Bent Rear Axles?

[Anonymous-0]

I'm sure you've all followed a tractor (or dump truck, for that matter), which appeared to have bent axles as the tires turned round and round.

The most common causes for this are uneven dirt patterns on the tires, rims mounted crooked on the cast centers, tires mounted crooked on the rim, etc.

That said, are bent axles very often the cause? How likely is a 2"-3" tractor axle to bend?


Thanks,
Glenn F.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Tractor rims mounted with wedge clamps on cast centers are a real pain to get to track and often have a bit of wobble. That can be a problem with vintage truck rims on large diameter cast centers.

Gerald J.

 

[sjh]

Can not comment on the tractor ones, but the truck wobbling ones are laziness in my opinion. It only takes a couple minutes more to check the rotation when you put a center less tire on. It is real simple. The side that has the most out word wobble gets tightened up a little more.

 

[MN Scott]

I have never found a bent rear axle on a tractor. They will break before they bend I think. Some pretty good steel in axles. I think its a rim to center clamping issue that causes the wobbling you see on tractors and trucks.

 

[mowr]

I"ve seen foam filled tires take a set after sitting and make the tractor wobble tremendously; especially when cold.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I used to wonder what the deal with that was, something you would definitely notice on occasion when out on the road, usually dump trucks from what I've seen. I used to drive an old single axle international dump, 3208 Cat and 5+2, kind of heavier than the loadstar 1600's cab sat much higher, forget the model, maybe it was a 1900, but it had a wobble like that, on the front, you could not eat your lunch and drive it after, the person who owned it was a friend, had been driving as a favor to him, never did know what it was, out of balance, something was not right there, and you would think that the out of balance situation like when the rears on a tandem do as decribed, would have some detrimental effect or accelerate wear to something if left uncorrected. I know I'd never forget that old international, front end was tight, something in with the tires for sure, glad I went to work elsewhere soon after, nice to be able to eat lunch again !

 

[Mark - IN.]

Followed a 190 Allis with singles down the road not long ago, and one tire must've have been a bent rim or... cause it was wobbling and lifting and bouncing with every rotation in road gear. It was bad. That couldn't have been fun for the guy. I remember thinking not the axle, but something was way of of kilter.

 

[Lee in Iowa]

I once followed an IH grain truck that dogtracked so bad you could see daylight between outside of the outside dual on the back and the inside of the front tire. I don't know what was wrong with it, but it must not have been too bad I saw it again a week later. Lee

 

[RobMD]

hmmm... I'd say that the reason for rear tractor tire wobble is the rim not being mounted on the casting straight and true. It actually is hard to set it up right.

I've never seen a bent axle, they usually snap off without warning. I've also never managed to get a tire on the rim crooked. I would believe it is kind of hard to do that UNLESS you've pinched the tube, and/or the rim is rusted and a little bent.

 

[bill mar]

got a massey harris 33 with a bent rear axle,its not the rim,we checked that out.the axle actually has a bend in it. dont know how it happened we bought it that way 30 years ago.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I had an 8N once. Bought a pair of new rear tires. The old tires were gray and hard and two sizes too large which made them very difficult to get off. The boy doing the changing developed bloody wrists from banging with the tire hammer and a bloody tongue from not cussing in my presence.

The new tires were fine, but the right one had a bit of a "galump" going down the road. A year or so later it went flat. The same kid came out to fix it that put it on. When he pulled the tube, out popped a tire iron and there was a cut in the tube that matched the bur on the end of the tire iron. He said, "I wondered what happened to that tire iron. I guess this job is on me." And without the tire iron it didn't have that galump on the road.

Gerald J.