Changing brake band Farmall Super AV

I have a Super AV that needs a new right brake band. I'm new to farmall and could use some pointers about how to do this without messing something up. I would like to see pictures too if anyone has them.

I have a 1941 Farmall A. Likewise for changing a brake band. I have all manner of manuals for the A (6 of them) but they are rather incomplete for all but the advanced mechanics.

We had a thread about this (it was about getting a brake drum off but still germane) just a few days ago, but it's been busy enough on the board that I think it's fallen off to the archives and I haven't been able to find it handily. 8^(

Basically, you need to unbolt the whole of the final drive from the right diff shaft housing, which is the shaft housing your seat platform is bolted to. You don't want the right side to be close to a wall when you do this, as when you pull the final drive away away, the shaft itself will be pulled out of the transmission/diff to come with it. You'll be wiggling the drum, which will be at the outer end of the shaft, out of the brake band as you do this. The band is anchored at one end by the link to the pedals and at the other to the chassis by a dowel-type pin between the shaft housing and the final drive. No telling which of those pieces it will try to stick to. If it does try to stick with the final drive and drum, things will be easier to handle and maneuver if you find a way to get it off of that anchor pin, to keep it with the tractor/shaft housing end. That may take some wiggling as you go. (Unless, of course, you're replacing it because the rod broke off the band!)

If all you're doing is replacing the band, clean up your drum, work the new band over the drum and reassemble.

That's the basics. The biggest tip I can give you is that the final drive is not too "exceptionally" heavy to pull away by hand with two people, but is heavy and of an odd enough shape to be difficult to handle that way. Even if you could manage the weight and had a third person to to the wiggling and fine maneuvering to get the band off while removing and to help with lining up the shaft itself to get it back into the tranny, the whole job will be much easier if you can rig it with straps to a hoist. I'd plan on that appraoch.

HTH

You have to remove the reduction gear housings to get at the brake drums. Obviously IH didn't think it would happen very often as it is a pain in the neck exercise, one really needs a shop crane to move the bits. I had one oil soaked brake band, so had both bands relined. It took us 2 hours to get the old oil seals out of the gearbox casting but probably another hour to get housings and wheels back on. You have to remove so much other gear to get the back end apart. Ih did not make maintenance easy.

Thanks guys for the replies. I made the mistake of thinking it would be easier to leave the tire mounted when I split the housing. I have the tractor suspended by a lift and was able to roll the tire and gear assembly away with a dolly. The brake band had sheared off of the rod and the metal in the band was rusted out and made a mess everywhere. I have a concern with putting it all back together. How critical is it to replace the oil seals in the transmission case? I like saving time and money but don't like re-do's. The seals seem to be in good shape, at least they didn't seem to be leaking much but extracting the rod and wheel assembly was a little rough as I am a novice at this and was doing it by myself. Anyway, some objective advice would be welcomed. Oh and one more thing. I read a post in the archives that indicated the bands this site sells are not good quality. Anyone else agree? If so where would you suggest I go to get the part. I don't have one yet, wanted to take a look at the set up before I ordered the part.

Luke, I have some pictures. I'm not sure exactly where you are in your process,- if you're just changing your brake bands, or if you've taken off your drums yet or run into problems at that point.
Here's a pic of how I supported my final drive casting to extract it, using an engine hoist. The nice part is that you can raise or lower it incrementally to get it to exactly mate back up, and it's fairly well-balanced so that the differential shaft can go back in straight without any straining, or putting any sideways torque on the shaft.



My left brake band was saturated with oil- the right not so bad. But I thought that as long as I was this far, I might as well do all the seals at the same time. First step is removing the drum. It has a set-screw held tight by a jam-nut. Loosen the jam nut, then back out the set-screw.



The drum is not a press-fit, but it is keyed, and mine was on tight, and if memory serves me, I used a pry-bar in the lower right where it can be gotten behind the drum, and then gently pried, while spinning the drum to pry it 'all around', I was able to loosen it until it was able to be walked off the shaft.
Next was taking out the differential shaft. (I'm showing pics of the left side, didn't take pics of this process from the right, but it's the same). When you take off the cover (the only thing that holds the shaft in)...



the shaft and the bearing will come out when you *pop* the end of the shaft with a sufficiently heavy piece of wood. It is NOT a press-fit, but in a previous post, a guy's was 'stuck' somewhat.



This exposes the seal in the outer casting...



You can see mine was in backwards from a previous owner. The lip is supposed to face the oil within the casting where the bull gear is.

Here's the seal in the differential/tranny case.



I couldn't get it out without taking off the center differential housing..



which exposes the inner seal on the right...



But this takes special precautions, so if you're going this far, start another thread, (as this one is dropping) and we all can go from there.
I sent you my e-mail, so if you don't have dial-up, I can send pics that way.

Does the replacement of brake band procedure apply to a super a as well.

Yes, the Farmalls A, B and Cub all have a similar rear axle system