water in rear end

[Charrie 19]

Hi all.

I recently acquired a 1985 Wheel Horse 416-8 with the Kohler engine on it. PO said it had been parked under a cover for a few years. It shows some weather mild weather damage but can be cleaned up.

Haven't tired to start it yet. PO said he parked it at the end of the season and it wouldn’t start next spring. He did a little work and then acquired a new mower.

We drained the rear end and a lot of clear water came out at first, at least a qt. After the water came some black looking oil. After draining I put in 2 qts of store brand motor oil that was in shed and turned the wheels by hand. Also before the shiftier was a bit hard to change gears but now it seems to work great.

 

What should I do from here?

I read a post to flush with kerosene and another where someone disassembled the rear end and cleaned everything. The latter is probably the best way to go but I wanted to get some opinions.

I did replace a rear axle seal on my 520h and this 416-8 has a leaking seal.

 

Working on building a new storage building but at the moment I really don’t have a good place to disassemble the rear axle. When I was younger my dad taught me how to rebuild small engines but I have always been intimidated by transmissions.

 

Thanks 

Charrie 

[Ed Kennell 46,837]

I would raise the rear and check the axle bearings for wear.   There should be no radial movement. Axial movement is OK.    If the bearings are OK and there is no noise when rotating the transmission, replace the leaking seal and run it.

[oliver2-44 11,665]

Since you've put fresh gear oil back in it, get it running and drive it around for a week or two.

As Ed said, jack it up and check axle bearing before replacing  seals, worn bearings will cause new seals to fail .

If axle bearings appear good, you will have to drain it to replace seals, so I would do a diesel or kerosene flush at that time. 

Removing axle hubs is one of the rights of passage as a wheel horse owner!!!!!!!!

When you remove the hubs, do not use a 3 jaw puller, you WILL break them. 

Here a thread with several designs of hub pullers.  You can buy precut heavy round plate disc from several suppliers on EvilBay.

These transmissions are not that complicated. I actually enjoy rebuilding them.

If you decide to rebuild it, drain oil. fill with diesel or kerosene and drive it around a little to do a flush before disassembly.

It sure helps get some of the smelly gear oil off everything.

take plenty of pictures as you disassemble it to help you reassemble it.

Post picture of parts after disassembly and we can help identify anything that needs replaced. 

FYI the hi/lo shift fork assembly and the main shift forks have small balls in them that can easily get lost on disassembly.  You can get replacements in those parts drawers at you ACE or other hardware store (not Home Depo or Lowes)

You can clean rusty gears & shafts up on a bench grinder with a wire wheel.

 

Here's a video by out transmission guru, Stevasaurus.  

While the bearing arbors he now has look great, you can use sockets as arbors to remove and install bearings

 

You can buy your bearings and seals from a any bearing supply  house, or get the from one of our vendors   https://wheelhorsepartsandmore.com/product-category/manual-transmissions/