Ford A66 front axle problems

I had a wheel failure while trying to get a tire seated and the ring came off allowing the tire to deflate really quickly (good thing we were all clear of the area). Anyway, after the pop, the wheel and axle rolled out of the housing - not one of my better moments. It appears as though the keeper that's bolted to the axle to hold it in place broke and allowed the axle to slid out.

After some discussion with others, I'm wondering if there is something wrong that's unrelated to the wheel letting go. Once it dries up a little I'm going to drop the axle and pull the axle housing (trumpet) and see what I have. Anyone here have one of these axles apart? I had lifted the front of a heavy trencher, but my rear wheels stayed on the ground so I don't think I overloaded it - but maybe?

Thanks,

Pat

PS: This has been a great loader for us - $2500 w/bad engine, $2500 rebuilt but rusted stuck replacement engine - another $500 for some gaskets and my help and we had a loader way to big, but handy. I've often thought if I wanted a loader any cheaper I'd have to go even bigger. Handy and medium size seems to mean more money with wheel loaders.

ps ?

what size or brand would you like, you said the a66 was to large.

That's a tough question anymore. I'm really liking the lifting capacity of a 3 yd machine, but not the 'storability' of the larger machine. I used to have a versatile bidirectional tractor/loader and while it was a handy machine, it wasn't really meant to lift much more that a bucket full of feathers (probably not even wet feathers). Anyway, a 1 1/2 yard machine would probably be a better fit for what I use it for - pushing a little snow at our hog setup and landlord's driveways, spreading some gravel, etc. The thing is that $5000 is about what I should have invested in a loader for the amount we use it. I'm not really brand conscious when it comes to loaders - the machine I'd buy would be older and pretty worn and all of them will have some issues at that point in their useful service life.

Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks,

Pat

not much out there in that price range, maybe some case w7,w9 maybe aw11. know of a jd 544 for 6k, on craigslist. at least have to double your 5 to start getting a larger selection, thought I would like a clark 35c or little kubota 520. your versatile was a 256 if I remember right.

The 256 was alright, but I could have the rear wheels off the ground way to easily. I didn't think was over working it at the time. I saw the JD and that looks interesting, but I need to get the A66 back together first. Thanks,

I got the axle housing off and everything looks good except where the broken keeper nicked up the serations inside the planet gear housing (they cleaned up pretty easily). I'm on the hunt for a newer keeper and some shims. It appears to be a little trial and error getting the bearing preload right (install shims, tighten, check play, disassemble, reshim, etc). I think of this loader as fairly small since it's narrow, but the axle components take about both hands to move around.

If you want to get rid of your A66 let me know. I think I would be interested in it for the right price. Is there cab and heat?

It's all together again!

It wasn't much of a big deal putting the axle back in. There are some shims that we had to play with to get a little bearing preload. I've got 1/2 gallon of slime in every tire now and we've driven it about 10 miles total now and there is still air in the tires.

As far as selling it, I don't think I could afford to. I still need a loader at least for snow and anything else is going to be much more expensive. Oh, and it has a cab, some foam for a seat and if you are an archeologist you can sweep away the years of dust and find hvac controls and gauges (previous owner wasn't too big on maintaining it).

Thanks,

Pat

"It appears to be a little trial and error getting the bearing preload right (install shims, tighten, check play, disassemble, reshim, etc)."

An easy way to get the right shim pack thickness for inboard planetary axles is to leave all shims out and put three lead shot bb's, just a little larger than the expected shim thickness, spaced 120 degrees on the inner end of the axle. If you don't have the housing sitting vertical you can hold the balls on with a daub of heavy grease. Tighten up the keeper bolt to proper torque. Than take the keeper off and use a micrometer to measure the thickness of each bb. Average the value of all three. That measurement, (give or take depending on if you want a little preload or not), will be your shim pack thickness.