no real stress on it laterally. If someone forgot to install it at the factory, then that would show up very quickly because oil would be seeping out that space. The oil seal would fail as a result of the shaft moving around.

If the bushing is truly missing from the this trans-axle you have, then I'd say that someone has had it apart before it reached your hands.

 

[smith2]

I think you are referring to the bushing nearest the seal which probably is in place. I am talking about the inner most bushing which the opposite end of the brake drum shaft rides on. My Chilton repair manual shows pictures of the parts. They say to drive the shaft out with a drift, nothing about 'first' removing retainer which I don't see anyway. Just a gap of 1/16 - 1/8 ". I hesitate to take it apart until parts are available which my Case dealer says "they are not". The missing bushing appears to be 1" id an 1 1/4 od by 3/4".

 

[hydriv]

The retainer I was referring to is a round circlip that cannot be seen until after you smack the end of the brake shaft with a punch and pop it out. That retainer keeps the shaft from wandering because it secures the gear to the brake shaft. I don't see how the other bronze bushing could be missing from the assembly all these years and not cause a problem with the brake shaft seal.


I don't know why you are going to a Case dealer for any parts for these tractors. The entire outdoor power equipment division was sold to John Ingersoll in 1983 and Ingersoll has been supporting the lawn, yard and garden tractor lines ever since. Most Case dealers don't even have parts books for the tractors any longer.

If you want an on-line source for the parts you need, then contact Brian Hildreth. He will ship you what you need very quickly.

bhildret@aol.com

If you have this trans-axle out of the tractor and opened up via the top cover, then I suggest that proceed with taking it apart so that you can discover what is going on with the brake shaft end bushing. I think that you will find the part number to be C13241 or the revised number to it. Case and Ingersoll often did part number change-ups over the years.

BTW, why are you swapping these trans-axles anyway?

 

[smith2]

" I don't see how the other bronze bushing could be missing from the assembly all these years and not cause a problem with the brake shaft seal. "
I bought 1 of 3-4 446 transaxles at a swap meet. He also had a lot of clean new looking other parts for the 446's. They might of been dealer take outs at one time?
I took a chance on the Case dealer because he had MF rider parts and books a few yrs back even though they have not sold them for a long time. Also I couldn't find anything on line. Thanks for the source.
Reason for the swap: Just bought a 646 with a 4 " weld up the back side of transaxle. I shoulda looked underneath before bidding ! If you can imagine a hand grenade going off inside the housing and someone crazy enough to weld it up, well thats what I got ! Right fender has been replaced so I am thinking a dump truck or heavy equiptment might of backed into it? Just a guess. Because I thought I had a good 446 axle at home, I took a chance on the weld I saw. The 646 runs o.k. but is worthless without wt box on back. Afraid to wt it with welded up axle.

 

[hydriv]

If you look at the exploded diagram of the trans-axle, you will see that the carrier section is sandwiched between the Hi and Lo Range gears. Four 3/8" bolts hold this together. The problem is that Case relied solely on the bolts instead of casting in some sort of mechanical interlock or putting dowel pins in place. Because of all the back/forth movement of the loader series and even the 400's when plowing snow, those bolts often sheared off.

The nut and threaded part of the bolt would drop to the bottom of the trans-axle and if it got in the path of the rotating LO Range gear, the gear would drive it right through the housing. Sometimes, only a small hole was created. Other times a large one. Occasionally, there were spider cracks emanating from the hole.

No matter. Any good welder could easily repair the housing and put it back into service. In my opinion, you have nothing to worry about. You can put 400 pounds in counterweight on the back, no problem. This is a fairly common occurrence unfortunately but there are plenty of tractors out there with welded housings. I have yet to hear of anyone having a failure of a welded housing. To me... if it ain't broke, then I'd leave it. The decision is yours, of course.

As for the guy you bought the trans-axle from, he's probably just another A-hole that buys up tractors for the express purpose of parting them out for profit. A lot of really good tractors are dying an early death because of these heartless opportunists.

 

[smith2]

You may be right on both points. The welded up portions are 2-3 pieces the size of your hand. They were totaly busted out as they don't fit up smooth when he welded. Probably 3 feet of weld if you added it all together. Hairline oil leaks forming along the welds. I had to pull everything off the back except gas tank to get the 2 rusty bolts that hold seat hinge unit off. Had a broke hinge. Didn't want to use the hot wrench with gas tank so near ! Right now its pretty easy to swap trans axles, just wasn't counting on the other one needing work. If I make a wt box and hang wheel wts on, it's more work to change axle later. Also someone always wants to buy my little loader tractors an I couldn't in good concience sell this ugly welded up axle to them.
What's even worse than parting good tractors is the scrappers who send good fixer uppers to china.

 

[hydriv]

I have never seen or heard of a housing being damaged as badly as you describe but there is a first for everything.

When you finally get that housing removed from your loader tractor, I would appreciate it if you sent me a few photos that show just how extensive the damage was. Sometimes it's hard to motivate owners to do preventative maintenance on their tractors because dismantling the rear end to change out the bolts seems overwhelming to them.

When you get that 400 trans-axle dismantled, I would suggest three things.

1. Go to your local CAT dealer and buy four fine thread bolts and locknuts from his CAT-approved inventory of Grade 8 or higher hardware. Make them a bit longer so that the gear will reside totally on the unthreaded area of the bolt and not on the weaker, threaded area.

2. Install the new bolts in the opposite direction so that the threaded end is where the smaller Hi Range gear is. You may need a few Grade 8 flat washers to make sure the lock-nut does not bottom out when you are torquing the bolts.

3. Have someone who understands how to weld cast, run a one inch long bead on both sides of the carrier assembly right where the two halves join. Doing this should put an end to the possibility of the two halves shifting against each other. It does nothing for the joint between each gear and the carrier but that little trick is one that several of the dealers employed to try and put a stop to the bolt breakage issue.


If you are messing around with Case and Ingersoll products off and on, you might find something of value at this other site.

CaseColtIngersoll Lawn and Garden Tractor Forum

TBN is an excellent GENERAL forum but for those looking for more specifics, the other site could be of value too.

 

[smith2]

How, where, do I send or post pictures ? wgune@yahoo.com

Maybe the broken bolts is a Case thing (lol) as the 3/4" bolts on my Case 450 track loader which hold the under carriage on also broke from normal use. Will have to pull machine apart to remove threaded parts.

 

[hydriv]

How, where, do I send or post pictures ? wgune@yahoo.com

Maybe the broken bolts is a Case thing (lol) as the 3/4" bolts on my Case 450 track loader which hold the under carriage on also broke from normal use. Will have to pull machine apart to remove threaded parts.

When those broken bolts started showing up on a regular basis, Case blamed it on a "bad batch of bolts from our supplier". I suppose it's possible but considering the fact that the problem rarely shows up in the Lo Pro Series, it's not a story that I'm buying. After all, the center sections with the gears are identical and would have been assembled with no advance knowledge as to which Series of tractor it would end up in. There has been the odd 200 with the broken bolts but predominantly it's with the 400's and 600's.

I e-mailed you about the photos.