Fixing to split our D21

I'm about to split her in two but was curious to see what other members have for splitting stands. I'm going to fabricate some this weekend.

What is the extra tank mounted under the platform for?

I'm too ignorant to understand why making the hydraulics separate from the driveline would "solve" rearend failures.  Did they go to 80/90 wt oil in the rearend ??   The type of oil used is/was the same as a 5020 John Deere and they didn't have any rearend problems.  The fact is the final drives and axle bearings were a bit undersized and if then the HP was increased, you had set the clock ticking for trouble down the road. And for all those who know so much, if the D-21 was adequate in final drive size, why then did they increase the size of everything in the 220 ???  Even the late D-21's had 3.25" wide bull gears instead of the older 2.75" wide gears.

And i couldnt agree more that the d21 rearends were junk

Doug the rear gears in a 210 220 rear end are literally twice as wide because of severe failures.
The allis dealer that did this conversion said nearly every tractor they sold had a rear end failure.
Im sure maintenance was key but you could take a johndeere like a 5020 and neglect it just as bad and never have a failure.

My point was the final drives on D-21's were borderline adequate at best. If the HP (and torque rise) were left stock and the tractor was not weighted down much above 13,000 lbs  (100 lbs per PTO HP) the later 3 1/4" wide gears probably held up decently.  But, I doubt that they would have ever met the reliability of a D-17 S3 or S4.  I think of the thousands of those models that spent thousands of hours pulling a 3 x 16's or 4 x 14's plow and NEVER EVER had a differential or final drive failure due to inadequate design or strength. It just didn't happen.  The mighty D-21 would have been better served as it was originally....non-turbo and 103 PTO HP.

Planetary designed final drives have their advantages and disadvantages.  They are less efficient in transmitting power thru them.  They are more compact in size and can easily have wet brakes incorporated into them. They can be rugged and long lived, but if they aren't BIG enough, they too will fail early. Same can be said for bull gear/bull pinion designs. If built BIG enough, they can be very reliable. They are more efficient in power loss thru them.  Older Cat Challengers are bull gear/bull pinion designed and I've never heard of one failing due to a design flaw. Many in California have 20,000 plus hrs on them.  If the D-21, even with the later 3.25" wide gears were problem free, why was that design dropped in favor of the replacement model 220 with the inner axle bearing relocated and final drive gears made much beefier ?? I think that says it all.

I was very interested in this, as I am going to split my D21 this winter also, but it seemed to get off track quickly. I am going by the book, as I don’t want to drill holes in the frame to split it. I am going to remove the weights, front axle, support casting, and side rails. Then remove the engine and clutch with a cherry picker.
If anyone has any pointers, that would be great.
Thanks

Thats about how i planned on building mine.
I want to make them clamp tonthe frame rails but will be adjustable so i can split my 210 later on and split a 190

SteveM C/IL wrote: Orange,looks like you got the good out of that limiter.