420 FINAL DRIVE

[BUBSDAD]

I just bought a used final drive locally and it wqas removed off the tractor by pulling the snap ring off the shaft and sliding the drive off the crawler.
The shop manual shows pulling the brake drum with the final drive. is it ok to replace the final drive while leaving the drum and clutch in the crawler?

[JimAnderson]

I know I will get flamed for this but that is how I have done
it for many years.The only concern is making sure that the seal isn't
damaged by the pinion shaft when installing the final. Set up the
preload for the bearings as outlined in the service manual.Remove
the outer bearing cover.Install the clutch assembly then the final.
Install the pinion bearing cover with the proper shims and you are
good to go.Again protect the pinion shaft seal.I'm sure that some
on this board will disagree with this method but it works for me.
JimAnderson

[BUBSDAD]

Swapped out the final drive this way and it seems to have worked fine. I installed a new seal and slid the drive on. now it moves and steers. I did dig a little dirt before the rain and it worked great.

Thanks for the info