disc harrow bearings

rambler · Mar 21, 2012

mikeydchicago34 said:
It just seems that having a round bore bearing with a pipe through it never engages the bearing to rotate. The square axle just rotates inside of the pipe. Seems pointless to have a bearing that never rotates. Do you agree?

No - it should work as the others say, when you tighten the nut on the axle _tight_ everything should clamp together, did we mention _tightly_, and nothing should be able to spin other than the bearing?

Does the bearing actually slip over the pipe, or does a pipe butt up against the bearing on each side?

--->Paul

Bartcephus · Mar 21, 2012

Any tricks on getting the axel out?

Wingman99 · Oct 13, 2012

I'm a novist farmer and I'm attempting to repair a disk harrow. The trouble seems to be the rear left bank of disks (there are 4 banks), it's hard to spin and the inside bearing squeeks. The axle appears to be true, so I'm thinking the trouble is the bearing. My question(s) is, can I unscrew the bolts that appear to hold the bearings to the frame and then undo either end of the axle to get at the bearing in question OR can I just support the entire bank and remove the disk closest to the bearing (it's one disk away)? The bolts on the axle are different, the outside nut is about 3/4" hex nut, but the inside nut is an old style 1 1/4" (approximately) square nut.... So, I'm not even sure if I should remove the inside nut, although it would be nice just to remove the one disk, as opposed to having to remove all the others from the outside in. Any thoughts or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance..... Geoff

jenkinsph · Oct 13, 2012

Wingman99,
I would loosen the axle nut and back off then drop the entire gang, dissassemble and install both bearings and reassemble. That way you don't have to go through this again when the second bearing fails.

deere5105 · Oct 14, 2012

jenkinsph said:
Wingman99,
I would loosen the axle nut and back off then drop the entire gang, dissassemble and install both bearings and reassemble. That way you don't have to go through this again when the second bearing fails.

Good advice. Just rebuilt a disc harrow with new blades and new axles. Had a few of the bearings that wouldn't turn smoothly by hand that I replaced. I re-used the other old bearings. After my first fall deer plot project, I now have one squeaking pretty loud. I plan to break it down this winter and replace the bearing. While down, if the other bearing isn't a new one I will change it too. I think I paid around $18 a piece for the bearings.

cowski · Oct 14, 2012

show picture.the hex nut on the outside may be a add on disc.

Wingman99 · Oct 15, 2012

Wingman99 said:
I'm a novist farmer and I'm attempting to repair a disk harrow. The trouble seems to be the rear left bank of disks (there are 4 banks), it's hard to spin and the inside bearing squeeks. The axle appears to be true, so I'm thinking the trouble is the bearing. My question(s) is, can I unscrew the bolts that appear to hold the bearings to the frame and then undo either end of the axle to get at the bearing in question OR can I just support the entire bank and remove the disk closest to the bearing (it's one disk away)? The bolts on the axle are different, the outside nut is about 3/4" hex nut, but the inside nut is an old style 1 1/4" (approximately) square nut.... So, I'm not even sure if I should remove the inside nut, although it would be nice just to remove the one disk, as opposed to having to remove all the others from the outside in. Any thoughts or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance..... Geoff

Thanks for the words of wisdom, they're greatly appreciated..... So, if I understand the thought process correctly, I'm going to loosen the nut at the outside of the gang, then the 2 collar nuts and bolts, drop the gang and remove the disks to replace the bearings. Then re-assemble in reverse, doing the final tightening on the frame..... Does that sound like a good plan? And again, thanks for the advise.

jenkinsph · Oct 15, 2012

Pretty much it, I would check everything for cracks while I had it taken apart. You will have to keep an eye out on the nut and shaft, may require several times to get it tight enough.

ctlguy · Oct 16, 2012

mikeydchicago34 said:
The other bearings are setup the same way. It just seems that having a round bore bearing with a pipe through it never engages the bearing to rotate. The square axle just rotates inside of the pipe. Seems pointless to have a bearing that never rotates. Do you agree? And yes the pipe does have 2 half spools that go over it to act as spacers. It looks all factory setup just doesnt seem to do what it was intended to do.

Someone may have already stated and I missed but this type of a bearing setup is normal. The bearing does turn on the pipe if assembles correcty and as stated by others tight, tight, tight. Disc center breakage is ALWAYS because the gang was not tight enough. Is still used today by many of the big mfg's for bearing design on discs. Usually square hole bearings are for tools like roller harrows, etc but not discs.