Installing 8N left axle housing

[Al P]

I had to replace the rear end housing on my 1950 8N and was able to locate a housing stamped 1948. I've been told it should be the same but have found a few differences in the casting. I've bolted the housing to the original tractor and installed the hydraulic pump, lift assembly, and right axle assembly without any problems. I then slipped in the differential and attempted to install the left axle housing assembly. It is a struggle to align the axle shaft with the differential but I have twice been able to get the assembly to the point where the axle housing (trumpet) is on the studs, but still about 3/4 of an inch from mating up to the rear end housing.
I would think at this point it should slide in but it won't. I took it off and verified that the differential was all the way in but the second attempt left me about 3/4 of an inch away again.
I'm hoping it has nothing to do with the 1948 housing, but I'm at a loss to explain why it won't slide in the rest of the way and with the differential installed the ring gear makes it impossible to see inside the rear end housing.
Does anyone have any experience with this or have any idea what I may be up against?
I'd appreciate any help you can give.
Thanks.

 

[Dunk]

Hmmm....

I have not tried it with the axle in the trumpet, I have only done it with just the trumpet and the axle laying somewhere else, and then putting the axle in after the trumpet was secured.

Here is a pic of my '49.

 

[Hobo,NC]

(quoted from post at 15:57:29 01/19/10) I had to replace the rear end housing on my 1950 8N and was able to locate a housing stamped 1948. I've been told it should be the same but have found a few differences in the casting. I've bolted the housing to the original tractor and installed the hydraulic pump, lift assembly, and right axle assembly without any problems. I then slipped in the differential and attempted to install the left axle housing assembly. It is a struggle to align the axle shaft with the differential but I have twice been able to get the assembly to the point where the axle housing (trumpet) is on the studs, but still about 3/4 of an inch from mating up to the rear end housing.
I would think at this point it should slide in but it won't. I took it off and verified that the differential was all the way in but the second attempt left me about 3/4 of an inch away again.
I'm hoping it has nothing to do with the 1948 housing, but I'm at a loss to explain why it won't slide in the rest of the way and with the differential installed the ring gear makes it impossible to see inside the rear end housing.
Does anyone have any experience with this or have any idea what I may be up against?
I'd appreciate any help you can give.
Thanks.

Brake rod/arm are paw hold'n ya up maybe..

WARNING :shock: all I know I read on the Internet,,, do it enuff and you can become a guru also,,, not responsible for damages,,, I read it and just pass it along,,, proceed with caution

 

[souNdguy]

did you just swap the center section.. or trumpets as well?

soundguy

 

[Al P]

Just the center section.
I found the problem to be a simple one. There is what I assume to be an oil deflector bolted to the casting holding the pinion gear that extends up and into the right trumpet. Although I checked at one point when I installed the right trumpet to be sure this deflector was aligned to go between the ribs on the trumpet casting, apparently I shifted the trumpet without checking the deflector alignment again before bolting the trumpet on. I pulled the differential out and noticed this deflector was against a rib on the right trumpet casting forcing the deflector back. This was just enough to prevent the differential from sliding all of the way in.
I aligned the deflector properly and everything slipped into place easily.

 

[Al P]

Thanks for the response and picture. It looked like your differential was in farther than mine was so I pulled the trumpet off again and pulled out the differential to look for an obstruction.

I found the problem to be a simple one. There is what I assume to be an oil deflector bolted to the casting holding the pinion gear that extends up and into the right trumpet. Although I checked at one point when I installed the right trumpet to be sure this deflector was aligned to go between the ribs on the trumpet casting, apparently I shifted the trumpet without checking the deflector alignment again before bolting the trumpet on. I pulled the differential out and noticed this deflector was against a rib on the right trumpet casting forcing the deflector back. This was just enough to prevent the differential from sliding all of the way in.
I aligned the deflector properly and everything slipped into place easily. I installed the trumpet and axle as an assembly. Although it was a struggle yesterday, with the differential in the proper location the assembly slipped in easily.

Are those bolts holding your ring gear to the differential case? If so, you will want to make sure they are properly secured. I had to replace the rear end housing because 30+ years ago someone replaced the ring gear on my 8N and botched the job. The gear was riveted originally, but a kit was available with bolts and castellated nuts to replace the ring gear without having to use rivets. When one of these kits was used to replace the ring gear on my tractor sometime before I bought it in 1980 the "mechanic" paid no attention to the fact that the nuts went onto the bolt so far that the wire passing through each bolt didn't engage in the castellated nuts. This allowed the nuts to loosen enough that 4 of the bolt heads were snapped off when they struck the casting around the pinion gear bearing. I happened to notice the end of one of the bolts in the differential drain hole when I was changing the lube oil. I was fortunate that no damage was done to the gears, but since the casting was cracked and a chunk broken out where the pinion bearing is housed I decided to change out the rear end center housing to avoid a possible failure of the bearing housing and likely destruction of the differential.

 

[souNdguy]

glad to hear you got her fixed.

soundguy