Oliver 550 broke the knuckle on the front axle

[NormL]

Is that bearing the one you are running? If so, what keeps the grease in it?

There is a seal hiding from sight. In the first photo, if you look closely, you'll see that the bearing's inner race extends about 3/8ths". The seal rests there. I popped the bearing off after taking the pic and put the seal in place and then assembled everything the way you see it in the second photo. I did it that way because I was using the bearing itself to protect the spindle from welding spatter which I would have had to remove otherwise.

 

[NormL]

It's back to work!:thumbsup:


Yesterday and today I was finally able to get some seat time on the Oliver and put it through the paces. I had some roto-tilling to do and wouldn't you know it, that beast broke down. The drive chain broke and everything stopped. That was late afternoon yesterday. I put the fix to that and by noon today it was ready to go again and I was able to finish getting the garden ready for winter. I had to get that done before I tested the weight carrying capacity of the axle by moving some dirt.

I took the photos after doing some shoveling and IT'S HOLDING!!:thumbsup::thumbsup:

First two show the repaired wheel and tire (I pulled that out of a pile old tires we have here). The cash out-lay came to $35.00 and $20.00 of that was for the new tube.:thumbsup::thumbsup: As long as it holds that sure beats $250.00 plus shipping and brokerage fees I was quoted for a new part. Photos three and four show the startup of spreading some 2500 - 3000 yards of dirt we had hauled in. The last one shows the Ford sulking by the corner of the Quonset.:laughing::laughing: The Oliver simply does a lot better job of pushing dirt than the Ford. The Ford has chains on and when I'm using the loader to do heavy stuff I use the brush cutter for ballast. I just have the rototiller on the Oliver for ballast and I don't think it has a third of the weight of the brush cutter. Come Spring I'll probably put the Ford up for sale. No wonder it's sulking.:laughing:

 

[Short Game]

So, that red hub can cure your case of piles?

Don't you just love it when a plan comes together?

 

[NormL]

So, that red hub can cure your case of piles?

Don't you just love it when a plan comes together?

Oh, I certainly do! And doesn't that red hub look remarkably like a maraschino cherry in the middle of a bowl of pudding?:laughing::laughing::licking:

And the case of piles? Ow,ow, ow! :laughing::laughing: You had me howling!

 

[NormL]

I'm dragging this thread forward in order to give myself a public slap on the forhead!:laughing: I was rather too proud of myself having done this repair on the CHEAP!! Well, as the picture will show, my choice of tire from the pile of castaways should have been left where it was. Over the winter some of the belts gave way. One day, while walking by, I noticed this and thought, "I'd better put a better tire on there before I use that tractor anymore". Well, I should have done it right then and there, or at least reduced the pressure in the tire so it wouldn't "blow". Well, as you can see, it blew!

Two lessons to learn from this: 1) Don't try using a tire so old, that the size is shown beginning with a letter of the alphabet other than P or LT. This one was a "J" size - probably more than 25 years old, maybe a lot more. Also, it had been lying in a pile of other tires outdoors in all kinds of weather.
2) If I had let enough air out of the tire right away, I could have saved a perfectly good tube. As it is, there's a 4" slit where it blew out. No good for nuttin now!!

SLAP OK, I deserved that!

 

[Short Game]

That one died a hero. It left nothing on the field. I think you should out it up over the mantle.

 

[NormL]

:laughing:

That one died a hero. It left nothing on the field. I think you should out it up over the mantle.

:laughing::laughing:

I was working at replacing it with another used tire - not a castaway this time - and my grandson (6 year old) came by wondering what happened to the one with the "funny things sticking out". It seemed he wanted to pay his "last respects" or something.