Massey 398 front 4wd hub leaking

One of the front hubs on my Massey 398 4wd is leaking at the input shaft. I see Massey used 2 different hubs, It has the hub (later type I believe) that has the single plug to drain/fill the hub instead of 2 plugs.

I have a shop manual, looks to be a fair job to replace the seal...nevermind I'd have to buy or fabricate a pin puller to remove the swivel housing to get at it.

So two things...any way to replace the seal without all that disassembly? Am I looking at the shop manual wrong?

Or use EP rated corn head grease in the hub instead of oil. Yes, not the right way, but I've used the cornhead grease before when I've been too lazy/no time to tear a leaky gearbox apart and fix properly.

Thanks

Fred

our 399 started leaking after twine got wrapped around it, I used grease also! I have some, well a lot of grease, anyway, I used an artic grease, I'm sure your corn head grease will work also!

Hi Fred, not familiar with corn head grease on this side of the pond. I have a customer with a 362 that has a badly worn axle that will not hold oil. Have now used OO EP liquid grease and so far is working. Before you decide your course of action I would suggest that you check the condition of the inner hub bush. Do this by turning the wheel to full lock to expose the Carfan coupling. Make sure that there is no load on the shaft. Fit a suitable lever under the joint and gently try to prise it up and down. If there is any significant play present it is likely to get worse and cause damage eventually. A puller to remove the swivel pins is almost essential as they can be very tight. I have some photos of a similar job done recently on a 3070. The hub is VERY heavy and you should have a means of lifting with fine control over it to align the hub and centre beam.
DavidP, South Wales

Brown Swiss, DavidP, thank you for your comments.

Corn head grease is a 0 weight ep grease.

This tractors main job is handling round bales. Hauling in from the fields in the summer, feeding in the winter. I am not sure how liquid 0 weight grease is in cold weather, so I will find some 00 weight EP grease and try that. Although here in southern Ohio, USA, it has not been that cold in the winter for a long time, but it would be my luck....

I read this on another forum

" stripped down entire assembly on front axel of MF699. To extract the pivots/kingpin take off the plate held down by the 4 bolts. Put the 4 bolts back in and screw down as far as possible. Get a flat Plate 12mm thick or so enough to cover the 4 bolts with overhang. Drill a hole in the centre of the plate. Put the plate on top of the 4 bolts and using a high tensile bolt which will screw into the the existing draw hole in the Kingpin/pivot to be extracted , tighten down the plate to the pivot. Now gradually reverse each of the 4 bolts a half turn at a time which will push up the 12mm plate and draw the king pin. Give the draw bolt a good tap of a lump hammer now and again to shock the kingpin. This worked well for me and is simple to set up - No Puller required - Just work with the 4 bolts already there. It may take a while and you may need to thicken the plate you use depending on how tight the kingpin is - but it will come out as mine were siezed solid"

Something to think about.

Thanks

Fred