440IC Final Drive Gear Play

[Johndozer]

Just mounted my final drives and sprockets after transmision overhaul.

While rotating the drive sprockets back and forth (forward and reverse motion and no tracks yet) I noticed the RH drive had 1" of play where the LH drive sprocket had 1/8".

I removed the RH drive pinion bearing cover and the forward-reverse movement is not between those gears so the play must be between the axle shaft splines and the bull gear splines??

What is the acceptable limit of play between those parts?

I use the crawler on small home jobs on weekends so use is not severe.

Can I get by with that kind of play or do I replace axle shaft and hopefylly not the bull gear??

Is the wear typically in the axle shaft splines or bull gear splines or both??

thanks,
Scott

[Lavoy]

No play is acceptable in the axle and bull gear. No matter how tight you tighten the retainer bolts, the crawler will just start it moving again. Eventually, the bearings loosen up and start to spin on the axle. Replacing either the bull gear or the axle may do the trick, depends on which is the most worn. I am putting pretty much everything I do back together with Loctite no to prevent this from ever starting.
Lavoy

[Johndozer]

Lavoy,

Do you mean locktite the axle shaft splines to the bull gear splines?
What type of locktite do you use...red or blue?

Scott

[Johndozer]

Can the axle shaft be removed w/o pulling off the final case again? Assume the bull gear would drop down into the bottom cover if you could do this?

Can the bottom bull gear cover be removed...support the gear...and slip out the shaft?

Scott

[Lavoy]

Yes, that is what I mean. I use the strongest you can get. If there is a real small amount of play, I use a void filling Loctite that fills in gaps up to .020. I also use the primer sealer that they recommend.
None of this will work for the amount of play you have, it will simply shear it off the first time it is under heavy load.

Yes, axle can be removed without taking the case off. Best to pull the bottom cover, the rear washer almost always falls down in the pan anyway.
Lavoy