I've been having a miserable time trying to remove the final drives from my wide RD-6. I was hoping that I could rremove the final drives as a unit rather than disassembleing them from the outside in, piece by piece. My biggest hurdle is the fact that I don't have a large puller to remove the sprocket and bull gears. I've removed the finals on my D2 and 60 as a unit, so its not like I'm a total novice. So far on the RD-6 I've removed the outer hub and seal unit which supports the outside track frame. I've removed the large nut on the dead axle in the center of the tractor. With all the bolts removed holding the final drive to the side of the transmission housing I've placed 2 hydraulic rams at locations to push the final away from the side of the tractor., I've got quite a bit of pressure on the rams and am afraid of breaking the cases if I apply much more pressure. I thought that the cases would come as long as I brought the dead axle with it but this doesn't seem to be working. I haven't been able to find a shop manual and the detail is not the clearest on my parts manual.
I just located a different detail in the parts book and it appears the inner holder for the bearing on the pinion is part of the spacer housing for the wide tractors and therefore will not allow the cases to slip off of the pinion and the side of the tractor. Am I right? Anyone done this before? Please help.

Hi D8 Pete,
The wide gauge is a little different than later versions. Instead of the longer hub and spacer used on the later D6's the early units extended the pinion along with the spacer for the dead axle.

I can't give you first hand info but I am looking at the parts book and it shows the pinion bearing cage 2B8435 as being separate from the spacer 2B655. The 2B665 spacer looks like it would slide off the 2B8435 cage, leaving the pinion assembly behind.

I think you will have to modify your removal procedure to the more conventional method of removal to avoid binding (and possible damage) by your method. First remove the 1A7549 bearing assy. (sounds like you already have) then the 1B3108 bearing holder assy. Also a good time to remove the 1A7517 nut and bearing cone 1B4040 if your going in but not required for whole assembly removal. With the final drive case unbolted from the tractor the whole assy (hub, sprocket & bull gear and spacer) will slide off the shaft with some wiggling to slip it off the 2B8435 cage.

The dead axle should then be pulled if necessary (or not). They are pressed at 25 Ton but can take double that or more to get them loose.

remove the final drive outer bearing and leave the dead axle in place. if you are trying to get to the steering clutches you are going about it the wrong way. Jon

To Jon and Old Magnet thanks for your replies. To Jon - eventually I do want to get to the steering clutches and remove them but my purpose for removing the finals is moreless inspection to make sure that all the bearings, seals, and gaskets are OK. One of the final drive cases had a crack up on top by the pinion which was repaired with success long before I got the tractor. As I have been removing final drive parts I can see that someone has been in these finals before me. I just want to make sure that there are no major issues before I complete the restoration and do final paint. As for removing the steering clutches I suspect they are like a 60 - Unbolt the pinion drive plate from the end of the clutch/brake drum, slide the drum inward slightly and lift the whole clutch and differential out as one piece. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

You are correct on your steering clutch removal procedure.