MM ZA Tranny Question

Tony in SD

Well-known Member
I bought a MM ZA. It sat outside forever and the rubber gear shift boot was gone. Big surprise........ So as you might have guessed the transmission was full of water. Drained the transmission, flushed with diesel and refilled with 80-140 synthetic Transmission oil. There is quite a bit of tranny chatter. Im looking for advice on what I should do to quite the chatter. Straight 140? Open it up to inspect/replace the gears and/or bearings? Nothing at all? I should also say it is not a work tractor anymore just an oldie that is in the progress of becoming a full time parade tractor.

Thanks in advance for any advice.
 
The possibility is there that the gears and bearings are heavily rusted from the water. If it were me I would pull the transmission cover plate and know where I stand on what is going on. If the tractor was the main work horse for the prior owners it just may have incredible amount of wear. I would brace for a rebuild but maybe most of the hardware and bearings are common to a Z which will help your search and cost.
 
The top cover is very easy to remove and gives you a great view of all the guts of it. They all do make noise. Spin the shafts in the transmission and if they feel smooth it will probably be okay. If things are really nasty and ugly inside it would probably be easiest to just find another rear end. Synthetic multi-weighy gear lube is great for some things, but probably say to good for an old tractor rear end. I noticed on all the rear ends I opened up and cleaned out the paraffin build up and put in new oil became noisy. I think the paraffin insulates and keeps the sound from travelling though the cast. Now mine get minimal cleaning and straight 140 gear lube. That has seemed to work well so far.
 
I agree, if it is in bad shape it would be easier / cheaper to find another rear end. When I bought my ZA my dad told me to take the drain plug loose on the rear end and drain off the water. It had, Im betting, at least 2 or 3 gallons of water that I drained out. Looked clear enough to drink, but I didnt lol. If there was some oil in it yet that helps some. Does it make noise in all the gears or just some of them? In 5th the bull gears will chatter at lower speeds, that is normal. Im betting to that the thinner oil will not cushion as much on an older transmission. According to the manual you were to use straight 140w and if needed thin it out in cold weather with kerosene and then drain it out in the spring and replace with fresh 140w again. Im betting if they were thinned out it was left in. If I remember correctly my dad had said the original 140w from years ago was black or dark in color.
 

This may go against the grain and its really your decision:

My ZT came out of a salvage yard and before that it spent many years somewhere else uncovered. It had water in the transmission too. Needless to say its pretty noisy. but for the years I regularly showed it, it never gave a serious hint that the transmission would not perform, noise and all. So I've never been into the transmission except to replace the top cover gasket.
 
I'm looking for ALL the LP parts off a ZA to convert one, IF you should find a LP, engine, trans, rearend are of no use to me but all the LP stuff is needed. Thanks, eight47 three0nine 734seven.
 

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