Rear end strange metallic noises

[wfillingham]

Hi,

this weekend my Dexta started making funny metallic noises in the rear end, it initially sounds like say broken bits of metal in the brake drum but when jacking it up and rotating it makes no noise, ie its only when on the ground and moving along...

its not a rumbling, it really does sound like loose bits of metal being oscillated inside... and the noise seems to be from the ends of the axles and not in the diff...

hence, it would then suggest wheel bearings, buts it really weird that both sides are doing this.

similarly, when rotating the wheels jacked up it does not make any noise.

note that the Dexta is 1961, and I have had this for ten years, of fairly heavy use and whilst stripped out the brakes and rebuilt them last year, has had lots of use since then.

the last thing I did before he funny noises appeared was tow a massive tree trunk across the field, then also do some cultivating, though in between that I went for a 8 mile run flatout up the road (something I do on a regular basis over the winter to make sure tha battery is charged, and it gets warmed up etc...)..... so it does get use as such....

anyway, could it be the bearnings? inner and/or outer?

or could it be something more serious like the diff?

[PghBill]

Logic would suggest wheel bearings, being as no sounds are heard with the tractor weight off of them. But both sides at once? Tiz a puzzlement.
I'm can only assume that you turned one wheel at a time with the transmission in neutral. If you haven't already, I'd try lifting both wheels off the ground at once and putting the tractor in gear with the clutch pushed in. Then try to turn the wheels. This would engage everything from the transmission back. Also engage the differential lock while turning the wheels to see if that makes a difference. Unless you are a spider, your gonna need a few extra legs. Keep us posted on what you find.

[gemmachine]

Hi
I have the same sort of noise.
I only get it when driving along in gear, if you put the clutch down and coast along it goes.
Over the winter with the help of a friend who knows more about tractors than I do We have jacked up the rear end. Turned wheels one way then the other one at a time and both together. Started the engine put in gear and let wheels run but no sound of any problem when jacked up.
We carried on and parted the right hand side trumpet housing as this side sounded worse but all was fine as far as we could see.

(I did find that the PTO had been pushed back into the tractor at some time and had broken of the housing of the bearing, luckily found a replacement on ebay so that was sorted)

All put back together and the noise is still there.
Mine also sounds if its coming from the wheel bearing area but if that was the case I think you would get the noise when free wheelingI as well?
Hope someone might have a solution

[Aussie Frank]

Hi,

This sounds similar to a problem that somone had with a Major a while back. That turned out to be loose bolts holding the wheel centres to the rims. Have you checked all the bolts on your wheel rims to make sure they are tight?

Regards, Frank.

[Brian Cox]

are you sure it's not a noise from the hydraulics as when I got my baby i had the same sort of noise but on playing about with the hydraulics I found it was coming from there and now I just turn the radio up louder, no longer any worries

[gemmachine]

Hi
Thanks for your ideas.
I will have a look at the wheels at the weekend to see if the noise is coming from them.

I'm thinking I will have to jack up the wheels and let the preasure out of the tyres before I can see if the bolts are loose?
I will let you know what I find.

Regards Alan

[super6954]

Hi
Thanks for your ideas.
I will have a look at the wheels at the weekend to see if the noise is coming from them.

I'm thinking I will have to jack up the wheels and let the preasure out of the tyres before I can see if the bolts are loose?
I will let you know what I find.

Regards Alan

Hi I was involved in the discussion about the loose wheel bolts on the major. it's a fairly common problem on modern tractors with 4wd front rims with detachable outer rims like the Dexter has. Guys don't check them very often when using loaders. I would also check the hub bolts too. It could be the hard pulling loosened them up in the other guys post that's got problems with his tractor here as well .

The other thing I would also do is jack one side at a time and support safely, put a large long piece of wood or pipe under the wheel bottom and pry up , then see if you have any play up and down this will tell you how worn the bearings are as well our other guy needs to do this too on his tractor.
You could also find that the bearings that are bad will only make a noise when they are loaded by weight on the axles or drive line load on the transmission/Differential,final drive . some of this stuff is not easy to pinpoint unless a guy takes it apart and checks individual bearings. Been there done this kinda stuff a few times in my career fixing tractors

Just kinda curious why you want to jack it up and let the air out first, or are you gonna change the air from winter to summer air at the same time
Regards Robert

[Cvans]

are you gonna change the air from winter to summer air at the same time

Doesn't everybody do that? Won't summer air freeze in the winter

[wfillingham]

sorry for the delay in the update to this... have been so busy, and also cannot afford to have the tractor "off the road..." ie it is actually more of a loss if the Dexta is broken than say my Jag.... but anyway..

Yesterday I finally found 30 mins to start taking stuff to bits... and before I half started... found the bolts holding the inner to the outer rim where slightly loose... ie whilst they were tight... they were not torqued to "FT" setting......

so, put the airgun on them and max pressure and now they are tightened to "FT"

I think what happened was that when i dismanteled everything and painted the rims, then reassembled, the slight thickness of paint caused it to loosen...

I noticed this straight away as i took a wheel of as it made a funny sound as I roleld it along the ground by hand..... off the tractor....

[super6954]

Hi
Glad you found the problem to be an easy fix . that's why we said check their too. I have seen this probably 30 times on modern front tractor rims on 4wds with loaders . you get the odd one where it's more serious and has bearing failure.
I seem to remember the dreaded new paint was the outcome of the problem with the guys major wheels too .
It's real nice when it works out good as with trying to fix something we can't see or actually hear you kinda have to go through all you have come across before .
From my experience some of it's not easy to find as I said before. I had a noisy gearbox in a new tractor we sold in our dealership. I took it apart twice under warranty . we checked gears and fitted new bearings it still did it.
In the end our manufacturer gave a new gearbox to the customer to save the deal, then the problem finally went away . The factory warranty department never even figured out why it was noisy either, after 2 weeks of high intensity checks measuring and test bench running .
Regards Robert

[Cvans]

Congratulations on solving the problem. Has to make you feel a lot better. Thanks also for letting us know what the problem was.

[ol'Blue]

My wife looked over my shoulder as I read this post and suggested I ask the forum for help with the strange noises (and smell) that come from my rear end.....

Too much healthy eating I suppose......

At least you figured out your troubles.... Well done..!!