Advice wanted on B-10 rear end noise

[TomF]

We have a B-10 that is making a noise in the rear end, both in warm and cold weather. If the tractor is in neutral and you push it, you can get it to make the noise as well. It is not continuous, like a dry bearing squealing. It almost sounds like a spring-powered gear system on a cheap kids' toy rapidly unwinding. Could this be gear backlash? We looked in the rear end filler plug to see if the gear lube is low, but have a hard time spotting anything other than the usual remnants of "cold-weather molasses" (we're in Michigan). It sounds like the noise is coming from the left rear end, maybe near the bandbrake pulley, but hard to tell, really. Someone suggested we dump in a couple quarts of 30W oil and see if things improve, at least until we can drain out the rear end and refill with 90W and try that. Any comments? Thanks!

[tej]

Tom, My B12 was making a noise just like you described. It had a bent brake drum which was rubbing the band as it turned, but since that's external I'm sure you would have noticed if that was your problem. Luckly I have a parts tractor that had a good brake drum on it and I cured my unwinding spring with it. Tim