• Hello.
    In order to download file attachments or view image attachments in full size, you must be registered/logged in and have a level 2 member account.
    No worry, its all for free!
    For more details - click here.

5245 broken front diff

Well, the front diff is repaired successfully and has passed a tough trial run.
Sorry this info took so long but Ive been busy repairing the brakes (new shoes, new wheel cylinders, new rear diff axle oil seals & gaskets, O-rings, shaped seals, axle guide bearings (6009 2z) new handbrake bands & brake lines)

I had not set up a diff before and all I had going for me was a lot of enthusiasm but with the help of some expert advice from BobNZ, I was able to set it up without recourse to the manual ( which was hard to follow anyway).

With Bobs permission, I include exerts below of the relevant bits of advice from Bob that I did not find anywhere on the net despite much information being available on general settings & contact patterns etc. in the hope that it might be useful to anyone wanting to attempt a diff repair. It is not hard, you just need patience.
Have to make 3 posts of this as there is a limit on post size.

I learned that an understanding of crownwheel & pinion gearface contact patterns, how a diff loads up and how the loading affects contact patterns & the dangers of edge loading is the key to setting up a diff successfully.

From Bob:

Setting up diffs is a bit of an art from my experience.
Zetor instructions from memory are pretty straight forward but go into measuring distances and calculating shims. There are other ways. I think zetor also uses some markings of numbers stamped on the casings but that will be clearer when I grab the workshop manual and scan off the pages
I have found that the manuals leave out or gloss over many operations assuming a mechanic would not need detail so sometimes a bit of head scratching is needed.
There is no reference to checking the face contact pattern with blue. The crownwheel and pinion come marked as a pair and set up is made on measurement. I guess it is a low speed tractor so robust contact without any edge loading is their main aim.
It may well be simpler than multiple assembly and testing with blue procedures often needed with unmatched pairs.
The carrier head at least can be set up without the hard work of bolting up and unbolting the diff housing.
I have not done a diff for some years. The blue pattern on the teeth is the final call as to whether it is set up OK.

Do you have a good section in any manual as to what the blue pattern should look like?
Generally it should be broad and mid tooth on the crown wheel.
High or low bearing I have found cracks the hardening on the teeth.
Similarly heavy bearing near the ends of the teeth creates cracking and fracture.

In my experience all end and edges should be clear of bearing.

I am interested as to what the tooth count is on the new crownwheel and pinion. I see Carraro diffs feature on some of the much later Zetors as well but they may be very different models. Perhaps a workshop manual covering one of these later models may have some good info applicable to the Carraro driving head setup.

If your setting up brings contact into an area outside of the old wear pattern then the chances are you will have point loading on the edge of the zone of wear and newly used surface. ( that may be on either the crown wheel or pinion.)

The contact pattern on the drive side which looks to be the more upright face on the Crown wheel, seems to look as though it is bearing toward the inner end of the teeth. If all options have been tried then increasing the backlash may help remedy the contact as the crownwheel moves a way from the pinion.

The used diff would have developed an increase in the back lash and that will be reflected in the wear pattern on that gear set.. A bit of backlash is pretty normal in used diffs and is usually best left alone.

 
Try using a tiny thin smear of blue on the pinion and see where it transfers to the crownwheel as that can help getting an idea about high spots in the meshing forces.

In setting up, the pinion has its preload, then the crown wheel is moved to give the backlash aimed for.. When that is Ok without any bearing play then the crown wheel preload is increased from either side of the crown wheel to maintain the same backlash. The pinion preload and the crown wheel loading can now be measured through the pinion giving the total combined preload as measured at the pinion drive.

Not all setups do it that way but a large number do and it is the better method.

Once the combined preload is set and the backlash is close then use the blue sparingly as the depth of blue needs to be minimal or a false impression can be given.

Cleaning the old blue off each time you change anything is also important.
After you have lightly smeared the pinion and tested forward and back, clean up and then lightly smear a few teeth of the crown wheel and see what shows on the pinion forward and back.
As the coating of blue thins the picture becomes more focussed on high points. This can be a bit frustrating but it does give a better idea of just what is making contact
.
A play with the crown wheel position at that point can give a idea of contact change for crown wheel direction. Backlash will alter of course but an indication is all you are after before figuring any pinion movement.

Wear during use should be absolutely minimal in any short term.

Under load the steel flexes. Teeth will flex as does the carrier and bearing towers. Some compression of the pinion bearings will also allow small movement so it is a live situation. The movements are slight but as you can imagine load changes and so will the movement and contact pattern between the faces It is a while since I spent days finding compromise on worn and unmatched pairs.

Cracking of hardening seems to happen when edges are taking load, particularly at the heel and toe. When cracking starts then the hardened surface looses some of its tensile strength and more force is transferred to the metal under that hardened surface. The less hard and more flexible substrate metal then moves a little more without the hardened shell being in tact and so flaking of the hardened outer can start.

Leverage on the edges also can apply greater force for a given area as well as the force causing greater flex with the less supported edge metal.

I have seen mismatched pairs with the crown wheel teeth like razor blades on the tooth tops as well as seen inner end of crown wheel teeth showing flaking of hardening and a array of fine cracks when cleaned off, dried and then heated lightly to show the oil in the cracks. This damage occurred with full oil levels.

A high powered magnifier and good light moved around at various angles gives info not seen with the naked eye.

My impression from what you have described is that you may find the best compromise some where near the old wear pattern. It is pretty hard to take into account what movement under load will do in changing the contact pattern.

There is bound to be some small variation between your carrier and the previous carrier that the gear set was working in so a absolute matching of the old pattern would not be exact anyway. As you have it no load is on when doing the blue test so you probably can guess/allow a little.
The crown wheel will flex away and the pinion will push into the bearing under drive load and pinion climb toward the crown wheel under reverse

 
Once it is as close to what you feel is possible to a good pattern and following close to but maybe a small improvement/ allowance on the old pattern if it doesn't want to match that closely, then that must be it.

A long running in time with light loading when in 4WD would make a lot of sense. Use on soft ground would also lessen point loading as it "wears" in.

Two manuals say 150Nm for castle pinion nuts.

As the diffs are Zetor and not Carraro then the data is not strictly for your diff. I imagine that seems a reasonable torque for a half nut castle type.

I found a reference crownwheel backlash of .008" to .011" mentioned in the notes on 6745 front diffs.

The pictures of blue patterns seem to have sorted out reasonably well and your backlash is a good common figure. The Zetor figure of 8 to 11 thou may help the bearing to come out a fraction on the tooth but no doubt you have tried that.


End of Bob's info.

For the record:
I set the backlash at .008, the carrier preload plus the pinion preload measured 22 inch pounds at the pinion nut (using new pinion bearings). The pinion preload on its own at the pinion nut measured 20 inch pounds. The pinion castle nut I torqued down to 170 foot pounds (where the slots lined up to put a split pin through), well in excess of the manuals 150 NM. According to the thread torque tables itll take it.

The thread is 20 X 1.5 (but only half the amount of thread)
The chart lists 687 NM for 10.9
482 NM for 8.8

Found a formula for side bearing preload measured at the pinion nut
Example:

Crownwheel teeth divided by pinion teeth

My CW = 33 teeth & My Pinion = 7 teeth ratio = 4.7 so 5 is the factor (is close enough)

Preload pinion = 20 (inch pounds) desired side bearing preload = 7 to 15 say 10

10 (desired side brg. preload)/5 (factor) = 2

total preload = 22 approx..



The above info in addition to the nuts & bolts info from web sources made the difference between success and failure for me.

Regards,

Ian


 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top