850 rear axle wheel bearing, do they need servicin

Was wondering if they need service. It looks like a job to disassemble and probably not necessary unless there is a problem, but figured I'd ask while its apart. I've never heard any creaking like you do when the front bearings need service like mine did, the grease transformed into a tar like substance on those front ones.

Kidding around aside, that'd be 100 bucks down the drain if they soak up oil, although I've learned of methods that extract oils from friction materials from people posting problems about steering clutches on caterpillar crawlers, on the acmoc site, to avoid disassembling complex assemblies, seems that they can be salvaged in a lot of cases.

I'm not heavy on the brake pedals, this tractor sees moderate use, mostly on the weekends if at all, I'm going to upgrade to a newer model with at least live, independent pto, remote hyd. etc, then I think I'll do a teardown and ground up restoration on this 850, that would be a better time to do things like these bearings unless the seal(s) fail before. One good thing though, at least I'm familiar with the assembly already. Thanks for the cost information as well !

60 years, that's great, where is the dealer located ? (just curious) Ford made a good tractor, it was hard to see the CNH take over.
They did away with their heavy truck line too, now Sterling makes them.

We had a Ford Tractor dealership when I was a kid, was there since the 30's, have a photo in with a dozen 8N or 9N's on the lot, was at least 40 years in existence, my father was successful selling more on the contruction equipment end, as agriculture was becoming so-so, he was sucessful in selling backhoes to local utility company, they had been buying another brand & he worked hard to get the account, Ford Motor company executives told him the other dealer in the area was slated to sell const. equipment and the relationship eventually failed, as these executives started demanding unreasonable payment terms on a big sale, 29 backhoes ! I never understood why people are the way the are, we were selling one their lines successfuly. It was sad to see the dealership become defunct because of this, as a kid, there was no better place than that shop in the summertime, the old time mechanics, who have all passed away in the last 10 years, lot of 8N's and up were always in the shop, plus the new ones on the lot, that parts inventory alone would have been nice to have today ! Still have some odds & ends, mostly nuts botls & washers left over, few nice keepsakes from the dealership, like my cherished PAM illuminated Ford Tractor clock that use to hang on the parts counter wall. There was a local guy who did beautiful restorations on Fords back then, I made sure he got all the misc. left over obsolete N.O.S. parts, that I found in the old shop. I remember all the old tools, workbenches, wooden drawers etc. in the old shop, they kind of just left everything the way it was when they moved into the new shop attached to one side. Different way of life back then. Rambling here LOL, good ole days are fun to remember ! The best was, one year ago, one of my best friends bought a 640 with the one arm loader on it, beautiful original condition, it had our dealer sticker on it when I went to look at it I saw it right away, I think I'll eventually buy it from him, it's in good hands now, but what a find, was on my birthday, it made my day !

Maybe I'm missing something here, but I hope the latter is true, because it would seem this would be a weak design, having to go through that everytime to pack that bearing, knowing that other bearing assemblies which are hand packed with grease require regular service. I also agree that the grease, if any left, would have to be worthless after almost 49 years !

I'm going to have to re-assemble at this point, I'm not even sure where to get a puller like that, although I've got a good ability to fabricate something once I understand it, and or have the local machine shop assist in doing so as well. I'm sure someone has come up with a solution on that at some time. If it is a grease packed bearing, definitely a job to tackle when you are doing a ground up restoration for sure. I've always been of the mentality to take the time do a job right, hate taking shortcuts, so, I'll re-assemble under protest !! LOL