The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

I haven't posted much lately since most of my time has been spent on the restoration of my '59 Dexta!

Here is a photo of my tractor's engine, taken over a year ago:



Here is what it looks like after being "dry-fitted." Meaning, I put it all together without any seals or gaskets, just to make sure that I haven't misplaced any parts:



This is a photo of the chassis, which shows the front end, sitting on the box that contained all of my parts as I cleaned and painted them over the past year:



I am now working on the double-clutch and the rear axles. Here is a view of my "old-style" axle:



Note the retainer:



The newer axles have locknuts instead of pressed on retainers. My question is, do you think simply replacing the inner oil seal will suffice to keep rear-end fluid from seeping past the outer seal and onto my new brake linings? When I got the tractor, the brakes were saturated in fluid.

I've read the Shop Manual, and it is a daunting task to split the old bearing and seal retainer, then heat the new retainer and refit the new parts. I can take it to a machine shop if necessary, but if you think the inner seal will work by itself, I'd rather go that route. Or, is there another alternative, like the Sure-Seals that are used on Ford N-Series tractors?

Here's the link to my Dexta Part II album, with additional photos of of the painted parts. You can check out Part I for more pictures of the teardown process:

http://picasaweb.google.com/tractorNstu ... ationPart2#

Don

The outer seal is the important one and the cause of your leak I am afraid.

The job is not as bad as it sounds. The only trouble I has was splitting the collar after drilling. I was being a bit gentle. Give it some good hits with a cold chissel. The new collar is easy to fit as they expand about 6 thou when they are getting dark brown go blue hot.

ddoan wrote:

Don, I see your radius rods have the classic Dexta upwards bow caused by front end abuse - they should be straight. It might be worth getting them on a press whilst you have the chance. Have you got spacers, a longer one ahead on the axle and a shorter one behind it, on the pivot pin? There's a thread about them on here.

Great work
Keep us posted!

how did you get the half shaft retainer nuts off? mine was a scraper and the nuts are very badly rusted. anyone know where i can get some new nuts for the job?

many thanks

john.n wrote:how did you get the half shaft retainer nuts off? mine was a scraper and the nuts are very badly rusted. anyone know where i can get some new nuts for the job?

many thanks

Hi, i had same problem with the nuts on my Dexta project, chopped em of with a chisel but the studs were jiggered as well. Getting 20 new ones from my local New Holland dealer .

Those nuts are sold by Agriline.Some 12 pounds i believe.

PJJMS;did you manage to get the bearings off the shafts yourself?

PJJM,

How did you pull the bearings, seal, and hub off of the axle once the retainer was split? In the manual, there is a special puller referenced. Did you have that tool, or something else?

John.n,

I was fortunate in some ways that the nuts came off quite easily. In California, the climate is pretty dry most of the time. So, rust wasn't much of a problem. Also, since the oil seals were leaking badly (not good for the brake linings), the nuts and bolts were saturated in hydraulic fluid, keeping the nuts lubricated.

I've had other instances where there was rust - mostly the fasteners holding the sheetmetal together. Plus, almost every split pin had to be drilled out - and there are lots of those on the Dexta. What engineering genius came up with that design?

Don

Yes, I did get the bearings etc off myself. I have a large press in the shop. While the job did not require much force the large press is able to handle long things like axles.

Pressing them off did not take long and it would not be expensive to have this part of the job done at a local engineering shop.