JD H Brakes

I have oil leaking out of the axles of my H and has very little to no brakes. I'm sure the pads are oil soaked and will need replaced.

Before I dive in, does anyone have any advice or pictures from their brake job? Should I do anything else while I am in there? Will I need any special tools to replace the seal or have to pull any bearings first? Thanks in advanced.

These are from the original owner's manual and will tell you the basics.

Because the bull gear and differential assembly are located and supported only by the axles, be sure to pull only one axle at a time. Otherwise, the bull gear and differential will fall down out of place and it will be necessary to pull the back cover from the main case to lift the bull gear back into position in order to reinstall the axle.

There is a big lip seal pressed into the main case that is supposed to seal on the axle and the oil level is below this seal. However, "H's" are well known for getting a lot of water into the transmission which will raise the oil level well above the axle line and this is usually the reason for oil leaks. Check this seal and replace if necessary.

The axle bearings are tapered roller bearings and are adjusted according to the instructions of Page 21 above. Bad or mis-adjusted bearings will tear up that oil seal.

There is a 1/4" diameter drain hole in the bottom of the axle housings that is supposed to let any leaked oil out and that hole is usually plugged up with dirt, thus trapping oil in the axles and saturating the brake linings.

The proper brake adjustment is to adjust them tight, then back off the adjusting screw five notches. This should give you 2-3/4" to 3-1/4" of brake pedal travel. Do NOT tighten them for less free travel as this will actually work against the proper cam action necessary for best brake performance.

This should get you started. Everything should be fairly obvious once you get into it.

Thanks for that Dan. I got to do that to my 42 H this winter. I do have an owners manual and an I@T manual for it.
Richard in NW SC

Thank you Dan! That will help quite a bit. I plan to drain the oil out first and see if there is water. I also plan to do one side at a time. Do the axles pull straight off or is there anything I need to watch for? I plan to borrow a lift. I'm sure they're heavy.

The axle and housing assembly pull straight
out after removing the cap screws around
the housing flange. The assembly isn't
terribly heavy, but just to be safe you
might want to use an engine hoist to avoid
any surprises.

I found these pics I took a few years back when I installed new brakes and seals on my 1941 H. The engine hoist easily makes this a one person job.
I can't remember all the details but it was not too bad. You will need a rivet tool to install the new brake pads. I think I bought mine on ebay for
maybe $30.

Thanks for the pics fpappal! That's exactly what I needed. It's comforting to know what it looks like before diving in to a project.