Today was the day. It was time to explain the truth behind the mystery of why the front left wheel of our Massey Ferguson 65 tractor appeared to be falling off...
The truth is...because it was. And this wasn’t trivial. Because that wheel rim is filled with cement. And I think it weighs more than I do...
It turned out that the original split pin in front of the castellated nut that holds this entire catastrophe together was a smidge too...small. So the nut walked out. If anyone here has done their own trailer bearings then you might have an inkling of how daft this could go...
This was compounded by the fact that the spindle upon which this mass rotated was, as I found out, held in by a combination of mass, gravity and luck...
See that gap above the hub...that isn’t supposed to be there. Nor is that view of the nut at the top end of the spindle (it shouldn’t be that polished!). You should be looking at a bolt head.
This is much better. It would’ve been even better if I’d had the right socket for the wheel nuts and picked the right setting for the castellated nut in the first instance (as in this photo) rather than the second time around...
And the less I tell you about the fucking language involved in getting that fucking tank of a fucking wheel on that fucking hub...the fucking better for all of us.
And it gets even better. The wheel still wobbles.