John Deere grader axle bearing and seal installation tool

[Frank S]

My mechanic neighbor called me up this afternoon, said he is working on a John Deere grader and needed a way to install the axle bearing and seal. It actually takes 2 special tools to accomplish this 1 is simply a 4" OD tube with a 3 3/4" ID with the ends machined true to each other and 9 1/2" long the other is a plate 3/16 to 1/4" thick split diagonally with a center hole large enough to clear the micro sleeve on the spindle.
Here is what I made for him
First I lucked out and found a piece of round tubing the correct OD
cut it squared the ends and did a slight cleanup to the bore


Next I squared a 1/4" Plate to 8x8"

Chucked it in the 4 jaw and made the center hole

the finished tool

What the manual says

[mr mikey]

Nice tool Frank, when I started building Allison automatic transmissions the service manuals would have drawings like you have shown here. I did have our machine shop make a few but I never made one myself. My old trick was a collection of old bearing races. Thanks Frank. Mr Mikey.

[aussieageng56]

My usual trick is to use old bearing internal and external races (taper roller, roller or ball race) and place one cut through the race with 1.5mm cut off wheel. This allows some flex in the races allowing easy removal.Dress the cut edges smooth and with a small radius so as to not damage the shaft or housing when installing the new bearing. Also usually weld a couple of small pieces of steel as lugs on the race that are out of the way to facilitate removal once the bearing or seal is installed.

[metric_taper]

This was before John Deere figured out how to prevent anyone but their dealer from doing repairs.
And they gave the drawings for the tools manufacture. Seems odd, as even my 1956 Chevy truck shop manual calls out tools by GM part numbers.

[Frank S]

This was before John Deere figured out how to prevent anyone but their dealer from doing repairs.
And they gave the drawings for the tools manufacture. Seems odd, as even my 1956 Chevy truck shop manual calls out tools by GM part numbers.

All of Caterpillar manuals were that way as well usually showing several; pictures of them in use though. When you have the pictures and the parts it is usually not too hard to create your own tool. I must have made 100s of tools for the mechanics when I worked in a privately owned Cat rebuild shop

[metric_taper]

All of Caterpillar manuals were that way as well usually showing several; pictures of them in use though. When you have the pictures and the parts it is usually not too hard to create your own tool. I must have made 100s of tools for the mechanics when I worked in a privately owned Cat rebuild shop

I make bearing and seal installation tools as well. Life is good when you have a lathe and mill.