Spindle Size on D series Tractors

[tractorhogg 612]

A fellow told me some early D series tractors came with 3/4" front axle spindles, is the is true

Edited April 26, 2022 by tractorhogg

[peter lena 8,639]

@tractorhogg ,  not sure about the  spindles , am sure about the lubrication , those deck bearings , work under high speed and angular load ,  that 3/4 " bearing is a very common  ceiling fan bearing , more often than not filled with a generic " grease " , that vey quickly goes into a whining noise stage .  lucas  x  tra heavy duty chassis grease , 560 deg drop point , anti sling , polyurea ,rated  recovering , grease  , wallmart  $ 7 .  all my decks and related mule drive bearings have been changed over to this grease . no noise  or whining  operation , only a suggestion , greasy , pete 

[tractorhogg 612]

8 minutes ago, peter lena said:

@tractorhogg ,  not sure about the  spindles , am sure about the lubrication , those deck bearings , work under high speed and angular load ,  that 3/4 " bearing is a very common  ceiling fan bearing , more often than not filled with a generic " grease " , that vey quickly goes into a whining noise stage .  lucas  x  tra heavy duty chassis grease , 560 deg drop point , anti sling , polyurea ,rated  recovering , grease  , wallmart  $ 7 .  all my decks and related mule drive bearings have been changed over to this grease . no noise  or whining  operation , only a suggestion , greasy , pete 

I meant axle spindles

[JoeM 7,874]

I am thinking of the one I had in the inventory section of the yard. I think your guy might be right.

parts book says the 1974 d160 used 110513 bearings. 3/4 id

 

[pacer 3,174]

3 hours ago, tractorhogg said:

I meant axle spindles

 

Yes, the earlier D's had 3/4" axle spindles, and I've had 2 D180s with 3/4". I think I saw that the 1" was an option on the 180s ?, and, of course my 2 D200s have the !"

[76c12091520h 3,624]

Just sold a bunch of them,  the early ones were 3/4", later one's were 1"

[wh500special 2,188]

Early ones were 3/4” and they were highly subject to breaking, especially when fitted with a loader.  There was a factory fix for it that replaced them and the front axle to 1” to solve the problem. It’s been discussed here before.   It wasn’t a recall, they only did it for customers that had problems. 
 

I’ve never really thought the D-series was Wheel Horse’s best effort.  I think they found the upper end of their component durability limits with them.

 

steve 

[tractorhogg 612]

6 minutes ago, wh500special said:

Early ones were 3/4” and they were highly subject to breaking, especially when fitted with a loader.  There was a factory fix for it that replaced them and the front axle to 1” to solve the problem. It’s been discussed here before.   It wasn’t a recall, they only did it for customers that had problems. 
 

I’ve never really thought the D-series was Wheel Horse’s best effort.  I think they found the upper end of their component durability limits with them.

 

steve 

Still they were MUCH better than the Simplicity/Allis 4040/4041/620/720 tractors, while they were bigger, their 3 point lift cable system was junk, the hydro rear end was shoddy and the Onan 16/20 was way underpowered for that size of tractor, should have been a diesel. Talk about underpowered and underwhelming the Cub 154/184. tractors were pretty weak. About the only big GTs that could compete in the D series class and around 1974/1975 were the John Deere 400 and Bolens HT20, and Sears FF series

[JoeM 7,874]

On 4/27/2022 at 8:25 PM, wh500special said:

I’ve never really thought the D-series was Wheel Horse’s best effort.

Yep. Had a D160, not much on power. I could actually bog it down with the hydro. 

I had the common hydro coupler issues with the o'rings that leaked from time to time on the steel tube lines running the rear hydro motor. I think the frame would twist slightly to cause the leaks.

I installed the same FEL on a 520H. The 520H was way better for work and dug much better. 

D160 went west to a collector. Pretty much unmolested and had the rear PTO with 3 point. 

Hydro cooling fan

 

[pgiro 36]

Anyone have a source for replacement 1" front wheel bearings for a D series?

Seems that I can only find 3/4" WH bearings.

[76c12091520h 3,624]

Wheel bearings for this application are non-existent. As hard as it is to believe, Wheel Horse was about the only application for this bearing and there is no crossover to any other manufacturer. The only thing you can do is watch for some that occasionally pop up on Ebay, or search for some nos bearings. I sold a couple sets in the last couple years, and they are not cheap. 

[pgiro 36]

50 minutes ago, 76c12091520h said:

Wheel bearings for this application are non-existent. As hard as it is to believe, Wheel Horse was about the only application for this bearing and there is no crossover to any other manufacturer. The only thing you can do is watch for some that occasionally pop up on Ebay, or search for some nos bearings. I sold a couple sets in the last couple years, and they are not cheap. 

Good to know. Thanks.

[tractorhogg 612]

3 hours ago, 76c12091520h said:

Wheel bearings for this application are non-existent. As hard as it is to believe, Wheel Horse was about the only application for this bearing and there is no crossover to any other manufacturer. The only thing you can do is watch for some that occasionally pop up on Ebay, or search for some nos bearings. I sold a couple sets in the last couple years, and they are not cheap. 

You can switch to a 5.70-8 tire and wheel and use 1" timken bearings, but you will have to use a dexter shorty cast iron 4 bolt hub. Steering is much easier and save wear on the steering components

[tractorhogg 612]

13 hours ago, JoeM said:

Yep. Had a D160, not much on power. I could actually bog it down with the hydro. 

I had the common hydro coupler issues with the o'rings that leaked from time to time on the steel tube lines running the rear hydro motor. I think the frame would twist slightly to cause the leaks.

I installed the same FEL on a 520H. The 520H was way better for work and dug much better. 

D160 went west to a collector. Pretty much unmolested and had the rear PTO with 3 point. 

Hydro cooling fan

 

I've never experienced any overheating or leakage, but I'm only using the front blade and rear box blade on one D-160 and a 54" shaft drive tiller on the other, both are 16Hp kohler singles and they've never bogged down. I'm running 5/70-10 tires on 4 bolt 10"-3.75" steel wheels with cast tron trailer hubs and timken tapered bearings

[JoeM 7,874]

42 minutes ago, tractorhogg said:

I'm running 5/70-10 tires on 4 bolt 10"-3.75" steel wheels with cast tron trailer hubs and timken tapered bearings

that is a nice up grade.

 

That 16 onan was on the tired side. add in the weight and FEL not mention the taller tires it was lackluster.

 

A couple pics after I completed the build. I did get a lot of work out of it.

 

[JoeM 7,874]

12 hours ago, tractorhogg said:

I've never experienced any overheating

No overheating, the pic was just for reference. that fan was a OE installation.

[tractorhogg 612]

14 hours ago, JoeM said:

No overheating, the pic was just for reference. that fan was a OE installation.

Do you mean Wheel Horse put these fans in new tractors?

[JoeM 7,874]

4 hours ago, tractorhogg said:

Do you mean Wheel Horse put these fans in new tractors?

Yep, part #107510

[tractorhogg 612]

9 hours ago, JoeM said:

Yep, part #107510

WOW,  very cool

[pacer 3,174]

I've bought 2 of the D's with the fan ..... and neither worked! frozen up ... lack of use?? I just took em off and pitched em, none of my other D's had them anyway.

[pfrederi 17,741]

Fans are a good idea but you cannot use that style if you have the easy ride seat.  I wound up using a small 4" box style fan..