differential problem

[dav]

i have just changed a broken axle tube on a 3 speed trannie for the soon to be B12. when i put the diff on the axle tube, i put a fat washer on the axle, then the gear with the shoulder facing away from the trannie (with the keys in place) before i put the outboard flange on, i tried turning the axle. No Way! took it all apart to be sure the gear was only hitting one side of the spider gears. it was. back together-this time with the snap ring to hold the gear on the axle. pulling the axle thru the trannie to be sure the gear is only engaging one side of the spiders, it still wont turn. a look at the resource articles gave me no usable hint as to what i've done wrong shouldn't i be able to turn the axle by hand when it is in the axle tube and has the gear engaged to the spiders? the spider gears are very stiff to turn with a screwdriver. (i only checked 2 of them) i haven't had the diff apart and have never had it on a running tractor. there is no visible damage to it. how freely should the spider gears turn? thinking about how the tube got broken; i bought a tractor at an auction. it started raining about the time we were loading the tractor onto a forklift, so we were hurrying. the tractor shifted, which is when i thought it broke. if the diff is locked up, could the axle tube break when the forklift bumped into the tractor, pushing it forward? any help is appreciated thanks

[MikeES]

There is a thick washer with the diameter larger than the snap ring to act as a spacer between the gears. You also could have a differential that is assembled wrong. The tractors that I have picked up 50% have had the diff assembled wrong. Usually the spider gears are installed as like pairs instead of opposites like they should be.

[gwiseman]

http://www.simpletractors.com/club2/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=73815 Check out above. I had similar challenge. Good luck. Still think it wise to replace axle tube and to inspect gears/seals/spacers/shifting forks rather than to replace tranny out of one you know nothing about. But then, half the fun of mechanics on these rigs is tearing down and accomplishing the repair successfully.

[dav]

i dug out a spare diff and tried it...same problem. so i pulled the axle out and put a thin washer behind the gear instead of the fat one. seems to have solved the problem. thanks for the help

[HubbardRA]

dav, You are correct about the solution. I assembled the diff for my 713S as shown in the parts manual. It showed two thin washers behind the gear that drives the left axle. Diff was locked when assembled. I pulled it back apart and moved one of the washers from behind the gear to between the two gears. Works fine now.