Moving rear wheels on a John Deere 4440

I have read the archives regarding moving the rear wheels on John Deere 10, 20, 30, and 40 series tractors. I finally got the left wheel to break loose today. Pinion was rusted up solid. Finally got it loose. Put some pressure on the jack screws and drove it a mile, hitting the the left and right brake occasionally. Right side didn't break loose, but will work on it tomorrow. Question??? How do you guys prep the axle where the hub is going to be moved to? Right now it is painted yellow. Keep it yellow or sand it down to bare metal? Lastly how is the pinion bolt that moves the hub via the gear on the axle held in place? Can't seem to drive them out of the gear with a punch. Comes up to something solid. Is the gear rusted to the bolt? Thanks.

Remove the paint somehow. The pinion gear is splined to the bolt, two splines in the ID of the gear and two grooves in the bolt and its a press fit so you don't loose the bolt. Might have to remove the lower wedge and work the wheel to where you need it if the pinion doesn't come loose.

The fact that your moving the pinion bolt laterally tells me that you broke the rust. Can you now turn it with a wrench moving back and forth? Seems like you can salvage the pinion bolt and gear if you can get them moving at all. Use lots of penetrating oil. I have already torched them out and put new in. When you put in new you heat the pinion gear to almost cherry red and slip it over the pinion bolt. Ya, get it in the correct position fast.

Like Matthies said, clean your axle, I also suggest you clean up your wedges good. What are you setting the tires for, maybe 30" rows? If so I have a huge watch out for you. Let me know.

Going back together I have been experimenting with small amounts of never seize on both the axle and wedges. The key word is small amounts. I try to not let the never seize cover the entire surfaces. I just want it to help a little next time. And then retorque the wedge bolts a couple times once you start using it.

Make sure you carefully inspect both your wedge bolts and your push bolts. I sometimes find them to be bent and quite often the threads are really stretched. Match new threads to the old threads. If you see a lot of daylight they are stretched. I like to put in good bolts to make sure I am not damaging the casting threads with damaged bolts.
Also, clean out the casting threads. All of this will help things go back together nicely and it will work better next time. I am careful to put a very small amount of never seize on the wedge bolts.

Make sure the push bolts have the retaining clips on the back side, or you will loose them. Never seize the push bolts.

Again regarding the pinion bolt and gear, once together I oil well and then make sure I put the cork in to keep the dirt and water out. I think it is a 1" cork at Ace.

There is a tool available to loosen the wedges. If you continue have issues with the other wheel let me know. I'll get you the contact information.

I always like to make sure the snap ring is installed at the end of the axle just for safety.

Just my two cents. As you can see I like to bring these back to great working condition.

Paul

If you can get the Wedge free, you can (carefully) rotate the Axle to a "Smooth-side up" position and wiggle the wheel in or out, then take the weight back off the axle and rotate it to a "Geared-side up position, let the (frozen) gear drop into the desired slot..

Yes, if they are "Loaded", caution is a must..

I have packed the void under the Cork with grease before to prevent a pinion from re-seizing...often thought it would be good to adapt a fitting to install a Zerc in place of the Cork..

Old JD manuals used to advise the use of Waxed Paper between the Wedge and the wheel Hub, but not on the Axel..

Once ON and tight, a good application of Rust preventative would be prudent..!

Andy
Have you tried squarely hitting the end of the axle several times with a 10# sledge hammer?

Yep. Setting them to 30" rows. Got the last one moved and set today. It took more work. Took more time to get the pinion moving and the wedges didn't want to break loose. Good feeling to have that job done!