74A6C wrote:

Good to know Dan. Explains a good bit. I'd expect it would require a bit of wear in the bearings to allow them to spin? As if any of these machines were only used to blade the road to Sunday school each week....

 

You might be supersized how hardfast ice can stick. The most wear I have seen on my 8T and 9K was to the caps bolt holes they had been oblonged and bolts broken off. I was thinking at first the bearing spinning would cause damage to the shaft or beveled surfaces, however, the caps bolt holes, zerk extensions and bolts seemed to take the lion shear of the damage. The bolts looked like they had been replaced and tightened multiple times. The bolted cap can only hold the bearing so tight against the bevels. I'll get a picture of the finished product as soon as I
Thank you for responding.

Oh yeah, ice is one of the best adhesives you can get when it comes to moving metal parts. I personally haven't been frozen to the ground but several of the older guys I've worked around had stories of building fires to thaw tracks. Best I've been able to do is grow a set of grass-made street pads on the bottom stretch of track. Of course my locale and yours differ a good bit in climate! Had a guy I learned a lot from tell me several stories of having to thaw his 7G out when pulling drilling rigs. An 11B Fiat will just break axles and/or finals in situations like that according to some other older hands that I've worked with.