Leak from Hole in front axle

[AndyMA]

Okie,Yes from the diagram you attached, I believe that the L and M gears should be replaced as a set. I'd ask you dealer to make sure before you spend the money. As I stated in my earlier post, I'll bet that the pinion gear failed, with a piece of it coming off and that lodged in the bearing which caused the rest of the trouble. If you think of the way gears work, all of the forces are applied only on the places where the gears mate. A very slight alignment problem can cause excessive forces which cause gears to break. Like I said, I could be wrong, but I was always taught that gears needed to be replaced in sets so they could wear in togeher.As far as the casting goes, I think that I see the start of a crack forming from the hole, and that the hole needs to be welded, not just to plug the hole, but also to prevent the spread of the crack.Like I said earlier, I had a dealer (not my normal dealer) put those 2 gears in my 2120 and they did it incorrectly and both gears failed again in short order so I suspect it's not just putting the gears in and bolting it up. The spacing between the gears is very important for the correct mesh.Hope this helps,Andy

 

[Hoeman00]

Yes it is all cast iron and since GM went
metric it is as well.
6,8,10,12,16,24 mm dia.

 

[OkieG]

The bottom side of gear L took a beating living next to the damaged bearing, but the meshing surfaces of the gear teeth don't look so bad. Gear M looks like brand new! The parts guy is pretty knowlegeable and thinks I can use the same gear M with the new pinion. He may be leading me the wrong direction, I don't know. Parts arrive tomorrow.

Tonight was "fix the hole" time. There may have been just the start of a crack at one end of the hole. I did a little grinding to even up the hole and beveled the edges. I think that took the crack out.

 

[OkieG]

Couldn't find any "all-thread". Although I'm sure somebody with some skill could braze across the hole without plugging, I don't think I could. So, I kind of like the idea of plugging. I met a machinist today at the welding store while looking for all-thread. He kindly donated a piece of scrap cast iron and I ground a plug (sitting above the hole in the picture attached to the post above) to fit, more or less.

 

[OkieG]

Even though I feel more confident using a plug, I really wanted to try brazing to hold the plug in place. I've heard only good things about JB Weld, but I expect brazing is stronger. That's a good excuse to try it. Brazing was fun and messy. The picture was taken after grinding flush. Plenty of brass seeped inside the casting. I'm still working on grinding it down. I may post a snapshot of the inside once I get it looking better. Thanks for the encouragement.

OkieG

 

[Spencer]

I see you tapered that plug. Which way does it fit on the housing?

 

[OkieG]

The widest part of the plug is outside, narrowest is inside the housing. I've also ground a taper around the sides of the hole (maybe that is not too clear in the photo). It flares out from inside the casing to outside.

I presume the most likely blow to the patch would come from outside the casing, ie from a rock or log etc. That would tend to push the plug into it's tapered seat rather than popping it loose. If it does pop loose I would rather it fall to the ground than be pushed up into the housing where it could do bearing/gear damage.

 

[djradz]

Why not cover the entire outside area with brazing? Also, whether you do that or not, I'd take some kerosene or similar light fluid, and fill the inside of the housing and let it stand a couple of days. It looks like from the thinkness of the plug and remaining housing material that you don't have a lot of thickness with which to seal, so I'd check for sure before you reassemble. Nice job by the way!

 

[rdbrumfield]

Looks good Okie. On the gear thing, those gears are not made in sets at the factory like a ring and pinion. Just getting the gear that is damaged will do the job for you just fine and save you some bucks.

 

[normde2001]

There shouldn't be a problem running a new gear with an old one on a tractor as long as the lash and runout are correct. On autos, all you get is whine, and how much whine can you get at 1-10 mph?