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LangdonStevenson 
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Joined: 03 Jun 2023
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 Topic: D Grader - help! Rear wheel shaft seal replacement
Posted: Yesterday at 7:07am |
Well, it's been a while since my grader was running and it's finally ready for new hydraulic hoses after replacing all of the spools and adding power steering to it! But before it's ready to work again, I need to replace the seal on the left rear wheel shaft. I have a diagram of the assembly from the manual as shown below.
The question is: how to replace the seal? From what I can see I will need to:
- Drain the oil in the chain box
- Dismount the rim from the wheel
- Remove the wheel (this is going to be seriously hard and probably require an hydraulic puller)
- Remove the outer bearing retainer
- Remove the old seal
- Install the new seal in the retainer
- Replace the retainer, probably with a new gasket
- Reassemble wheel.
Does that sound right? I expect there's no way to get around pulling the retainer off, but thought it was worth asking the group.
Thank you in advance to anyone who can offer any insight!
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Les Kerf
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Joined: 08 May 2020
Location: Idaho
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Posted: Yesterday at 8:42am |
I have never so much as touched a model D grader but looking at the drawing it appears that you are on the right track.
That tapered shaft is probably going to require a serious puller, as you noted above.
It may be possible to use a slide hammer to remove the seal once you get the wheel off, but it may be wise to remove the bearing retainer anyway in order to inspect the bearing as it could be the root cause of the seal leakage.
Best wishes on your project! 
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steve(ill)
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Posted: Yesterday at 9:08am |
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look close at the drawing.. It shows the seal installed from the INSIDE and has a lip to keep it from falling OUTWARD toward the wheel....
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Like them all, but love the "B"s.
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Les Kerf
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Posted: Yesterday at 1:42pm |
 steve(ill) wrote:
look close at the drawing.. It shows the seal installed from the INSIDE and has a lip to keep it from falling OUTWARD toward the wheel.... |
Hmmm... the arrows in the drawing do tend to obscure things a bit, but it still looks to me like there is a lip to the inside of the seal just above the point of the arrow on the left side. The diagonal lines indicate that portion of the retainer to be contiguous with the main body.
I think  I could be wrong too 
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Sids
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Posted: 13 hours 40 minutes ago at 8:36am |
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Loosen the nut on the spindle and drive it around in tight circles. This might start to loosen the hub on the taper.
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TramwayGuy
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Posted: 12 hours 38 minutes ago at 9:38am |
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I don’t think you need to remove the sprocket at all. Take the chains apart and the housing should come off around it. Then pull the axle and bearing holder and the seal.
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steve(ill)
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Posted: 9 hours 4 minutes ago at 1:12pm |
i cant say that i know for sure... but the drawing shows the seal installed from the INSIDE and pushes up aginst a lip in the housing , and keeps it from moving OUTWARD..... look at the lip above the seal...
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Like them all, but love the "B"s.
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Les Kerf
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Posted: 5 hours 55 minutes ago at 4:21pm |
steve(ill) wrote:
i cant say that i know for sure... but the drawing shows the seal installed from the INSIDE and pushes up aginst a lip in the housing , and keeps it from moving OUTWARD..... look at the lip above the seal...
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You are, of course correct Steve I was looking at the wheel seal which is what I understood the OP to be needing to replace.
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steve(ill)
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Posted: 5 hours 18 minutes ago at 4:58pm |
well i think you are right LES... the picture is TOO BIG for my screen and i nevere even saw the right half of the drawing.. the DID say wheel seal... so your probably RIGHT !!
your going to have to watch out when you remove that bearing retainer.. shaft is not held in place.. might fall out of the INNER BEARING and chain come off the sprocket.. I would be temped to try to dig the seal out of the RETAINER HOUSING instead of removing it.. also check bearing PRELOAD.. shims on the inner end / bearing.
Edited by steve(ill) - 5 hours 15 minutes ago at 5:01pm
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Like them all, but love the "B"s.
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LangdonStevenson
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Posted: 4 hours 34 minutes ago at 5:42pm |
Hi Les, thanks for the reply. Yes getting the wheel off is probably going to be the hardest job! Ok, slide hammer is a really good idea - thank you for that! Given how old the machine is I'm inclined to not pull it apart more than absolutely necessary, but I'll jack it up and check the play in the bearings and see if they feel crunchy. I really don't want to have to replace the bearings too!
Thanks again for the input.
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LangdonStevenson
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Posted: 4 hours 30 minutes ago at 5:46pm |
Thank you Sids, that's a good plan that I hadn't thought of. The grader is off at the engineers currently getting all new hydraulic hoses made up and isn't driveable because of the hose situation, but once that's sorted I could give it a try. The engineers also have an hydraulic puller that they say would do the job, so we'll see, they may be able to just pop it off for me. Thanks again!
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LangdonStevenson
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Posted: 4 hours 26 minutes ago at 5:50pm |
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You are correct Les, it's the wheel shaft seal, not the axle seal. I had to replace the right hand axle two years back and that was a surprisingly easy job once the oil was drained. I also replaced the seal Steve is referring to, which just pulled straight out once the axle was removed.
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LangdonStevenson
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Posted: 4 hours 13 minutes ago at 6:03pm |
Hi Steve, thank you for your input. Sorry about the oversized image. It was a toss up between too small to see details and too big for some screens.
Yes I am referring to the wheel seal rather than the axle seal. I'm definitely going to see if I can just pop the seal out. It would save a lot of time and effort and as you say the shaft would almost certainly drop out of the inner bearing. Thankfully it's pretty easy to get to everything inside, as there are hatches on the top, so I can do it all easily enough - if I have to - but it's a nasty oily job! And I'd really like to avoid that.
Yes I'll check the bearing preload on all of the wheels while I'm at it. I saw the instructions for that in the manual and thought that was worth doing while I'm at it.
Thank you again for the input Steve.
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steve(ill)
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Posted: 3 hours 30 minutes ago at 6:46pm |
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if you have good access from the top, you could put a couple 2 x 4 scraps between the chain and outer wall of the case... that would hold the shaft into the inner bearing so you could take off the bearing housing..... if the seal is really STUCK..
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Like them all, but love the "B"s.
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Ian Beale
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Posted: 2 hours 27 minutes ago at 7:49pm |
Re getting the wheel off -
The "agricultural" method of loosening the rear hubs on WW 2 type Ford cars was loosen the nut and then vigorous figure-8s rather than circles.
Or make a bridge type puller for the bolt holes in the wheel, tighten the centre bolt as much as you can and then thump the end of it with a sledge hammer - the bigger hammer the better
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LangdonStevenson
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Posted: 2 hours 24 minutes ago at 7:52pm |
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Yes, that would be a sensible plan for sure if I need to take the outer bearing housing off.
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