After removing the front idler wheel and the track we started to strip down the drive motor.
To access the drive support bearing punch a hole through the soft plate and remove it.
This is the soft plate on the left hand side of the machine.
After the plate was removed we discovered that the housing we full of mud.
Compacted with soil that had worked its way through the front of the bearing housing and compacted itself against the soft plate we have just removed.
Clearing away the mud to locate the bearing and cir-clip that keeps the bearing in place.
Another angle of the mud, this time on the right hand side track drive motor.
This time we removed the bearing support bracket and now need to remove the bearing housing.
This side is worse, the bearing cage and the ball bearings are ready to fall out.
Cleaning the mud to locate the cir-clip.
Rotten housing removed, take a close look at the axle shaft!
The bearing must have seized and the inner housing must have chewed the shaft away.
Close-up of the stub axle.
Oil leaking out from behind the drive flange on the motor.
And so, a heap of parts and two seal kits later and we are back on the road again.
Below are the seals that needed replacement and exposed a heap of other problems.
