# Ford 420 surprise when changing old front tires.



## Donald A. (Feb 24, 2018)

SURPRISE, SURPRISE, SURPRISE!

While changing out the front wheels/tires I noticed a small problem. Both hubs were broken and rigged up. Some lug bolts were too big for the lug stud so there was a correct one put on on top of the large one. WTFF! Almost all lug holes were broken. The lug bolts sitting in these spots were improperly half-assed welded in place. I can take them out by hand. The left hub (the one with the "good" tire) was severly broken and half-assed welded with a thin strip of metal to hold the studs in place. The large nuts holding the hub on the spindle was held in place with a bent nail. The left spindle nut was not held in place because the bent nail had come out and was loose in the grease. That nut was taken off by hand. No wrench needed. HOW WAS MY TRACTOR ROLLING IN THIS CONDITION? I was lucky.

Well I am replacing these hubs with new ones. The spindles and cage bearings seem to be in good shape and will be placed back on the same spindles they came off of. 

Here are some scarey photos....


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## Guest (May 16, 2018)

Remember the front wheel wobble you noticed as you drove this away from the sellers? Ok here's the bright side. You are learning the quality of work and the attitude of at least one of the former owners. I'm going to think you were very lucky to have found these needed repairs without a major wooops involving body injury.


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## Guest (May 16, 2018)

Wow, those hubs are not cheap. Perhaps used is the way to go on those?


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## Donald A. (Feb 24, 2018)

Graysonr said:


> Wow, those hubs are not cheap. Perhaps used is the way to go on those?


I purchased some OEM hubs


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## geoff l (Oct 10, 2017)

That's quite the worst bodge job I have seen, almost comical!
The old tractor will be much improved by your work, good on you for putting it right.


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## Guest (May 16, 2018)

Donald, keep up the good work. It seems you are well on the way to getting that tractor to the point where it will tractor as it was originally intended!


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## willys55 (Oct 13, 2016)

not for nothing, but the new hubs come with races installed...so put new bearings in, never use old bearings on new races....................and somebody went to one hell of a big effort to not spend any money on the tractor, that is some of the nastiest makeshift repairs I have seen in a while


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## Guest (May 16, 2018)

willys55, you said that so nicely. My mind was headed to repairs powered by Old Milwaukee and plenty of home grown. Don't get me wrong, I'm not adverse to an occasional good beer after a job well done, and preferably after the tools are put away. But in this case, my bet is the fel was full of cans until offered for sale.... Donald A, you are well on your way to pulling this tractor out of lawn ornament status and giving it another life as a useful tractor.


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## Donald A. (Feb 24, 2018)

New problem.....

Started to put on my new hubs and there was quite a lot of looseness. Didn't seem to fit. Grrrrrrr.

Looked at my old ones to compare. I found out that hiding in all of that nasty grease are 2 bearing cups. My new hubs did not have bearing cups. How do you take out the old bearing cups to put them in the new hubs? Do they screw out? Do you take a screwdriver and punch them out? Are they permenent?


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## Donald A. (Feb 24, 2018)

willys55 said:


> not for nothing, but the new hubs come with races installed...so put new bearings in, never use old bearings on new races....................and somebody went to one hell of a big effort to not spend any money on the tractor, that is some of the nastiest makeshift repairs I have seen in a while


What are races? Are they the bearing cups?


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## Donald A. (Feb 24, 2018)

Graysonr said:


> Remember the front wheel wobble you noticed as you drove this away from the sellers? Ok here's the bright side. You are learning the quality of work and the attitude of at least one of the former owners. I'm going to think you were very lucky to have found these needed repairs without a major wooops involving body injury.


Imagine this....
The old guy that sold me this tractor wanted $200 to ship the tractor to my house. That was rediculous. It is 40 miles one way. I drove that tractor 40 miles, on the side of the road, to my home. AND I MADE IT HOME SAFELY....... LOL


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## Guest (May 17, 2018)

https://partstore.agriculture.newholland.com/us/HINESEQUIP/parts-search.html#epc::mr53921ar178836 I'm sure you've seen this parts breakdown diagram but it's the best I can do.....You are in what is uncharted territory to me. One of the real mechanics may answer.


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## Guest (May 17, 2018)

check out this video https://www.bing.com/videos/search?...398DA3DC574DE7D3A0C5398DA3DC574D&&FORM=VRDGAR


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## RC Wells (Dec 26, 2008)

Buy a lottery ticket, you are a sure fire winner! I have seen these tractors pop the lugs and turn turtle because of just one loose lug, you are fortunate.


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## willys55 (Oct 13, 2016)

Donald A. said:


> What are races? Are they the bearing cups?


some people call them that, but yes


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## willys55 (Oct 13, 2016)

Donald A. said:


> Imagine this....
> The old guy that sold me this tractor wanted $200 to ship the tractor to my house. That was rediculous. It is 40 miles one way. I drove that tractor 40 miles, on the side of the road, to my home. AND I MADE IT HOME SAFELY....... LOL


considering the number of trucks and tractors that I have towed and/or transported, that price was a fair charge for the service.......however, he may have been concerned that she would not have made it on her own............, p.s. in NJ where I live that would be considered unlawful to travel that distance without tags, warning lights and an escort vehicle...true story.


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## Donald A. (Feb 24, 2018)

Update....

I finally took out the old inner and outer bearing cups out of the old hubs and cleaned them up. I inspected them and each one has some degradation of varying degrees. Lot of pitting, scoring, scallopping, etc. A few of the cage bearings have a few rollers with damage.

I will have to buy these OEM items. Buying these items seperately can be expensive. But I found an inclusive kit that has everything AND is very cheap. One kit is $16.00. WOW. Web site listed below.

https://www.abilenemachine.com/wheel-bearing-kit-wbk-fd-6


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## Guest (May 18, 2018)

Yes, a good plan. Once you get these hubs together to mount the new wheels and tires, it will be good to know you can plan on not having to revisit this area of repair for quite some time.


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## Donald A. (Feb 24, 2018)

Graysonr said:


> Yes, a good plan. Once you get these hubs together to mount the new wheels and tires, it will be good to know you can plan on not having to revisit this area of repair for quite some time.


I have just reached my budget level. Lol. I hope this is going to be it for a while.


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## Guest (May 18, 2018)

Hey Donald A. you can be assured this won't be it for awhile. If you are like most older tractor owners, you already have 3 lists in your mind at this very moment: List A....routine maintenance you should perform on the tractor. List B....replacing things that are missing, haywired, bent, rusted, or deformed. List C...The tractor has surprises waiting for you too. It will spring them on you just when you have already spent your allotted budget on it. How about a new pic of that baby sitting on all four?


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## Donald A. (Feb 24, 2018)

Graysonr said:


> Hey Donald A. you can be assured this won't be it for awhile. If you are like most older tractor owners, you already have 3 lists in your mind at this very moment: List A....routine maintenance you should perform on the tractor. List B....replacing things that are missing, haywired, bent, rusted, or deformed. List C...The tractor has surprises waiting for you too. It will spring them on you just when you have already spent your allotted budget on it. How about a new pic of that baby sitting on all four?


I will post a picture of my tractor when I have the tires on.


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