[D&M Farms]

I have a 1066 IH with 20.8x38 duals. The tractor is a southern tractor with the extra long axles and they have spent most of their life set on 38" rows. I recently took the duals off and moved the hubs in, for 30" row spacing and tightened the large U-bolts on the hubs down extremely tight with a 3/4 in socket/breaker bar and 4' cheater bar. I checked it after a day of use row crop cultivating and it was getting a little loose so I tightened it back, but it keeps working back loose. Now the hub and wheel/tire have slid out to the original spot. There's a lot of pressure on the hub when the tractor pivots on the tire. What can I do to make it tighter and stay in place?

 

[NCRC5315]

1" air impact. IMO, this is the only way to get them tight enough.

 

[deetwocat]

I own a lot of red tractors of that age we don't work with them much anymore but with 50 years around them that was one of the bigest faults ,they all came with a IH 1 1/8 wrench and they had a 5 ft. Pipe strapped to the side rail by the engine so you will need that long pipe to get them tight .i may be wrong but I don't think you can get at those bolts with a impact.

 

[Northern Farmer]

I've never had a thing to do with the IH hubs but have seen pictures so this suggestion isn't from that angle but is from the perspective of the hardware bolts/nuts your working with. What sort of shape are they in, pretty rusted perhaps as I imagine the ideal way would be to have new bolts and new nuts but if you haven't tried this, maybe give it a shot. Replace the old nuts with new ones and make sure they are high grade and clean up the threads the best you can on the bolts, then work copper coat into the bolt threads and the nut threads before assembly. I find I can torque things up better and not have threads gall on me in the process and more of the torque applied is actually turning the nut rather then trying to twist on the bolt. Obviously with less friction, torque values would be different and more likely to twist something off if too aggressive. Maybe give it a shot on one side and see if it holds and certainly will have to re-torque them a few times to get everything seated in.

 

[D&M Farms]

The U-bolts are not rusted to the point of cavitation on the insides and the threads look ok, but I will try new nuts and lock washers and copper coat the threads as you say.

 

[albertabuck]

Inspect the keyways and the drive key for wear. I forget how them are setup exactly, but I have seen a lot that were run loose. Have seen where things were wore to the point of when you tried to tighten down those clamp bolts the small half of the clamp will split. If either hub, outer for duals, or the main drive wheel is allowed to run loose in that manner, it will wear the wheel hub and there is only one fix and that is replacing it. I have also seen where the axle is wore as well. Simplest fix for duals if the axle shafts are wore, is to change over to clamp on duals. If its just the hubs, in this part of the world, no shortage of parts at the wreckers, though they are pricey if in good shape because they are in demand.

I got a burnt 986 I bought for parts behind the shop, I'll have a look at it when I walk by in later and see if that jogs my memory a bit more