Craigslist find! Suburban 400 in Green Bay Wisconsin

[Tyler9014 18]

I just picked up this 1960 Suburban 400 off of Craigslist. My trucks starter decided to take the day off and I got stranded a hour away from home in Green Bay Wisconsin in the shadow of Lambeau field with my daughter but we got some help from family and got home with our prize. Now I have the transmission torn down and need a spider gear and a shift lever collar. Does any one know if the axle has too much wear to re-use? Any help would be very appreciated. The break lever gear on the shaft seems to have a little more wear on a couple spots than I would have liked to see but I think it is ok overall. (can't seem to get a good picture)

[AMC RULES 37,130]

New  looks great...    

might need to start looking for another set of axles though. 

Edited July 16, 2014 by AMC RULES

[Fun Engineer 859]

New looks great...

might need to start looking for another set of axles though.

X 2

Sent from my tractor seat.

[Brrly1 1,146]

Ok, here's what you do. You need to go outside in front of garage, take three steps back and yell "DINO" where are you? More than likely you'll have an answer on your tranny. Stevasaurus does this stuff in his sleep. He's like a resident tractor doctor amongst several others that also know what they are doing. Gonna give you a heads up though, He is also a Bears fan, I don't think he plays well with Cheeseheads enter at your own risk. No it's not all that, I'm, sure he'll wake up sooner or later      

Edited July 16, 2014 by Brrly1

[stevasaurus 22,738]

Burrly, you are a riot!!

 

Tyler, nice find on the horse. Those axles are junk the way they are.  They would burn out a bronze bearing in a heart beat, plus the axle will have enough up and down in it that an oil seal will never stop it from leaking.  A few options...I understand that you can do something called spray welding and then re-turn the axles to size...someone may have a couple of axles for sale here on the site...a machine shop could make a couple of new axles...I just happen to have a 5010 transmission in my garage that I just cleaned out for SmokinJoe (I called Joe this morning and he said you could buy it if you want)  it needs the axle seals yet.

 

When you say shift lever collar...are you talking about the rubber boot?  Also...what are you calling a brake lever gear...not sure what you mean here??  Maybe a picture.

[Racinbob 11,079]

I thought I'd throw this idea out. If the outer ends (where the hubs were) of the axles (say about 2") look good and the axle gears will fit snugly on them reverse the axles. All you'd have to do is drill new holes for the drive pins inside the differential that hold the gears on. It looks like that would put the worn area floating inside the transmission where it wouldn't be riding on anything. Feasible Steve?

[stevasaurus 22,738]

Excellent Bob, I forgot about that trick.  Yep, that will work also.    That only works on the 3 piece trannys.

[Racinbob 11,079]

Proof positive that even a blind squirrel can find a nut once in a while. Question. Why not on the 2 piece. Are the axles splined on the gear end?

[Tyler9014 18]

Thanks everyone! PM sent to stevasaurus but I am curious if the spider gears are available. I just lucked out again and found a snow blower for it just north of Green Bay, driving up tomorrow to pick it up.

[C-101plowerpower 1,605]

nice find on that horse, the diff looks pretty worn tho

 

 

Proof positive that even a blind squirrel can find a nut once in a while. Question. Why not on the 2 piece. Are the axles splined on the gear end?

 

yes, the axle's on the 2piece are splined where the diff gear goes.

 

 

Koen

[Racinbob 11,079]

Tyler, it would be a good idea to get everything all cleaned up. That diff does look bad but I'm thinking once you de-crud things it will be fine. I'm sure Steve will be able to lead you to the spider gear.

[Tyler9014 18]

I am going to clean it up and post pictures soon, I think it is mostly just rusty dried up oil making it look worse. The diff. gears other than the broken spider gear look good to me (not chipped or rounded). I put out a wanted post and have a lead on a spider gear.

[Tyler9014 18]

My trans. is looking a lot worse after degreasing it.

[Tyler9014 18]

More Pics after degreasing. Also all bearings now either do not spin or make gritty noises while spinning.

[squonk 41,104]

I'd buy Joe's trans and yes Bear's fans are good for something. Transmission repairs, Show pictures, Good places to eat and you tube video's when the Packers stomp them again!       

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpGFZ-yKX6g

Edited July 24, 2014 by squonk

[Racinbob 11,079]

You can save it Tyler. From the pictures it looks like you'll need all new spider gears and bronze bushings for the axles and differential. One of the axles looks OK but if it were mine I'd turn them both around. The new holes for the roll pins drill easily. Then just take it one bearing at a time and replace if needed or get it turning freely. A little crud in the bearing can cause the gritty feeling or it can be a bad bearing. Flush it really good and put a light film of oil on it. I always have several cans of non-chlorinated brake cleaner in my cabinet for another hobby and it works great for cleaning the bearings, especially if they aren't removed from the case. If you have a bearing that still won't turn freely determine the cause and repair accordingly. Check out the spreadsheets in the sticky under the transmission section. That will give you the dimensions and suggestions on where you can get them.

[Tyler9014 18]

 Love the video squonk, whoever put it together did a great job. I did buy the Trans from Joe but I want to salvage this one also if possible. I got a spider gear from another member on here before I realized that two more were damaged. I thought it was just one that had spilt but all that rusty crude hide the extent of the damage. I am not sure what to do about all of the grooves worn into the axle shaft casing that rides inside of the differential. (Shown in second to last pic)

[Racinbob 11,079]

Polish those with some fine emery. Mine were pretty messed up too. That and new differential bushings and you'll be good to go in that area.There's lots more you need to check out while it's apart though.

Edited July 24, 2014 by Racinbob

[stevasaurus 22,738]

Tyler, I would like to see more pictures first.  The teeth of the bull gear on the differential housing, the teeth on the mushroom gear and the bottom of that gear where it goes in the bearing,  might as well take a couple of the cluster gear, the fork gears (both sides of the 2nd/3rd fork gear, the input gear and the reverse idler.  How bad are both carriage shafts on the side plates where the differential rides...maybe a couple of more pictures of those.  I think I can work up an estimate for bearings and seals for you, then, depending on parts, you can make a better judgement for this trans.   

[km3h 543]

Tyler

It appears to me that your daughter has fallen in love with that tractor. Now if it were mine and that was my daughter, I think I might be forced to paint it pink. What a thrill for her to have her own tractor. She would be the envy of the neighborhood.

[stevasaurus 22,738]

km3h...I understand where you are going with this, but I am not sure I would paint this horse just yet.  This is pretty original and may clean up really nice.  She is going to make that horse look nice no matter what color it is.    What do ya think??

[km3h 543]

Oh I agree. I was just having a little fun. Actually I have a post where I just got a 416H and they were kidding me about painting it pink so my wife would like it. Of course painting a 400 series pink is not going to happen in my house.

Now at the show a few weeks ago there was a very cute young girl on a pink Wheel Horse pulling a pink wagon with her sister in it. She rode that thing around the event most of the day and had a great time.

[stevasaurus 22,738]

I remember that at the show...people took a lot of pics of them...pricless. 

[cheesegrader 433]

Squonk,

 

As a Bears fan living in Packerland, I must object to your video.

It has been a hard decade.

Many of us are also Cubs fans, making it a hard century.

That video is just rubbing it in!

Why can't we just bring back Eddie Lee Ivory and Lynn Dickey, and all get along?

[Tyler9014 18]

My daughter has repeatedly talked about painting the tractor purple. I would love to make her happy and paint a tractor for her but it is not going to be this tractor. I am thinking about keeping it as is and doing the oil treatment to the sheet metal. I have a sort of low budget rat rod custom 700 I might let her talk me into painting purple.