After I topped up the back-axle / hydraulics the other week with $100+ of oil I discovered some new leaks - from the seals around the brake rods that go into the axles to the brake mechanisms. Bought the new seals this week ($17 each) and have just spend a day and a half fitting them. Actually it is quite a simple job, the difficult bit is removing the foot plates, brake peddles and handbrake mechanism to get at everything. Once it is all out of the way the old seals come out quickly - and promptly dump the new oil out - grrrrrrrrrr! Still new seals in and then it is time to adjust up the brakes.
This too is quite simple, what isn’t simple is getting both back wheels off the ground and free to rotate. A Holden ute jack stood on three bricks will just manage to reach to the bottom of the three-point linkage bottom pivot points and tilt/lift one side at a time. Then it can be lowered onto the 4 tone axle stands I bought for the purpose. Except they don’t extend enough and have to stand on a layer of bricks. This is NOT GOOD. The bricks slowly crumble with the weigh as you work. Fortunately the tractor is only about 1/2″ off the ground and the working distance is huge so if it did all collapse, apart from being real scary it wouldn’t actually fall on me. Still, a lesson is learnt - I need to buy a 4 tonne trolley jack and some decent steel blocks to stand the axle stands on. The brakes are much better now!
I also reassembled the diff lock pedal assembly - and now it works. Not an off/on switch, it works like a clutch in reverse, when a wheel is spinning you press the pedal and the two lock together.
Other problems:
- The off-side stub axle has bent, downwards, again. A new kingpin is on order, an original manufacturer part this time and I’ll try and make sure the bearing is fully on, a ball-joint replaced and the wheels aligned this time;
- Although the tachometer now works, and the 1/10th of an hour meter goes round, the actual hours aren’t clocking on. A new tacho/instrument panel is $450 so I’ll have a go at puling this one apart I think;
- There is a lot of slop in the clutch pedal - first thing I’ve found is a cotter pin in the linkage rod is worn to the shape of a crankshaft. I’ll put a new one in and see how vastly better that makes things.
Tags: brakes oil jack