Oh, joy. Looks like I need to replace the inside axle bearing on the right side of my '52 SC. From the parts diagram I see on http://www.messicks.com/caseparts.aspx, it looks like I have to drain the transmission, pull the top cover, unhook the chain on that side, pull the fender, and pull off the whole axle assembly to get to it. And few of those nuts have been moved since the tractor was built. And me with crops still to go in.

Sigh. At least I found one on eBay, new-old stock, for about half what the dealer wants.

It is a PITA. However, nothing is real hard or complicated. There is just a lot of steps to get it all done.

It is funny that Case made the chains adjustable. I don't know of anyone that has ever adjusted a chain as part of normal maintenance. It is too much work. All tractor I have been in did need to be adjusted. Most had worn grooves in the bottom of the case.

Yeah, we're no exception. This was my grandfather's tractor, and the chains have never been adjusted that I know of. Even when one of them broke a couple of years ago, (This side, in fact) we worked through the top of the transmission to fish it around and back into place. Come to think of it, that could be what started this bearing on the way to fail. Then again, it IS 60 years old...

Could it be that Case was protecting itself from law suits due to chain failure damage by being able to claim that proper maintenance wasn't done? Or could it just be that the design engineers weren't the ones who actually had to DO maintenance?

If it was me doing it id take the rear cover off instead of the top. remove the big nut from the axle remove the sprocket and your right there.

If only it were that easy. Finally got the service manuals back from my brother, and now I see what I didn't before.

I do have to take the sump off. What I had thought was the chain adjustment cap screw was just a cap screw holding the sump on. The adjustment screw is behind the sump, and to do it the way I thought to I still need to take out the adjustment screw.

On the older models you can slide the sump out and leave the PTO shaft in place, but on live PTO models like this one, the shaft has to come out with the sump. That means I have to work through a hand hole around the clutch to get to a snap ring and remove it, and take the top cover off to drive the PTO drive gear and bearing off as it's removed. And then there's removing the hydraulic pump and the hoses and cylinder for the Eagle Hitch.

And there's no big nut on the axle, according to the book. The sprocket is held on with a snap ring. If there's room to work, I may be able to remove that snap ring and slide the axle and bearings out of the housing. I'm hoping, anyway.

But no matter if that works or not, this whole repair is turning into one big PITA.