Farmall BN final drive whine

[10jdoyl]

My BN is primarily used for mowing (has a woods 59 finish mower) but I've noticed that any time its under ANY load, the left side final drive whines. Is this normal? It's done it for at least 6 years (as long as I've owned it)

[SamsFarm]

How is your gear lube?

Maybe you need some oil in your final drive!

[Urbish]

My B makes a lot of noise when under load as well. I am guessing I have a toasted bearing in the final. It doesn't get driven much, so I've back-burnered diagnosis and repair. The final drives should be fairly quiet with gear oil filled to the appropriate level.

[10jdoyl]

It's full of oil, I guess I'll have to tear into it and look for anything suspect one day. Would a whining be more likely a bad bearing or worn gears? I also have a Super A that has a lot of chattering from left final drive. When I got it, there was absolutely no oil in it. Only chatters in road gear, but still sounds pretty nasty.

[Jim Becker]

Noise descriptions are subjective. The variety of words to describe a noise are subject to interpretation. Reducing it to a written description may be misleading. But here is a brief go at it.

I would say a whine is typically a gear noise, the result of wear, usually not an indication of an approaching failure.
A rumble, howl, click, or grinding is more likely to be a bearing, usually should be attended to fairly promptly.
A chatter is liable to be a problem in the brakes, not as critical as a bearing but should be attended to.

There is no guarantee on these, even with agreement on the description. Maybe a bad bearing will chatter. I am assuming some oil is in there. But this is where I would start.