Super M Trans/Rear Axle

I bought more and decided that I would open the drain plug to drain any wateron the bottom. I didn't want to waste the new oil on top of cruddy old oil and water.

Of course there was lots of water, all the 7 gallons of oil came out creamy. I flushed it with gas and lots more crud came out, some as thick as tar.

I pulled some crud out with my finger and found a couple of roller bearings! I'm going to be optimistic here and figure that they are from a long ago breakdown (I hope) because it runs like a champ and makes no strange noises.

Moral of the story; there is probably always water in the trans/axle because it is inside a huge cast steel heat sink and collects moisture every time it gets really cold and warms up again.

My 2 cents.

I dump in 5 gallons of diesel fuel and either jack 'em up and let 'er run in road gear or run it around the place for a spell.

Works just like an old agitator washing machine. Cleans them pretty well.

Allan

These are roller bearings, not ball, maybe 1/4" in diameter. The drain plug is not on the bottom but on the rear of the axle case and is at least an inch from the case bottom. It is very easy to drain the case many times and never flush out anything heavy. I had to dig down just inside the drain hole with my finger to find the rollers.

I'm still enough of an optimist to think they were in there for a long time, especially since there are only two of them. If something recently came apart I would expect a bunch of rollers plus a pile of shrapnel and the tractor is making no strange noises.

Don"t ya think that if those ball bearings were from a "long-ago fix" that someone would have "fished" "em outta there at the time of repair?

They would have had to have had the oil drained out of the tractor if they were a fixin", seems to me and why in the world, would anyone leave those loose cast-iron crackin" balls rollin" around in there?

Hope not, but sure seems odd to me.

Allan