Changing the seals on my IH #9 Mower

Now that I have the frame all painted, I decided it would be a shame to not replace all the seals with the mower broken down this much.  I bought all the seals from Macknair and sons (www.macknair.com).  I have found them to be VERY knowledgeable and great to work with.

One word of advice ... when removing the old seal, BE CAREFUL NOT TO MAR UP THE area where the seal sits.  Make sure you only pry on the seal itself, not the housing around it.  When installing the new seals, BE CAREFULL TO APPLY PRESSURE EVENLY as you install.  Take your time and be nice and easy and the new seals will slowly tap right into place. 

Pitman Seal

To replace this one, remove the pitman shaft (I did it the way Lynn Miller suggests in his book).  Once the pitman shaft is removed, get a seal puller, and remove the seal.  This is easy to do with a seal puller.  The original type of seal will be thick with a metal housing on both sides.  Just pry at it with the seal puller till it is freed.  The new seal will be 2 seals, instead of one.  In order to accomodate the thickness of the seal, Macknair will send you 2 of the correct sized seal.  Install both carefully.  Then, reinstall the pitman.  This happens in the reverse from when you removed the pitman.  Be gentle sliding the shaft through the new seals.

NOTE:  One thing I struggled with, was getting the pitman shaft to slide through the bearing properly.  I struggled with this, then got it, only to realize that I didn't have the gear on.  SO ... here is how to put that thing together.  Gently slide the pitman shaft in.  Make sure it slides through the bearing, and then place the washer on, and put the gear into position.  Start turning the pitman clockwise (from the front), and watch through the gear to see if it is starting to thread.  If not, tap the pitman a few times with a rubber mallet.  As you push on the pitman, the gear will push against the big flywheel in the gear housing because of the angle of the teeth, this will hold things in place.  Once those threads start turning in the gear, just keep turning the pitman clockwise with the rod tool in place to keep the gears from turning.  Hope this helps. 

This is the rod tool.  I showed this before.  It's a broken tooth from an old hay rake.  Worked great!

Clutch Seal

The clutch seal is the smallest seal.  To remove this, many sources say you have to remove the gears from the gearbox to have an open hole in the seal.  I did NOT do it this way.  I worked gently to remove the seal while the meal clutch rod was still sticking through the seal.  To do this, I hammered a small flat head screwdriver into the side of the seal to make a hole.  I then used the seal puller to cut the metal all around the seal, releasing the center of the seal.  I then used a screwdriver to slowly work at, and pry at the seal till I was able to remove it.  To install, I used a piece of 1" PVC pipe to pound the seals in.  Once again, this will be 2 seals installed in the location of the one thicker original seal.

Axle Seal

The axle seal is removed the same way we did the Clutch Seal.  Use screwdrivers to break down the seal and pry it out.  This will destroy the seals.  Make sure you do not mar up the seal housing on the frame.  To install the new seals (1 seal each axle), I just used a hammer to gently tap all around the seal and knock it in.  A second hammer will help with this too, just use both to hit the opposite sides of the seal at the same time.

YAY!  Now that the seals were done on my mower, I reinstalled the pitman, removed the gear cover, and filled with oil.  I then put the lid back on with the new gasket that I bought from Macknair and sons.  I'm very excited to have this much done. 


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