Leaking At Rear Cover Plate

[aagitch]

My cast rear had a very slow leak at the bottom center bolt. I put a small amount of thread tape on it and it has worked.

[AyatinGL]

aagitch - thanks for the heads up. I would just do that - but since I may have broke a piece of metal off when screwing in too long of a bolt back there, I need to take the plate off to see if there is any metal in there now. So, I'll be replacing the entire gasket today. But, after I do that - I'll make sure to put sealer in that bottom center bolt!

[ol'George]

Originally Posted by AyatinGL

aagitch - thanks for the heads up. I would just do that - but since I may have broke a piece of metal off when screwing in too long of a bolt back there, I need to take the plate off to see if there is any metal in there now. So, I'll be replacing the entire gasket today. But, after I do that - I'll make sure to put sealer in that bottom center bolt!

------Or any bolt that is not in a blind hole.
Now hurry up and take the cover off, the suspense is getting to me, and we want pictures!!

[AyatinGL]

ol'George - I'll post pictures today - I took one of the inside of the rear yesterday. I did indeed remove the rear cover plate and found two small pieces of metal (cast iron?) that broke off into the rear - so very thankful that I decided to deal with the minor inconvenience of needing to replace the hydro fluid, hydro filter, and rear gasket. I failed to get a picture of the actual piece that broke off - and where it broke off from - I intend to take pictures of those things today...didn't put the fluid back in yet because I put Permatex RTV on the threads of the bottom center bolt (after first attaching the gearbox and and it says to give it 24 hours to cure before filling with fluids and returning machine to service.

But, with all that said - I had an idea this morning that might help me. It looks like the bottom center hole in the tiller mounting plate is big enough to accept a bolt head through it. Instead of installing a 3/8"x1 1/4" bolt on top of the lower hitch link/plate and through the tiller mounting plate, could I just use a 3/8"x5/8" bolt directly on top of the rear cover plate and then attach the tiller mounting plate where the 5/8" bolt head will be sitting in the tiller mounting plate's bottom center hole, and cover the 5/8" bolt with the lower hitch link/plate? That way, if I ever need to take the tiller mounting plate off, that 5/8" bolt never needs to come out (and it would be inconvenient to take it out [where tranny fluid would leak] and have to reseal it).

Thoughts on this bolt idea? My only concern would be that it's that much less weight support for the tiller mounting plate...but there also has to be a reason why IH made that bottom center hole so big.

[AyatinGL]

ol'George - Here is one picture - of the rear with the cover plate removed. I hope to have additional pictures later on today - of what broke off.

[ol'George]

Originally Posted by AyatinGL

ol'George - Here is one picture - of the rear with the cover plate removed. I hope to have additional pictures later on today - of what broke off.

Don't worry about having to take that bolt out, if you want to take the bracket off.
Just put a catch pan under the housing, remove what you want, smear some sealer back on the bolt and reinstall it. the sealer is heavy enough to stop a leak and oil thick enough that you will not loose but a couple of ounces during the removal/reinstall.
Don't over think it,---- KISS (keep it simple stupid)
Glad you got the metal pieces out of the housing, they don't play well if gotten between the gears

[AyatinGL]

I wanted to share something quick in case it would help anyone else. When I took the rear cover plate off, I cleaned out the bolt holes with a combination of an aerosol can of carb cleaner (left over from when I did the carb rebuild) and these wire brushes with my drill:

http://www.amazon.com/Neiko-00325A-I...eiko+brush+set

Those things together cleaned out the bolt holes pretty well!

[AyatinGL]

ol'George - I didn't get pics of the piece of metal nor the place where it broke off from inside - I decided to keep the rear cover plate on after I sealed the bottom center bolt. Going to start'er up once I have the brush kit and new armature for the starter. Looking forward to seeing what this maintenance has done with performance!

[AyatinGL]

Good news! After using an OEM gasket (no RTV or gasket sealer, just the gasket itself) and using RTV on the bolt that I punched through, the rear is back together and working without a leak! I think it was the one bolt all along.

[Bapple33]

Not sure about leaking from bolts or not. But I had a similar issue with the top cover on my 129. To had the old cork/rubber gasket on it and I needed to fix it same day. Some black RTV did the trick just fine. I put a bead around each bolt hole too.