Northvale PA
Member
One of the rotors on the tedder was wobbly as I hooked it up to use last time. I did a quick fix of installing a few more washers up under the rotor and greasing the heck out of it. I had 9 acres of hay on the ground and rain on the way. After done baling we pulled the rotor off to survey the damage. Turns out all 3 needle bearings had disintegrated. The bigger problem was the needles had broken into bits and churned around in the hub gouging the hub and the locking collar. JD dealer ordered in the parts, about 5 days to get them all. Photos show all the arms and driven gear pulled off. The bolts were very tight and the rotor is awkward to handle standing up on edge. Last photo shows the damaged hub and a pinion gear I replaced last year. As mentioned in other posts, I bought this tedder at a consignment auction and have unfortunately learned the previous owners drove it hard and probably did not grease the rotors. The replaced pinion gear teeth are about 90% gone and the driven gear teeth are about 50% gone. So, I am thinking I need to do the following, replace the other 3 rotor pinions and all the remaining bearings. Anyone here had to replace the needle bearings? Seems getting them out is going to be a pain.