YM240D developed clunking at rear wheel

NWTACOMA · Mar 18, 2019

Hello all! First post here. I'm new to tractors. A little over a year ago I acquired an early 70's YM240D with a Ford backhoe. Anyways, I was out on her this morning clearing some brush with the FEL. I was pushing a pile pretty hard in 1st, Low range, 4wd. When I lifted the front end and started backing up, I immediately noticed a clunk sound and a binding feeling associated with the sound. I decided to call it a morning and go get ready for my "real job". While driving back to the shop I'm getting a single clunk & bind coming from the right rear tire. It appears to occurs with every single full revolution, the simultaneous clunk and bind.

I consider myself very handy and willing to tackle almost anything, but I'm new enough to this that I'm not sure where to start. I'm hopeful that something is happening in the brakes, but perhaps it's inside the hub or housing. I haven't looked at anything yet and I did see recommendations to check lugs for tightness, but I don't think that is the issue because of the binding I'm getting unless the binding is one of the tire lugs catching on the frame as it goes around off center.

Any ideas or helpful input that might steer me in the right direction? Thanks

clemsonfor · Mar 18, 2019

Yes check the lugs, but then pull wheel off. Take the hub off to see that it's not stripped and the splines are fine in the axle. But I have a feeling that the big gear on the inside of the axle housing may be missing a tooth or it's on one of the gears in the transmission.

normde2001 · Mar 18, 2019

Check lugs and get back to us.

NWTACOMA · Mar 18, 2019

I will check the lugs for starters tonight after work. I've got my fingers crossed that's all it is. I will also pull the hub to inspect the splines and go from there. Thanks for the input!

NWTACOMA · Mar 18, 2019

Since I'm on here and about to take the wheels off.... the brakes on this thing SUCK! I'm 90% certain the passenger side is doing all the braking. If i brake hard while coasting a slight incline or forget to release brake, she wants to pull a hard right. Any suggestions there? Linkage adjustment or new shoes? I'm assuming they are similar to drum style brakes, with difference being they are not on the hubs? Thanks again

clemsonfor · Mar 18, 2019

NWTACOMA said:
Since I'm on here and about to take the wheels off.... the brakes on this thing SUCK! I'm 90% certain the passenger side is doing all the braking. If i brake hard while coasting a slight incline or forget to release brake, she wants to pull a hard right. Any suggestions there? Linkage adjustment or new shoes? I'm assuming they are similar to drum style brakes, with difference being they are not on the hubs? Thanks again

I have a post on here about digging into the brakes. Probably needs adjusting there is a lot of material on the shoes. There is a good bit of adjustment. They also can be swapped to use the other end of the shoe if it is thicker and that will get you by another decade maybe. hahaha. But there is also a common problem where the cam that pushes the shoes binds in the brake cover plate not allowing that set of shoes to contact the drum. You can search my profile for posts started by me and look for one talking about brakes and it goes over my stuck cam. I also show the replacement of the brake shaft seal in that post or possibly a different one. I am about to leave the office but if you cant find it i can link you to them later this evening. They are fairly simple things to fool with, replacements can be had easy, there not the cheapest set of shoes but not terrible either.

rScotty · Mar 18, 2019

clemsonfor said:
I have a post on here about digging into the brakes. Probably needs adjusting there is a lot of material on the shoes. There is a good bit of adjustment. They also can be swapped to use the other end of the shoe if it is thicker and that will get you by another decade maybe. hahaha. But there is also a common problem where the cam that pushes the shoes binds in the brake cover plate not allowing that set of shoes to contact the drum. You can search my profile for posts started by me and look for one talking about brakes and it goes over my stuck cam. I also show the replacement of the brake shaft seal in that post or possibly a different one. I am about to leave the office but if you cant find it i can link you to them later this evening. They are fairly simple things to fool with, replacements can be had easy, there not the cheapest set of shoes but not terrible either.

I remember that post; it was a good one. Yanmar brakes are real basic - cheap and easy to work on. You can open up the cover and do them lots of good just doing the obvious cleaning, lubing, and adjusting. The biggest problem I've seen with them is that sometimes there gets to be so much rust pitting on the inside of the drums that the drum itself loads up with material from the brake shoes. Sometimes that means they need to be lathe-turned to get them perfect again. But wire brushing will help.

So you can do your brakes a world of good by just opening that cover and doing all the obvious things. Don't worry about the paper gasket, just use some silicone sealer if the vent is working. Which reminds me to say to make sure the vent hole in the cover is able to vent well enough while keeping rain out. I opened my vents up and put on some copper tubing - got the idea to vent the brake covers so they worked more like that vent does that most Yanmars have behind and under the seat.
rScotty

clemsonfor · Mar 18, 2019

rScotty said:
I remember that post; it was a good one. Yanmar brakes are real basic - cheap and easy to work on. You can open up the cover and do them lots of good just doing the obvious cleaning, lubing, and adjusting. The biggest problem I've seen with them is that sometimes there gets to be so much rust pitting on the inside of the drums that the drum itself loads up with material from the brake shoes. Sometimes that means they need to be lathe-turned to get them perfect again. But wire brushing will help.

So you can do your brakes a world of good by just opening that cover and doing all the obvious things. Don't worry about the paper gasket, just use some silicone sealer if the vent is working. Which reminds me to say to make sure the vent hole in the cover is able to vent well enough while keeping rain out. I opened my vents up and put on some copper tubing - got the idea to vent the brake covers so they worked more like that vent does that most Yanmars have behind and under the seat.
rScotty

My stuck brake/side had a pitted drum. It was so bad, that as I adjusted the shoes up, the drum was so rough that it just chewed up the shoes till they were out of adjustment. I pulled the drum, and took it to a co-worker who had a lathe, he ended up not being able to get it chucked up right. But he was able to take a flap wheel to it for me to smooth it back out good enough for these simple machines and designs.

California · Mar 18, 2019

When I bought my YM240 it squeaked as it rolled along. Loose lug bolts! I don't think any maintenance at all had been done for years. Note on these there is a second set of bolts securing the rim to the 'hat', the middle part of the wheel.

And confirming the brakes are easy to open up and clean out. As noted, swap the leading/trailing shoes for another decade of wear. Be sure the left/right linkages are adjusted for equal braking.

But the sound you described sounds more serious, likely inside the rear end. I hope not.