[AT] Getting water out of a gearbox

Thomas Mehrkam tmehrkam at sbcglobal.net
Wed Jun 3 11:21:54 PDT 2015


One of my gripes is putting sealed bearings in the front hubs.  Mine have 280,000 miles on them.  Seem fine when I check them but I am sure they are running on borrowed time.
If they were the type I could pack with grease I could check and repack then.  I would likely have a spare set of packed bearings in a zip lock in my tool box.  Just in case.
I have a pair of prepacked bearings with every trailer I own. And extra fan belts in all my vehicles.   Cost's nothing the fan belts are old good ones taken off to put on fresh ones. 

I have been saved more than once by these old spare parts.
One Christmas holiday my daughter and I were driving the 2500 Suburban from Houston to South Padre.  My wife and InLaws were at a Condo for the holidays. I had to work and left early in the next morning
About Warton.  1.5 Hours I lost power steering, Power Brakes and alternator. 
I stopped and the belt was shredded.  It seems the power steering pump bracket broke.
I put on the spare belt.  It would not stay on because of the bracket.  I spotted a coil of barbed ware hanging on the fence next to me.  Thank goodness for ranchers that believe on keeping old wire hanging hanging around for emergency fence repairs.  I borrowed a short length and wired to pump bracket so the belt would stay on.
I went into town and found small welding shop and asked them if they could weld it.  They claimed it would not hold. The bracket was too hard.  They said there was a Chevy dealer in town.
The dealer did not have a bracket but they ran a truck to Houston about 10:30 AM every day for parts.  It was about that time.  He said he would order the part and have it by 3:30.
One time the dealer did good.  Got the part and got us out by 5:00 Pm.  The service manager even loaned us his car so we could go to lunch.
Made it to south padre after dark. It was late but we were able to salvage the holiday.  Come to think of it all dealerships are not ripoff artists.  I was not even disappointed with the price.  This was 1996 or so.
     From: charlie hill <charliehill at embarqmail.com>
 To: Antique tractor email discussion group <at at lists.antique-tractor.com> 
 Sent: Wednesday, June 3, 2015 10:17 AM
 Subject: Re: [AT] Getting water out of a gearbox
   
I had an interesting experience this past Friday.  It could have been
bad and very expensive but it turned out well.  I guess that penny I found
heads up in the yard Friday morning was a good omen.

I was headed to Maryland.  On I-95 just south of the I-295 exit I started 
getting
a bad front end vibration.  I took an exit hoping to find nothing worse than 
a flat
tire.  Not so.  I couldn't find a thing that looked out of place but I knew 
that the
right front hub (4 WD 2006 GMC) was running on borrowed time.  The left side
was changed out about 3 years ago and the right side had over 250,000 miles 
on it.
I grabbed the top of the tire and snatched on it.  Sure enough I felt about 
1/8" or so of
slack.  There was nothing to do buy keep going.  No where really to get it 
worked on.
This was at about 3pm on Friday afternoon.  I made it nearly to 
Fredericksburg Va. when
I ran into a traffic delay for about 3 miles of stop and go.  Every time I 
started I had to
apply too much throttle and I didn't need to touch the brake pedal to stop!

I limped to the next exit, still tied up in traffic, and got off.  After 
pulling into a parking lot
I searched on my phone for the nearest AutoZone.  Not that I'm particularly 
fond of AutoZone
but I knew a few things.  There's one most everywhere, they loan tools and I 
happened to know
that they carry that hub in the Timken brand.  Sure enough there was an 
AutoZone store less than
a mile from me.  I found it, went in and explained my situation.  They had 
the hub (1 in stock) and
they had the tools and it was ok to work in their parking lot but they 
didn't have jacks or jack stands
to loan out so I knew I'd have to buy what I needed.  I asked if there was a 
local shop that could
do it now, do it right and not rip me off.  The commercial accounts guy 
picked up the phone and
made a call.  I heard him say Amigo,  '06 Z 71 Quattro Quattro  front hub 
NOW?  The parts man
said he can do it now.  I said how much.  He asked.  The answer came back 
$100.00.
Mind you this was at 4:15 pm on Friday.  I told him yes.

I bought the hub for $180.00 and they had their parts runner girl escort me 
to the shop.
When we got there Jorge was waiting in his one bay shop in a single slope 
metal building
that housed a detail shop and other similar small businesses, each taking up 
a bay or two.
Jorge is about 50 I'm guessing.  He spoke English well enough for me to talk 
to him.  He apologetically
asked if I could wait 5 minutes for him to start to let it cool.  He offered 
us bottled water which
we declined because we had our own.  Just a few minutes later he went to 
work.  He was fast and
clearly knew what he was doing.  I watched him work from a distance.  I 
didn't want to make him
nervous or make him think I didn't trust him but I wanted to make sure he 
was doing it right.  He did.
He did all the little things that some mechanics wouldn't bother with like 
making sure he straightened
the slight bends he put in the dust cap that covers the axle nut when he had 
to pry it off and putting a
bit of anti seize grease on the new lug studs.

In about 45 minutes he was finished.  I gave him the promised $100.00 and 
thanked him.  He gave me his
business card just in case something wasn't right and I needed to call.  (He 
knew I was passing through
and wouldn't be back otherwise).  I thanked him again and was gone.

I just wish Jorge was in my town because I'd gladly use his services.  I 
could have changed the hub myself and
would have if I had been at home but not for $100 bucks.  With my bad knees 
it was worth every cent of
100 bucks to have him do it and do it right.

Yes this is my tractor hauling truck (obligatory tractor reference).

If you are ever in Fredericksburg VA and need a good mechanic find the 
AutoZone near the 17 Business exit (first US 17
exit going north) and ask them to tell you how to find Jorge Auto Service.

Charlie

-----Original Message----- 
From: David Bruce
Sent: Wednesday, June 03, 2015 8:04 AM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] Getting water out of a gearbox

I had to had some repair for my previously mentioned NH TC33. The
transport to the dealer cost much more than the repair but it had to be
done. Though I hate the total cost better to have a running tractor than
a yard ornament.
After a couple months trying to resolve the issue I called in some
additional help grudgingly.

As I get older I find often it is better to hire jobs done when you can
find competent help. My blood pressure is much lower when doing that.

David
NW NC


On 6/2/2015 6:20 AM, Cecil R Bearden wrote:
> That conversation is the very reason I try to not have any contact with
> dealers etc. I get the manuals I need for my equipment and try to do all
> my own service work.  It keeps my blood pressure down.  As I get older,
> I have less & less patience with stupidity.
> Our trouble here in OK is the oil patch has hired all the help that
> could actually tie their shoelaces and show up for work.  The rest were
> hired and then rejected by Wal Mart.
>
> Cecil in OKla
>
>
>
> On 6/1/2015 12:07 PM, Mike wrote:
>> Tried calling the selling dealer and asked for service, and the
>> conversation went kind of the this.
>>
>> Me - Hi I have a Howard HR7 that your dealership sold and I was
>> wondering if you could answer a question for me. Does the gearbox have a
>> drain plug?
>>
>> Service  - Hmm I don't know some do and some don't.
>>
>> Me - OK, I'm trying to flush the gearbox and it would be much easier
>> with a drain plug
>>
>> Service - Yeah, I don't know what to tell you.
>>
>> Me - Well do you still sell any parts for them
>>
>> Service - Hmm I don't know, you'd have to talk to parts.
>>
>> Sounds like this guys job was not to know nuffin.
>>
>> Mike M
>>
>>
>>
>
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