amatikulu Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 (edited) Hi, this is my first post other than my introductory one, so I hope I'm asking my question in the right place. Last July, I bought a Mark 1 Ferret that had been in dry storage for 31 years simply being used for the odd publicity photograph. It served with the Canadian Forces in West Germany and my restoration is to return it that time period. I have spent the last eight months slowly stripping the vehicle and searching for replacement parts. This has been fun, but now I've hit the first roadblock that gets in the way of my plans. The front left wheel is locked up and I need to move the ferret out of my garage to remove the engine and gearbox. I originally placed the ferret in my garage using a rather large forklift (telehandler) so did not detect the non moving wheel. I made the assumption that the brake shoes were binding after I found that the other three wheels rotated. First, I disconnected the prop shaft to that wheel and jacked up the wheel and applied turning pressure to the wheel. It would rock but not rotate. Next, I removed the wheel and the brake hub, it came off easily. The wheel would still not rotate. Now, scratching my head I decided I needed to look inside the bevel box, so removed the outer hub Allen head screws and took a look. This is what I found: The bevel box was dry, but other than one nut showed no sign of corrosion. I could find no obvious damage from the outside or shiny metal particles. However the little oil that remained was pretty gunky My question is, could my locked up wheel simply be caused by a lack of lubrication and all I need is to put it back together with some oil? Or is the locked up hub a problem that requires further stripping to find and if so, what should be my next steps? Thanks in anticipation Edited March 29, 2014 by amatikulu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starfire Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 Adding oil to something already locked up won't help, I'm afraid. I would suggest liberally spraying as much WD-40/RP7 in there as you can, let it sit for a day or two and repeat. If it hasn't freed up in a week or two, strip it down and inspect it. Even if it does free up enough to get it rolling, you'll still need to strip and inspect at a later date, as something ins't right. Let us know how you go. Cheers, Terry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiketheBike Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 When you had the prop-shaft connected, did the other wheel on that side of the ferret rotate, or was that also locked? Trying the escertain if the input to the bevel box is free, and its something further along the drive-chain towards to wheel station thats is broken and seized Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OZITIM Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 Given that it doesnt appear to have much rust, i would have thought that a bit of WD40 would free it up. Its obviously either the bevel box thats seized or the hub itself. I had a similar issue. I firstly unscrewed the centre drive shaft nut and unbolted the bolts holding the bearing housing. Only undo the the six bolts that hold the retainer, not the nuts that have the split pins in them. Remove the retainer, then remove the plenetary 'sunwheel' and attempted to spin the wheel. with the sunwheel removed the wheel spun around, indicating to me that it was the bevel box that was seized. The plenetary and hub was fine. I subsequently unbolted the bevel box and after much effort got it apart to find that one of the bearings had collapsed. Rmoving the sun wheel should take you an hour and the wheel should spin. Removing the bevel box will take all day and you will get tired of squeezing your fingers between parts in order to remove the small retaining bolts that hold the tractor joint gato. Once you have unbolted the large bolts that hold the bevel box to the hull, you will invariably drop it on your fingers. That will be a certainty. I hope that helps. Regards, Tim Ferret 115161 Australia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OZITIM Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 I just noticed that my rank is Private! hahaha I havnt been a private for twenty years. What do I have to do to avoid promotion. Im happy to be a Private forever. I cant live with the responsiblity of rank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starfire Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 I just noticed that my rank is Private! hahaha I havnt been a private for twenty years. What do I have to do to avoid promotion. Im happy to be a Private forever. I cant live with the responsiblity of rank. It's based on post count. I guess that you could just be a forum lurker for the rest of your life Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amatikulu Posted March 31, 2014 Author Share Posted March 31, 2014 (edited) Ok, thanks to you all for the input. Mike, I did not test to see if both wheels on the left side rotated when they were connected, I only tested them individually once I had disconnected the prop shaft. The other three wheels rotate freely. Tim, I just got home from work, so will grab a bite to eat and then head out to the garage and see if I can do as you have suggested and find out if the hub is able to rotate after stripping out the sun gear. Depending on progress, I'll post the outcome. Edited March 31, 2014 by amatikulu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amatikulu Posted March 31, 2014 Author Share Posted March 31, 2014 I managed to remove the bearing retainer, and was pleased to find that I didn't need a puller, all I had to do was insert two of the removed bolts from the retainer into the additional two holes on the face and and they pulled it free with ease. Here's the retainer plate with the bolts inserted in the removal spots And this is what it looks like with it removed: Another shot from a slightly different angle Now the question is does anyone have any tips on the smartest way to remove the sun gear? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeferret Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 Amatikulu I sent you a PM... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Farrant Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 I Now the question is does anyone have any tips on the smartest way to remove the sun gear? Just get a bit of welding rod or similar and bend a right angle on the end to hook behind the gear and slide it out, watch out for the shims and spacer behind it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amatikulu Posted April 2, 2014 Author Share Posted April 2, 2014 Well, no progress to report today. I tried a bent welding rod, but was unable to pull the sun gear. I only had one rod available so am now going to get a second one and see if I can get it to move when pulling from two rather than one position. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Topdog Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 The beauty of this thread is the help that people give Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeferret Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 Well, no progress to report today. I tried a bent welding rod, but was unable to pull the sun gear. I only had one rod available so am now going to get a second one and see if I can get it to move when pulling from two rather than one position. I am wondering if a good soaking in a bucket filled with penetrating oil for a week would loosed up that rust.... I hope the more knowledgeable mechanics will come on with ideas for this problem... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Farrant Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 As you have gone this far, you may as well continue stripping the epicyclic gears from the hub. By removing the annulus and retaining plate for planet gears, you should be able to get a small puller or pry bar behind the sun gear. Watch out for all the loose rollers and spacers in the planet gears. regards, Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amatikulu Posted April 3, 2014 Author Share Posted April 3, 2014 This evening I have tried my best to pull the sun gear without further stripping of the hub, but to no avail. I've tried one welding rod and two welding rods but the hook simply bends straight when force is applied. I tried using some thin allen keys as they are made of a harder steel but I still can't move the gear. I've downloaded several manuals from the internet, can somebody suggest what would be appropriate to read before I take the next steps to strip the whole epicyclic gears etc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amatikulu Posted August 29, 2014 Author Share Posted August 29, 2014 As a follow up to this thread, I put the hub back together and added oil to the bevel box and hub. After a few weeks, I had to remove the engine so dragged the hull outside and amazingly the hub freed up and rolled easily. Based on the amount of oil I had to add to fill these up, I conclude that after ten years of standing, all the oil had drained out and the lock up was simply a "dry freeze" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeferret Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 Thanks for the update......Post when you get it running too........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Topdog Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 Is it only me that cant get any of your pics to appear? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amatikulu Posted November 3, 2014 Author Share Posted November 3, 2014 Not sure why they are not appearing now. They are still in my photobucket album and I haven't changed the links. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeferret Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 I'm not seeing the pics now either......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captaincarl Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 Gents - does anyone have a source for a ferret gearbox bands? Thanks. Carl & 00CA45, Nawlins, LA, USA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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