Changing brake pads on a MF245

[adrianrog]

Greetings,

I have a Massey Ferguson 245 (Recently inherited) with almost no brakes. It's hard to get it to stop on flat ground. Anyway, I've never worked on a tractor, (except to replace filters and fluids on this one, plus a solenoid on this one) but I'm generally pretty handy.

I want to tackle the brakes, but don't know what I'm getting into. Should this be as easy as a car, other than the big honking wheel/tire? How much will the wheel/tire weight, full of antifreeze? It's a good 4ft tall I think.

I don't have a proper shop to do the work in, just a pole barn with dirt floor. I was planning on jacking it up and sitting it down on big wooden blocks. My biggest fear is the weight of the rear tire and just not knowing what I'll find when I get into the drum.

Is it possible I'll get into some bigger repair by starting this?

PS, I realized after posting that I probably should have called them shoes instead of pads.

Thanks in advance,
Adrian

 

[flusher]

Greetings,

I have a Massey Ferguson 245 (Recently inherited) with almost no brakes. It's hard to get it to stop on flat ground. Anyway, I've never worked on a tractor, (except to replace filters and fluids on this one, plus a solenoid on this one) but I'm generally pretty handy.

I want to tackle the brakes, but don't know what I'm getting into. Should this be as easy as a car, other than the big honking wheel/tire? How much will the wheel/tire weight, full of antifreeze? It's a good 4ft tall I think.

I don't have a proper shop to do the work in, just a pole barn with dirt floor. I was planning on jacking it up and sitting it down on big wooden blocks. My biggest fear is the weight of the rear tire and just not knowing what I'll find when I get into the drum.

Is it possible I'll get into some bigger repair by starting this?


PS, I realized after posting that I probably should have called them shoes instead of pads.

Thanks in advance,
Adrian

Those rear wheels are probably standard 28" dia rims so, if those rears are hydro-inflated, you could be looking at 300-400 lb. When I recently removed this size tire from my 1951 Minneapolis Moline BF that I'm restoring, I drained the fluid before removing the tire (just water since we don't get freezing temps around here). It takes a little muscle to roll this size tire around. And if you drop it, you may have a tussle getting it upright again.

I'm betting that the brakes on that 245 are pretty much like the ones on my 1964 MF-135 diesel. Once you get the rear wheels off, the brake job is very much like that on a car or truck with shoe brakes.

Just have a stout axle jack since that 245 is pretty heavy (4000 lb or more).

 

[adrianrog]

Thanks for the info. Here's another question. My grandfather is retired from his one man diesel shop. He still has the shop (3 bays) with all the tools and what not. He'd have all the right tools, plus overhead lifting chain falls.

Should I
A. Do the work myself, in my pole barn on a dirt floor and gain the experience
or
B. Load the tractor up and haul it to his shop. It would probably take 30 minutes to hook up the trailer and chain the tractor down, plus an hour to drive there to a properly outfitted shop with an experienced mechanic to help me?

 

[Wis Bang]

Thanks for the info. Here's another question. My grandfather is retired from his one man diesel shop. He still has the shop (3 bays) with all the tools and what not. He'd have all the right tools, plus overhead lifting chain falls.

Should I
A. Do the work myself, in my pole barn on a dirt floor and gain the experience
or
B. Load the tractor up and haul it to his shop. It would probably take 30 minutes to hook up the trailer and chain the tractor down, plus an hour to drive there to a properly outfitted shop with an experienced mechanic to help me?

Haul it to the shop and be safe. Watch and learn for the future. Loaded tires could be hard to handle alone while a shop w/ a good chainfall will make it easy Plus air tools will shorten the time it takes.