New Cub owner

[Alan Gee]

Just picked up my first Farmall Cub. Its a 1953. It runs ok, a little smoke but not bad. Question # 1 for today. The rear bull gears that drive the tracton wheels, how does the oil get to them ? Is it just a run down from the rear housing? Or do I need to put it in some how and if so how?

[Bob McCarty]

Alan, Welcome to the Forum. You'll find a lot of friendly and knowledgeable Cub lovers here. If you click on "PDF manuals", or "Rudi's Manuals" in the tool bar above, you will find Owner's, Operator's, and Service Manuals for your Cub. To answer your question, the gear oil for the bull gears is held in the pans underneath the rear finals:
Picture from TM Tractor. To change the oil, you need to remove about 10 bolts and drop the pan. There is a cork gasket there that will probably need to be replaced. I'd suggest changing all the fluids as shown under maintenance in the Owner's Manual, unless you know the previous owner did it regularly. Any other questions, feel free to ask.

Bob

[Barnyard]

Alan, welcome to the forum. It looks like Bob has you covered.

[Matt Kirsch]

BTW, there is a fill and level-check plug on the main casting of the final drive. It would be on the front on the right, and on the rear on the left.

You can see it right there top center in this picture of a final removed from the tractor that I found on google:

[tmays]

I bought a hand pump for filling everything that uses hytran. One of the best purchases I've made. Easy and as long as you pay attention, no waste

[Alan Gee]

Thanks for the info, I know I will have more questions as I get into it more. It is odd that the tractor seems so user friendly and simple to maintain and then to have no way to drain the oil from the lower drive gears. I figure it does not need to be done often but still.

[Buzzard Wing]

Bob told you how to drain it.... take the pans off. The later manuals recommended HyTran (hydraulic oil) in both the tranny and the finals. But often people will call me names and recommend gear oil.

Often the plug is hidden by mower brackets etc. 3/8" socket (or is it 1/2"?) will do the trick, but I would advise changing it, probably there from the factory. The top bearing is lubed by the splash of the bull gear.

[Alan Gee]

OK thanks. Had some time to get into it and I removed both pans. I had no idea what to expect from a 60 year old tractor, I held my breath and dropped the pan. It was full of oil, black oil. I cleaned it out and found only a small amount of sludge in the bottom, maybe a table spoons worth. The gears , much to my delight looked very good. The one side I thought had a problem because there was no cap on the hub, it turns out it a place to hook up a seeder of some sort.