H pulley--part 2

Thanks Mike for the hint. Got the clutch lever unhooked. The nut was finger loose so came apart ok, springs are on top and retained. The reason for this activity is it is dripping fresh gear oil. So I squirted some gear oil in the groove in cover #35. And, sure enough the oil was running down side of trans case and on to floor. I am sure the ecofreeks in WA state will not like that, as someday tractor goes to my son who lives in WA. I am trying to get problems fix before he gets it. Those nice pix are of what I do NOT have, the oil return hole just past 6oclock.

I am thinking of drilling a 5/16 or 3/8 hole a little past the 6oclock position in the inner plate part of #35 and in the gear cover and filling the drain groove in the big part of #35 with JB weld. What do you guys think of that?

One other thing to do was to work over the mag. Forgot what a pain it is to get bottom bolt out. And I am going to put some new Evergreen gauges in it, too. Will check back later, probably do the mag first. Thanks all.

Believe it or not, squirting oil into that groove of an original early tractor is SUPPOSED to result with oil running down the side of the trans case and onto the floor.

Apparently, the original design assumed there wouldn't be much, if any, oil escaping the reduction gear cavity into the clutch cavity. If oil did escape, it was intended to be captured by that circular trough before it got into the clutch, and there is a small tunnel from that trough stamped into the (original) #35 shield that guided any escaped oil to the outside.

Then they must have realized this was a stupid design, so at S/N 13154, all that was changed. The redesign involved a new #41 reduction gear cover, a new #35 dust cover, and a new #36 gasket. Looking at the current parts catalog, one can see a drain-back hole in the reduction gear cover along with a big drain-back hole in the #36 gasket that mates the two new parts. The belt pulley dust shield was changed to reroute the drain tunnel from draining outside to the new internal drain-back hole in the reduction gear cover casting. Those three parts (gear reduction cover, belt pulley dust cover, and gasket) were provided as an assembly with a new assembly number, AH 828 R, but the original individual part numbers were transferred to the new parts, and even the casting number of the reduction gear cover remained the same. The original parts were completely abandoned. For example, if you cracked your original reduction gear cover (which didn't have the drain-back provision), you had to buy a complete package of AH 828 R that provided a drain-back. The only part Deere elected to retain was the original gasket (H 350 R). I guess they figured that people might need to get into the reduction gear area and didn't want to replace a mess of stuff to do so, so they retained the original gasket as a repair item - but the original reduction gear cover and belt pulley dust shield were gone forever.

So your "correct" fix would be to obtain a later set of parts (AH 828 R) and fix that "H" the way Deere intended.

I'm a little leery about your proposed solution of drilling your own drain-back. It will probably work, but why not just get the correct, non-modified parts that Deere provided as a fix for that problem?

I agree with dan41. My 41 H has been in pieces for 25 years or so and lately I've been searching parts sources. Rusty Acres, ebay, etc. Easy to find what you need and since those are parts that usually don't go bad they are not expensive.

Hey, dan. There has been some discussion here on the correct bearing for the left end of the camshaft. Calls for an ND 3305. Bearingman on ebay has several. I just got one from him. I put an MRC 305 bearing on mine but it didn't hold up well. I think it should be an angular contact bearing to take the thrust from the timing gears.

Looked the situation some more. The hole is drilled in the cover and the JB is curing as I type. Have to make pattern of hole layout from cover and transfer to tractor. Drill 5/16 hole, clean up and assemble. Done, no big expense, still looks original, and minimum time invested. Way I like jobs to go, too many more waiting. I will try to get pix and post them. Thanks for you thoughts. George

Mike, the LH cam bearing for the later "H" tractors, JD 7169 R, does cross reference (by Deere) to a New Departure 3305 as you mentioned. That's a fairly generic, plain ball bearing, 25mm bore, 62mm OD, 17mm wide. It's not an angular contact bearing so it doesn't matter how it's installed. It's true that the helical spur gears on the left side will generate axial thrust, but Deere apparently determined that the standard 3305 ball bearing would be adequate for the axial and radial forces at that location. What type of failure were you seeing with the MRC bearing? I've heard of failures due to lack of (good) lubrication and failures due inadequate clamping force of the nut on the end of the cam. If that isn't REALLY TIGHT, there is a good chance of wear on the cam shaft and the bearing bore because the cam can slide around very slightly inside the bearing (look up "hypocyclic fretting precession").

Been trying to find specs on the ND 3305 but no luck. MRC catalog says 3000 series is angular contact but companies used different numbering and only the 305 is standard. Email sent.

Just remember to "center" the tin part with the belt pulley. Leave the bolts sort of loose and then trial fit the belt pulley on. Spin it by hand and listen for rubbing. Tap the tin part so as to get the least amount or no rubbing then carefully remove belt pulley and tighten and lock wire the bolts.