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Leaking Final Drive

uffex

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Jan 23, 2012
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Good day
Brace yourself those transmissions come in pairs, have you checked the other side?.
You may change your mind about rebuild see attached.
Kind regards
Uffex
 

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sdavies2000

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Oct 22, 2022
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canada
I’m just draining the one right now and then I’ll flush it with diesel and see what goodies are in the diesel. After that I have my work cut out for me getting the cap off the side that had no oil. The bolt heads are damaged and parts of the cap are mashed over so close to the bolt, you can’t get a socket on it. I imagine that’s fairly common though
 

sdavies2000

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Well the drive that had oil in it is good. I drained it with a magnet in the drain oil being drained then filled it with diesel. There was nothing in the oil coming out that stuck to the manget. I ran it for three minutes in each direction with the diesel in it and drained that. Tipped the bucket on edge and swished the magnet around for a bit. Absolutely nothing on the magnet. I just finished filling it back up with clean oil. Going to get started on the bad side now
 

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Nige

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G..G..G..Granville.........!! Fetch your cloth.
Well the drive that had oil in it is good. I drained it with a magnet in the drain oil being drained then filled it with diesel. There was nothing in the oil coming out that stuck to the manget. I ran it for three minutes in each direction with the diesel in it and drained that. Tipped the bucket on edge and swished the magnet around for a bit. Absolutely nothing on the magnet. I just finished filling it back up with clean oil. Going to get started on the bad side now
I wonder if what was discolouring the oil was possibly dirt getting in through the face seals.? We used to get water/dirt ingress a lot in our excavators if they were used in sloppy underfoot conditions and travelled a lot.
 

sdavies2000

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canada
Getting the cap off wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Prior to getting the cap off, I dug all dirt and crap out from behind the sprocket. It was packed full of junk. Pieces of roofing shingles and plastic. The inside of the drive was all still wet, wasn’t dry dry. I don’t see any damage either, at least on the parts you can see. They all look good.
The bolts weren’t very tight either
 

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Tones

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You might just be one lucky fella and just maybe the seal is all that needs replacing. Remove the guts of the hub then check for bearing sloop on the outer part of the hub.
 

92U 3406

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The behaviour maybe.? Once it has been "cracked loose" for the first time it should simply screw off the spindle using a relatively low amount of force. If at any moment after the point where it breaks loose the force required to turn it starts to increase that would indicate something is causing it to hang up on the threads. Stopping at that point and splitting the nut off would most likely not result in significant thread damage to the spindle, it's carrying on trying to turn it that would do the damage.
You're on the money with that assessment. Once broken loose it should spin off pretty easy. If you need to haul on a ratchet or breaker bar, the threads are galling up.

A lot of times if the main bearings are worn the nut will start to move a little as the lock plate has a little bit of tolerance in it from what I can remember. I suspect that's what gets the threads buggered up - the repeated movement of the nut along with end play on the bearings beating on the nut. If the nut has to be split, a little time with a thread file and a new nut will usually go right back on with no issues.
 

Nige

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G..G..G..Granville.........!! Fetch your cloth.
Getting the cap off wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Prior to getting the cap off, I dug all dirt and crap out from behind the sprocket. It was packed full of junk. Pieces of roofing shingles and plastic. The inside of the drive was all still wet, wasn’t dry dry. I don’t see any damage either, at least on the parts you can see. They all look good. The bolts weren’t very tight either
The creamy colour of the remnants of the oil sticking to the planetary gears, ring gear, & carrier gives the impression that it's been contaminated with water. In the case of a leaking face seal it's always possible to have 2-way traffic. If oil can get out water can get in.
 

sdavies2000

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Oct 22, 2022
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canada
Yes I guess I could fill it up and keep a close eye on it. See how badly it’s leaking anyway.

how is the cap supposed to be sealed? There’s no o ring listed in the parts diagram. There was definitely a ring of adhesive of some kind. It wasn’t an o ring but the bead was too perfect to have been put there by someone. It was orange coloured, you can see it in the pictures.
 

sdavies2000

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Oct 22, 2022
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canada
Thanks for all the help, I’ll pick up some gasket maker in the coming days and get it back together and filled up. I’ll report back with any leak updates. Likely won’t have time to put her to work until sometime next week.
 

John C.

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Most all the Japanese gear works I've put hands on used a silicone type sealant. It really doesn't matter much I think.
 

Mcrafty1

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Oct 12, 2019
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Central Maine
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https://www.woodlandfp.com/
I used these guys when I replaced the final drives on my Cat 307. At that time Cat quoted me $5000.00 to replace the seal in mine, if that was all it needed, if I removed it an took it to them. I bought New complete with drive motor from Woodland for $3000.00 delivered to my door. Several years ago now. about a year later the other side started leaking and I bought the second one then for the same money. They were aftermarket but worked fine and are still working fine now . The only issue I had was the fittings in the drive motor for the Hydraulic lines were British and I had to buy adapters but that was the only other expense involved. I'd have to dig back to get a time frame but its at least4 or 5 years ago now.
 

Mcrafty1

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Many of the guys in my area that have fellerbunchers in the woods have a lot of seal problems in their finals, most will pump the finals full of synthetic grease (EP Grease) and run them until they break...sometimes years, the grease stays in good and as long as they're full of grease it keeps the water out, If seals are your only problem that might work for you.
 

sdavies2000

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canada
service place quoted me 2,000 (can) to replace the seal and 12,000 for a reman. I'm hoping to not have to do either. got the cap on today, ill fill it with fresh oil monday and see how bad the leak is or if its present now that all the junk has been dug out from behind the sprocket.
I have no doubt the grease method has some merit, but i have to sell this thing when im finished with it and i cant imagine it will go over well if a prospective buyer does an inspection and finds that drive full of grease.
 
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