8 speed which wheel drives ?

[tmessenger 0]

My new to me WH 10 8speed is running now and set up to plow snow. I have wheel weights (115 pounds in each wheel) and chains. The thing I've noticed is only the left wheel drives never seen it spin the right wheel? If I have less load on the right wheel shouldn't it drive ? Doesn't seem to go very well in the snow at all. I'm making a weight box for it so I can add another 80 pounds but don't know if there might be a problem with my differential.

Tim

[Kelly 1,033]

Normally the wheel with the least traction will spin that is the way the diff. is set up.

[tmessenger 0]

Normally the wheel with the least traction will spin that is the way the diff. is set up.

Yeah that's what I thought, I've plowed with it a few times and it always only spins the left side never the right. This tractor has set for a number of years and the trans fluid was wet so maybe something is stuck. I've flushed it out a few times and never anything metallic in the drain oil.

I guess the next step is to block the left wheel and jack up the right and see if I can get it to spin.

Tim

[rmaynard 16,589]

With wheels off the ground, normal operation would be when left wheel is turned forward, right wheel will turn backward, and vice-versa.

[bitten 134]

Next time you have it so only the one wheel is spinning try rocking the tractor left to right and see if the other wheel spins.

[stevasaurus 23,455]

You should be OK Tim...if you had a real problem, it would have to be the wood ruff key in one of the hubs, a broken axle, or a striped pinion gear in the differential. You would know that you had a real problem then. If you jack up the trans and get both wheels off the ground...in neutral without it running...turn one of the wheels, and the other should move in the opposite direction. If that happens...you are OK.

The only exception to this, is the limited slip trans. Both wheels would spin in the same direction if you had that. You did not state which horse you have so we no not know. Sounds like you have the first trans. :banghead:

[TT-(Moderator) 1,162]

The 10 8 speed should have a 4 pinion "open" differential.

If there was a problem with an axle, hub key, pinion(s), or axle gear, the tractor would not move under power at all.

[tmessenger 0]

I jacked the right wheel off the ground today and blocked the left and with the left on the ground and loaded, the right side would not spin under any condition under power it would always spin the left wheel. Well enough dinking around I tore the transaxle down today to see what was up. Also I had no detent on the high low selector the lever was just flopping around. Here's what I found:

The trans was in good condition no bad gears or much gear wear or bad bearings so that was good news. The detent ball was missing from the high / low shift fork, the spring was there but no ball. The fork was bent and the fork plate has a crack in it. It does have a 4 pinion differential but all the pinions were lined up on one side not offset every other one like it shows in the manual. The right side axle clip was messed up and the slot in the right axle is worn to the out side (no square shoulder). Quite obvious that someone has been in here before and didn't know what they were doing.

I guess when you don't offset the pinions the differential does not behave as it should, easy fix and all the diff gears were perfect.

I think I can file the axle clip slot deeper to get a sharp edge on it to the outside. I expect the H/L shift forks are not easy to come by so I'll need to straighten this one out and weld the crack in the plate.

Tim

[TT-(Moderator) 1,162]

Yep - all 4 pinions on one side will only drive that axle.

Shift forks are still available new from Toro. :banghead:

[stevasaurus 23,455]

I think the ball is a 1/4" ball and it is available at ACE hardware...you can buy one at a time there. Yep, I would say someone has been in there before. You can also drill a hole through the axle and put in a roll pin...they used to be like that before the "E" clips. good thing you tore it apart. :banghead:

[tmessenger 0]

I think the ball is a 1/4" ball and it is available at ACE hardware...you can buy one at a time there.

[stevasaurus 23,455]

Sounds like you are on top of it. :thumbs: