860 oil leak

Have an 860 leaking oil from a hole located down below oil pan, i'm asuming it is the real main seal. On my farmalls you have to split the tractor to get to rear seal, never had a ford apart. Do you need to split tractor to replace seal?
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Yep,
It's splitsville.
But they're good tractors so it's worth it.

Just split my 850 for the same problem only with mine the oil had also leaked into the clutch compartment and hosed the pressure plate so it was also a clutch replacement job.

When I got in there the main seals were actually dry. The oil was leaking from the camshaft gear cover so check that also when you split it.

My first time splitting it solo so it was quite intimidating but I found the service manual and master parts book to both be invaluable.

I'm not a mechanic but my advise would be to make sure you have both of those before you do it. Best investment I ever made for this beast.

Secondly when you do split it replace any gaskets and seals, inspect the clutch and pressure plate. I also replaced the throw out bearing, the input shaft seal and the gasket on the cover.

Oh and one more little thing that was comepletely embarrasing and luckily only the dog was watching.

The hydraulic pump manifold on mine has three bolts on it. The third one is tucked way up behind the oil pan and is not shown in the parts book so of course I took two off and thought it was stuck somehow. I battled with it for hours using heat, a pry bar(one major cut with stitches) and finally took the sawz all to it. When it dropped on the floor and I saw the third bolt I was ------ then couldn't stop laughing.

Score tractor 1 - me 0

Thanks for the replies, had a deal just like that on a 340 farmall once. It was the first time I had split a tractor, missed one bolt up by the head. Amazing how easy it came apart with all the bolts out!