TC30 Spindle Seal(need a second set of eyes)

[Chris527]

Hi All,
Been a while since I posted, Real quick,I developed a front spindle leak over the winter, a storm was on its way, checked the oil and shook things seemed Ok to run. Did a bit of spring cleanup and decided to look into this.
I was just going to look to see if I had any cracks, wheel was off and decided to just replace the seal. Pulled it apart, seal was toast, the bearing and race also showed wear. it was real gritty in there and where the seal rides shows signs of pitting(UGH). Above that on the spindle, you will see something strange, I originally thought that was part of the seal left on the spindle but not so sure now, I almost started to try to drive it off but stopped because it looks like its part of the spindle, like a dust shield, I have a parts breakdown but shows nothing like that. So is that part of the old seal or is my spindle that bad? It did have rubber in it.



I can't make out where it mates with the spindle. The 3rd photo is from a Youtube clip and his spindle does not have that lip on it. Going to The dealer in the morning to see what they have to say. My eyes suck now that I'm older so any help or suggestions would be appreciated. My TC30 is a 2004 with about 1000 hrs on her.

 

[oldnslo]

I agree with you in that does not look like part of the spindle but also strange shaped for a seal. Hopefully your dealership has some answers for you.

 

[Chris527]

I showed the pic to him, if you look at the bottom, there is a lip, he is sure it is part of the old seal, I will try to get it off later.
Thanks

 

[mrmikey]

Looks like a speedy sleeve SKF

 

[5030]

Next time... Before you take it apart, loft the front end and grab the wheel top and bottom and try to wiggle it up and down and back and forth. Back and forth are the tie rod ends, up and down is the kingpins. Usually the radial seal will start leaking if there is excessive vertical play. FWA is handy until you have to rebuild / rebush it.

 

[Chris527]

Next time... Before you take it apart, loft the front end and grab the wheel top and bottom and try to wiggle it up and down and back and forth. Back and forth are the tie rod ends, up and down is the kingpins. Usually the radial seal will start leaking if there is excessive vertical play. FWA is handy until you have to rebuild / rebush it.

I had checked for play over the winter when I first saw the leak for play or to see if it had cracked someplace, A lot of grit had eventually worked itself in from the top, the seal was VERY brittle.
I'm replacing the top spindle bearing and lower final drive housing bearings while I have it exposed. My dealer had all the parts in stock, he said the same setup is in quite a few models and does a few every month.

 

[Chris527]

Looks like a speedy sleeve SKF

It certainly does look like a wear sleeve, I ended up having to chisel it off, The mating surface was really pitted, looks like over the years water and salt got trapped in and did its job. There is no way of knowing it either until you tear it down and or it starts leaking. I polished it up best I can, hopefully it it will take, that seal is pretty beefy with multiple lips so fingers crossed.

 

[mrmikey]

You're going to resleve it aren't you? If it's pitted, no amount of seals will prevent a leak.......M

 

[Chris527]

You're going to resleve it aren't you? If it's pitted, no amount of seals will prevent a leak.......M

 

[Chris527]

Not sure If New holland offers a sleeve kit for those, I worked on it today and got it looking pretty good, Most of what I was seeing was crappy build up from the old seal, I ended up having 1 little spot that was questionable but was out of the area where the seal rides so back together it went, Time will tell on this.

Chris

 

[Chris527]

Just a Quick update to this , I ended up doing the other side last spring for the same reason, things pretty much looked the same but it went quicker this time. Water dirt and grit work there way down and heck, the seal is over 20 years old so I guess I cannot complain.

 

[toot77]

I just replaced both of these seals on my 1520 at 3650 hours for the second time. First time was well under 1000 hours. The seal is a multi-piece seal/sleeve assembly so the pitting on the knuckle casting is not a problem. OP's photos show part of the seal still on the knuckle casting. I recall that when I picked up the seals for the first replacement (25 yrs ago), my dealer told me that I would also want to replace the bearings, AND also told me that best way to make the seals (& bearings) last longer is to replace the front axle oil with 75W-90 or 80W-90 and to change annually (I had been, and still do change annually). The reason for this is that the bevel gears in the steering knuckles are not precision ground gears and as a result they are constantly wearing and creating the metallic particles that you see in the oil. The thicker oil reduces the gear wear as compared the thinner hydraulic transmission oil that is specified by NH, and annual oil changes flush out the metallic particles. The metallic particles which besides causing the seals to wear, also cause the bearings to wear as seen on the tapered roller bearing race in the OP’s photo #4. The remaining bearings in the knuckle are all ball bearings and close inspection will show the same wear as seen on the tapered bearing race. Each time I replaced the seals, I did replace all bearings and also the wheel seals. I have been using 75W-90 since the first seal change and got nearly 3000 hours before one side started to show oil seepage. The 75W-90 oil always looks cleaner, i.e. less metallic particles, at each change as compared to the thinner hydraulic oil did. I continue to use 75W-90 in both of my tractors. The ball bearings are all standard sizes so replacements can be found for considerably less cost than buying through NH.

 

[nyone]

So your changing the hub oil with about 100hrs on it? Seams a bit excessive.

I do check mine annually and typicaly change such oil in a new used piece of equipment when I buy it.

 

[toot77]

Actually it has been about 130 hours, but as I mentioned above, the bevel gears in my tractors are not precision ground, the gear teeth may not be ground at all, as shown on this photo of an upper bevel gear borrowed from Messick's site;

These gears are putting metal into the oil. Over time, that metal wears the seals and the bearings (bearing wear shown in OP's photo #4 on the first post).

Parts cost for my recent repair;

Knuckle Seal $ 62.83 each
Knuckle Tapered Roller Bearing $ 54.80 each
Wheel Seal $ 80.91 each
O-ring $ 9.14 each
O-ring $ 7.53 each
6 ball bearings $113.65
Total per side $328.86
Total for both sides $657.72

For this cost plus my time, I am fine with the cost to replace 3-1/2 quarts of oil per year to keep the metallic particles flushed out.

I will also add that most of my tractor use is with FWD engaged due to my hilly terrain.