Major Bull Gear Bearings

[Scott in PA]

Hi All,

I need to replace the bull gear bearings. Does anyone know where I can get them? New Holland has a listing for them but they show that they are no longer serviced. I old ones have SKF part numbers but SKF themselves can't seem to find a match as the number are old and no longer used. I am getting really desperate after a month of searching with no luck. I would even settle for a used ones in good shape.
 

[lonzo]

I got my outer bearings a Baum Hydraulics in Omaha. you half to own a repair shop before they will talk to you. When my transmission bearings went out i couldn't fine any that i could aford, i got bearings that the OD and width were the same but the ID was bigger than the shaft i made adaptors to presson on the shaft them pressed the bearings on the adaptors. that was 4 years ago and i use the tractor all the time and no problems. I think my bull gear bearing are barrel shaaped in stead of tappered, if so you can convert your bearing to tapered kind and do away with the old style. My local salvage yard has 3 or 4 majors laying around so i plenty of parts
 

[Mike Farmer]

Hi. Whats the SKF No. I'll check it out this side of the pond for you. MTF
 

[Scott in PA]

Thanks Mike

Here are the numbers that are the pieces:

Cup - K69630 BH - the opposite side has N-4222B
Cone - K69354/4 - BH24 the opposite side has N-4221
There is also a 1119099 stamped into the cage.

The dimensions are:

Cone ID - 3.5433
Cup OD - 6.2992
Bearing width - 1.1811

If you run the Fordson number through either the SKF or Timken online cross reference, it comes up with a bearing of the correct dimensions but it is a ball bearing and not a tapered roller.
 

[Mike Farmer]

Ok I'll look into that tomorrow. Did you know that Timpkin offer a remanufacture and repair service. I dont know the details but it might be worth looking into and considering. MTF
 

[jkilmer83]

another option is to find a local supply house and bring the bearing in to them and they can set you up with a new bearing. The old numbers might be totaly useless.
 

[Scott in PA]

I have been scanning the Timken and SKF catalogs and found a bearing that is the exact ID & OD but it is about 2mm wider than the original. The SKF bearing # 30218 J2. is I am thinking about ordering one to see if it will work. There should be enough "play" in the bull gear to pinion mating to compensate for the extra width. I could always make some shims to shift the axle housing outward 2mm. Thoughts?
 

[Mike Farmer]

Hi. You may not like what you're about to hear so hold on to your hat. These bearings are available but in extremely short supply. Cost each £130.00 thats about $210.00. If you are still interested I'll send you the address of my contact and you can deal direct that way you won't have to pay UK tax????????. I should imagine with shipping you're not going to get a lot of change out of $500.00. Or you could try Keith at Cotswold Vintage Tractors for good used ones. www.cotswoldvintagetractors.com he's a genuine guy, indeed he may have some new ones. I've now run out of ideas but if anything comes up I'll contact you. MTF
 

[Scott in PA]

Thanks again for all the help Mike. I just sent a email to Keith inquiring about used ones. I checked locally for used ones but no one has any that have been removed and the condition of ones in the few Majors (about 3) that are in the salvage yards is unknown and no one really wants to check for me. I honestly can't blame them. It is a lot of work especially in the snow and ice we have right now. I'll wait to hear back from Keith, but I am leaning towards trying one of the Timken bearing that I found (see my post from yesterday). I found a place that has them for about $86us.
 

[Mike Farmer]

Hi. I don't know what stage you now reached but I've been trying valiantly to reengage my brain. Thoughts are.(If you cant get correct bearings)
1. Your suggested shim should work. Or have 2mm groung off the back of the cup, the roller bearing will still fit in but it will protrude 2mm toward the wheel. Or just put the overwidth bearing straight in. At worst it means your bull gear will stand proud(overlap) by 2mm and I cant see any thing which that would foul and you will only lose about 2-3% of driving surface contact. MTF
 

[Scott in PA]

Thanks Mike. It seems we are thinking the same. The bearings i found are $87us each which is a lot better than $180+ for the correct ones. I struck out in trying to find used ones. One local place just wanted to sell me the whole tractor. I think they are liquidating their salvage yard. Depending on the year and condition i might just go ahead and buy the thing for spare parts.

I am going to order the bearings and then do a test fit to see how things come together. 2-3% loss of surface should make any difference. Most of the time i will be using the backhoe part of the tractor and won't be farming with it. I'll post my results when I have it figured out.