Ford 7000 with pieces of needle bearing that fell out when draining oil

[7000Eric]

Just drained the hydraulic oil on my ford 7000 to replace the gaskets at the front of transmission and heard three clunks in drain pan. Three rollers came out what I would call the rear drain plug so not the drain plug at transmission. Found 3 rollers from a roller bearing in drain bucket, removed cover on back of tractor and removed pto shaft and looked in and could see what looked like the outer housing of a bearing down below differential, stuck a magnet in and pulled out part of the outer cage of roller bearing and a hand full of rollers. The rollers are 1/2 inch long and about 5/16 diameter and appear to not be a tapered bearing. From what I gather it would be almost impossible for bearing pieces to come from transmission if there was a failure inside trans. Is it possible for the bearings at rear of transmission for shafts coming though rear of trans into rear housing to fail and send the pieces to the rear end/towards the rear plug? Plan to remove rocker housing cover under seat to see if anything can be seen there and than maybe transmission cover if needed. Any suggestions of where to check first would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Eric

 

[Destroked 450]

Double check to see if the rollers are tapered or straight rollers
Also if you drawer a circle using the part of the bearing cage you have what diameter do you thing the bearing would be
Does your 7000 have 2 spd pto or standard 540 single speed
Most every bearing I looked up for the transmission and rear axle are ball, tapered or needle, there is a couple of bearings in the 2 spd pto I could not get info on

 

[7000Eric]

Here is a picture of pieces that I got out

 

[Sean in PA]

Is everything functioning properly in terms of the transmission gears, PTO and drive axles? If so, those pieces may be from a previous failure that was fixed long ago but the PO never cleaned everything out.

 

[mhb@ufe]

The rear pinion bearing is a roller bearing.

 

[7000Eric]

Thanks for the responses. The diameter of the outer shell of bearing is 2 1/2 inches, tractor only has 540 pto, the tractor has load monitoring system, the rollers are definately not tapered. About two years ago I had tractor split to repair pto clutch pack and cleaned the housing out good and found no metal at all at that time. Everything seems to be functioning with no abnormal noises, but I do remember when I was cutting 3rd crop hay last fall and climbing a hill I did hear a popping noise but like I said everything seemed to function ok so wasn't sure what to think about the noise I heard, maybe this is it?

 

[mhb@ufe]

Item number 53 is the bearing I was referring to. The dimensions shown are in mm but 62nn is close to 2.5 inches.

https://www.mycnhstore.com/us/en/newhollandag/na/tractors/agricultural/naba01agr06034cyl65-75/4-cyl-tractor/rear-axle/rear-axle-differential-related-parts-5000-7000/cn/F75EC5C9-B8BF-E111-9FCE-005056875BD6/51F9724F-E6BE-E111-9FCE-005056875BD6

 

[7000Eric]

Yeah, I just looked up part number in my parts book and then looked it up online to get dimensions, I'm thinking that it is the bearing assembly for drive pinion pilot especially since I found part of the outer cage under the diff form the rear pto bearing cover . Thanks

 

[Destroked 450]

Missed that bearing in my parts search
#53 roller bearing 8182448
I’d be looking things over good to figure out why that bearing failed

 

[Bern]

Yeah, I just looked up part number in my parts book and then looked it up online to get dimensions, I'm thinking that it is the bearing assembly for drive pinion pilot especially since I found part of the outer cage under the diff form the rear pto bearing cover . Thanks

If that bearing really went out, that would be an extremely unusual failure. I've been around my share of those old Fords and have never seen those bearings give even a hint of trouble. For that matter, the same is true with the tapered rollers on the pinion.

 

[7000Eric]

Pulled the top off of rear end and can just see down in front of differential to where that pinion bearing is and can see that the rollers are definitely missing. So I guess the next thing is to remove right wheel, axle and axle housing and remove the differential to inspect for damage.

 

[Bern]

Pulled the top off of rear end and can just see down in front of differential to where that pinion bearing is and can see that the rollers are definitely missing. So I guess the next thing is to remove right wheel, axle and axle housing and remove the differential to inspect for damage.

You'd better also figure on splitting it to remove the pinion. At the very least I'd want to know what kind of shape the tapered roller bearings are in.

 

[mhb@ufe]

It might be best to split the tractor first as that will be the only way to replace that bearing and you can inspect for other damage.

 

[Destroked 450]

If the pinion gears tapered bearings are loose I’d be concerned about a bad wear pattern on the ring and pinion gears
A trip to a salvage yard for a rear center section with gears might be needed

 

[7000Eric]

I removed the right rear wheel, axle housing and brake assembly and differential before i realized your suggestions to split between trans and rear center housing and found the pinion pilot bearing housing busted, did not find any pieces of housing in rear end so this was busted out before I got the tractor and someone apparently just installed a new bearing in what was left of housing and called it good. I don't feel any play in pinion shaft up or down or endplay when prying with a prybar, but plan to get a spring scale and check the preload. Inspected the pinion and ring gear teeth they seem to look ok, took pictures to see what people's thoughts are.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Ring and pinion don't look bad at all, I wouldn't hesitate to run that setup at all. Unfortunately the casting being broken isn't such an easy fix.

Here's a pinion in a rear end I had apart that the customer refused to replace. To my knowledge the tractor is still functioning....

 

[mhb@ufe]

Are you going to find a replacement housing? I would be concerned as it appears this is at least the second time for the failure.

 

[7000Eric]

Can't imagine it would work well without the pilot bearing. Plan to see if I can find a housing. It looks like a housing from a 5000 would work, I have load monitering, single pto diff lock on mine with the 8 speed trans with 2 reverse with no dual power. Does anyone know if there is any other options like from newer tractors that might have the same housing that would work. Or maybe is there a complete rear end with axles that would bolt up to my trans from maybe a newer tractor, if I get to checking arround never know what I might come across in salvage yards.

 

[mhb@ufe]

I would recommend calling Alexander tractor parts. They specialize in Ford tractors and are very good to deal with.

 

[Bern]

Ring and pinion don't look bad at all, I wouldn't hesitate to run that setup at all. Unfortunately the casting being broken isn't such an easy fix.

Here's a pinion in a rear end I had apart that the customer refused to replace. To my knowledge the tractor is still functioning....

Not for much longer if he does any serious pulling with it.