Front driveshaft housing question, B7100

[procraftmike]

I decided to have a look at my front driveshaft today on my 1977, B7100. I drained the fluid from the front differential. The driveshaft housing that comes to the back of the differential has 2 bolts on it. One looks like a drain plug and one looks like a fill plug. In the photo, you can see oil running out the lower bolt that I removed. You can see another bolt farther back and above, that looks like a fill plug.

Is that indeed what these are or is this housing suppose to be empty of oil? If it is supposed to have gear oil, any idea how much to put back in? My manual mentions changing the oil in my front differential and ends, but says nothing about this housing. I can't measure what came out, as I used the same drain pan for the front differential. Any ideas?

Also, is it a good idea to flush out the differential housing with something, in an attempt to get it as clean as possible, before adding gear oil back? If so, what should I flush it with?

Thanks!!

 

[Lil Foot]

Re: Fonrt driveshaft housing question, B7100

I was told by an older Kubota tech that the housing has a drain & fill plug left over from an older design, that used non-sealed bearings in the universal joint.
In fact, he was not sure the non-sealed bearings were ever implemented. So there does not need to be any gear oil, hydraulic oil, or any other lube in that housing. Just about everyone finds oil in there when they open the "drain", but it is undoubtably oil that leaked in from the differential.
As for flushing, I completely disassembled & cleaned mine when I rebuilt it, so I needed no flushing on mine. I have heard that kerosene works well for such things, but I have no personal experience on that. Someone with more knowledge that I will surely jump in on this.

 

[85Hokie]

Re: Fonrt driveshaft housing question, B7100

I would NOT flush it out.....

Also - what volume of oil came out? More or less the amount of that size? Or do you think that you have a bearing seal bad? I would add BACK to the diffy - then check, drive a while and then re-check over time....if it is disappearing......you'll know where to look!

Or ...leave that PLUG out......add fluid to diffy (small amount) and see over time if it comes out there at THAT plug.....

Mike - not sure you saw this :

http://www.orangetractortalks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10439

 

[85Hokie]

Re: Fonrt driveshaft housing question, B7100

Mike,

doing a little more research :

look at part 006 .....

13 bucks :

http://www.colemanequip.com/Parts_Detail.asp?partID=15651

 

[procraftmike]

Re: Fonrt driveshaft housing question, B7100

Thanks T!

I would say maybe 3-4 oz. of oil came out when I pulled the small plug. I guess I see no issue if oil is getting in there, as long as it is not getting contaminated. But, who knows what is getting down the driveshaft tube from the top end. It does not appear to be leaking out of the case anywhere.

If oil is going to leak in there from the differential, do I just add an additional 2-3 oz to the differential, to compensate for what will transfer out? I assume it will eventually level off to the level that is in the front differential.

Then again, maybe I should just pull the 3 bolts holding that cover on and see how much junk is inside the housing and the status of the oil seal and u-joints. The oil that did come out did not look that dirty.

 

[85Hokie]

Re: Fonrt driveshaft housing question, B7100

Thanks T!

I would say maybe 3-4 oz. of oil came out when I pulled the small plug. I guess I see no issue if oil is getting in there, as long as it is not getting contaminated. But, who knows what is getting down the driveshaft tube from the top end. It does not appear to be leaking out of the case anywhere.

If oil is going to leak in there from the differential, do I just add an additional 2-3 oz to the differential, to compensate for what will transfer out? I assume it will eventually level off to the level that is in the front differential.

Then again, maybe I should just pull the 3 bolts holding that cover on and see how much junk is inside the housing and the status of the oil seal and u-joints. The oil that did come out did not look that dirty.

The real question might be......HOW long did it take for that 3 - 4 oz to ooze past the seal? I think I would plug it back up......fill the diffy.....and check either the plug in the future or the diffy amount.

I cannot see how "bad" stuff could work itself in there, the oil, if leaking by the seal is only as good as what IS in the diffy, so replacing THAT oil in the diffy will also leak clean oil to that cover.

Not sure I would dive further into that situation

 

[procraftmike]

Re: Fonrt driveshaft housing question, B7100

I cannot see how "bad" stuff could work itself in there, the oil, if leaking by the seal is only as good as what IS in the diffy, so replacing THAT oil in the diffy will also leak clean oil to that cover.

That housing has a tube attached that the front driveshaft goes through. It ends about 6" from the top yokes. If that seal is bad up there, contaminates could leak down the tube into that housing. If that did happen, not sure how feasible it would be for the contaminates to transfer through the oils seal and get into the front differential.

Maybe I will do as you suggest, fill up the front differential and after 25 hours of use, see how much oil comes out of the housing. If that housing was never been drained, then a couple of ounces over 35 plus years is probably nothing to worry about. I did peel the boot back a bit after removing the hose clamps and the splined shaft is all shiny and clean that is just inside that housing.