Farmall M Axle Housing Gasket

[SinkholeRoad]

So I m installing new gaskets between the transmission side and the axle housing on my 1950 Farmall M. I am going to make my own gaskets. I have made an observation about the hole on the transmission side near the bottom. It seems obvious to me that the hole is an oil return from the bearing carrier. So if someone making their own gasket did not open the gasket for that hole you would create an oil flow problem. My question is, are their any other concerns about making your own gasket for this location that I should consider?
Thanks

 

[Mrfred54]

No other concerns. I made mine about 15 years ago and no issues

 

[the tractor vet]

Well if it had no purpose then they would have never put the hole in the case now would they and they would have never put the hole in the gskt . When you farmed on a side hill oil / gear oil would keep building up and work it's way out the end of the axle and not level out allowing the rea end to run low and NOT many check trans and rear end levels that much . So yes ya need the HOLE .

 

[caterpillar guy]

Sinkhole I would make them and just make the holes like the casting ot old gasket was/is and go on. TV has a valid point of side hills though not all work some of the hils that are over in his part of the country. Yup he has some steep ones from what I have seen driving through some of that are. He might even need to put taller wheels on one side so it doesn't roll off the side hill.

 

[SinkholeRoad]

In my original post I stated that I understood the purpose and need for the oil passage hole. My question is/was are there any other issues similar to this that I should consider before making my own gasket.

 

[the tractor vet]

Ya ever noticed our cows over here , legs are longer on one side then the other so they can stand straighht when on the hill side. . ya want a thrill plow on our hill sides . when planting corn ya start at the top and work your way down due to the planter sliding , with old drag plows ya needed the hill side hitch on the draw bar , on semi mounts ya need the Hyd sliding hitch to keep the plow forced up the hill . Think of the THRILL of droping the furrow tire into the furrow when doing couture strips with a OLD narrow ft. tractor . they is why we ran and extra wheel weight or two on the land side and with a Farmall cub ya never wanted to have the engine side on the down hill with out the heavy wheel on the right side our two wheel weights and a well rounded Taler Figure in the seat . I have had shell we say interesting times on the hill sides over here . Planting corn for my Jockey buddy the county south of me i had the corn planter shove me down the grass head land when i made the turn , yep a fully loaded John Deere 1240 plateless 4 row shoved a fully loaded 706 down the hill with one tire turning forward and the other turning backwards and stepping on the brakes made it even worse , Hills so steep that going down with a 706 all the hyd. oil ran away from the pick up tube and sucked air loosen all steering , brakes and T/A functionm Yeee HAW and away we went . Doing custom Corn shelling for one of the neighbors a well known Auctioneer on one of his fields it was like a cork screw and the first time i shelled that field after i got the 3 outside rounds opened up i wanted to get the field split and started with a empty bin and took two rows going North , turned around and headed back south with about a half bin full . Cab now on the down hill side and i get about half way thru the field and all of a sudden the combine just stops moving forward , What the *&%#@& is going on it did not jump out of gear , i did not feel or hear a drive belt explode , so i stepped on the left brake and nothing happened , stepped on the right brake and the combine lunged forward and was NOW LEANING MOVE to the down hill side , Instant Reverse and cut the back end down hill , that 2/3rds of a bin was now running over the sides and backed it down the hill thru standing corn onto leveler ground . To do that field it was done going NORTH keeping the cab on the uphill side and could only fill the bin half full to keep from it running over the right side . sure glad i had a little Massey 300 with the low setting saddle tank grain bin and a can hanging over the left side and to help ya had to run with auger out and full of corn . Been several combines that have laid over and played DEAD . While moving between farms over the 6-8 years i had it i have exploded two sets of drive belt on the roads pulling the hills . Yea we got HILLS. In days of OLD while picking corn into a gravity box the last thing ya wanted to do is pick into a box with the door on the down hill side , BIG NO NO unless ya like cleaning up a load of corn over a 1/4 of a load and the first rock or ground hog hole it was OVER SHE GOES , break and axle under the picker tractor on the hill side , it becomes shorts cleaning time.

 

[Highwayman]

We got hills here too I can tell a few stories of wagons and a combine that ended wrong side up.
Had a buddy combining and I was chasing him with the gravity box. Noticed the combine uphill tire showing daylight so I flagged him down and pulled under the augur. U fortunately the door side was downhill. OOPSIE!!
Wagon tipped over before we even got it half off the combine. U

 

[cuby]

What is no fun at all is going out in the corn field below freezing weather, snow in the corn rows to put in a rear axle on a M with mounted picker. Done that more than once. And usually on a side hill of some kind.

 

[charlieu]

(quoted from post at 00:54:51 12/10/23) What is no fun at all is going out in the corn field below freezing weather, snow in the corn rows to put in a rear axle on a M with mounted picker. Done that more than once. And usually on a side hill of some kind.

You forgot to mention that the tractor was also stuck in the mud. I too have done axle replacements more than once, but that was back in the 70's when I was much younger.

 

[560Dennis]

Suggest
Use as close as possible to the same thickness gasket. Ihc used a pretty thin gasket if I recall.
Use sharp exacto knife on cutting board ,I have cutting broad I got at the model shop .
I use brass wire brush to clean the sealing surfaces with brake cleaner. Want a clean surface for gasket and mating surface to adhere. Want
a good metal to gasket seal surfaces. Check for sealing surfaces are not damaged and are not warp with straight edge.
I dont use any gasket sealer, oil will get in it , to inside helps the seal
I use correct diameter a leather punch for the holes. Or cut out holes with knife
Id use the bolts on gear side to center the gasket at assembly ,watching it draw up thight l
Use a good quality gasket paper . Gaskets ihc used last a long time.
All I can think of now ,hope this helps you out.

Photo of cutting broad and knife it use to make plow stencil for an example.
Take you time have fun

 

[the tractor vet]

Cutting board ???? i can not tell you how many out in the field gskt's i have done over the years and NO cutting board was ever harmed . The many finial drive housing gskt's we made for big dozers in the field ya used the housing and a ball peen hammer to do the cutting and outline the bolt holes then gskt punch to cut the bolt holes on a chunk of wood , same as the axle housing make a big hole in the center that a ball peen to do the cutting and imprint the hole to be cut out.

 

[SinkholeRoad]

UPDATE,
That s exactly what I did.
I imprinted the shape and the bolt hole pattern with a ball peen. Then cut the gasket with a scissors and the bolt holes with a hole punch.

Aligning that big gear to the shaft while reassembling through the pto opening was not easy. I still think that I prefer it to removing the cover.

I also needed to do some work to my pto itself while it was out. If anyone reading this has removed that little bolt that holds the pto selector shaft to the selector arm inside the pto then you know the pita that it is.

But, it is all back together and I am happy.
Thanks

This post was edited by SinkholeRoad on 12/10/2023 at 06:10 pm.

 

[glennster]

is a paper gasket required or could you use a silicone rtv gasket sealer?

 

[Dieseltech]

is a paper gasket required or could you use a silicone rtv gasket sealer?

The new RTV would work fine too IF both surfaces are clean and oil free.