428 replies to this topic

[Hondarider]

I've been sitting here for 2 weeks...waiting for a pair of SKF axle seals that I ordered on eBay...eagerly running to the mailbox every afternoon...no dice.  The seller says they must have been lost in shipping and he doesn't have anymore to send me.  Now I need to find another vendor and attempt to get a refund out of the first one.  Disappointing news for a guy with a garage full of freshly painted parts.

 

Faced with a boring Saturday and no rear axle parts, I decided to start the reassembly process at the front end instead...

 

Important mechanical life lesson:  If you are going to send parts out to sandblast, please, Please, PLEASE make sure that there is no grease hidden away in those critical bushings and bearings and places where sand is undesirable.  If you leave grease any where...any where at all...the sand will seek it out like a dropped screw seeks a floor drain...and you'll end up with a freshly painted part filled with gooey shaft-scoring peanut butter sandpaper.

 

That's exactly what I found inside the holes for my front spindles when I mounted up my front axle assembly.

[Hondarider]

Off to WalMart for some mineral spirits and a squirt bottle...upstairs to the bathroom to borrow my wife's tooth brush...and out to the garage for about 20 repetitions of soak, scrub, rinse..repeat.

 

 

Eventually...after way too much effort..the sand and the grease was gone!

 

 

 

 

[Hondarider]

Back when I was disassembling the tractor, I noticed a strange thing about the front spindles. The spindle shafts were longer than they should have been...sticking up beyond the top of the axle assembly...and not equally so. Someone, at some point many years ago, had fabbed up spacers that went between the top of the cast axle assembly and the retaining caps for the spindles.



I don't think it was meant to be that way.

Edited by Hondarider, January 16, 2016 - 11:02 PM.

[Hondarider]

Some measuring...some scribing...and a Super Sawzall later...

[KennyP]

Off to WalMart for some mineral spirits and a squirt bottle...upstairs to the bathroom to borrow my wife's tooth brush...and out to the garage for about 20 repetitions of soak, scrub, rinse..repeat.

 

IMG_3036.JPG

 

Eventually...after way too much effort..the sand and the grease was gone!

 

IMG_3040.JPG

Did you put the toothbrush back?

[Hondarider]

Of course I put the toothbrush back!  Can you imagine how angry she would have been if bedtime rolled around and she didn't have a toothbrush?

[Hondarider]

Spindles cut the correct length....no more spacers...looks much better.
 

 
I'll never know what the story was there.  Maybe they were replacements sourced from other tractors.

Edited by Hondarider, January 17, 2016 - 10:01 PM.

[UncleWillie]

I hope you at least rinsed the toothbrush with clean mineral spirits.

[Hondarider]

I hope you at least rinsed the toothbrush with clean mineral spirits.

 

I used carb cleaner...I am a gentleman, after all.

[KennyP]

Bet she was wondering if her taste buds were off!

[Hondarider]

After some cutting and grinding and polishing, the spindles are finally installed and its time to install the front wheels.  Sadly, the inside of the wheels are caked with the same gruesome amalgamation of sand and grease.  I'm fairly sure that my freshly polished axles will not appreciate that.  On the up side, I recently procured 4 new sintered steel wheel bushings from Mr. Haynes so I can knock out the old bronze bushings and clean the axle tubes with no obstructions.

 

 

 

[KennyP]

After some cutting and grinding and polishing, the spindles are finally installed and its time to install the front wheels.  Sadly, the inside of the wheels are caked with the same gruesome amalgamation of sand and grease.  I'm fairly sure that my freshly polished axles will not appreciate that.  On the up side, I recently procured 4 new sintered steel wheel bushings from Mr. Haynes so I can knock out the old bronze bushings and clean the axle tubes with no obstructions.

 

IMG_3048.JPG

Gonna use the toothbrush again?

Keep up the good work!

[Hondarider]

More mineral spirits, more scrubbing, and some wadded up paper towels pushed through like I was cleaning a gun barrel...perfectly clean axle tube...ready to receive the new bushings.

Remembering that I only have a 2 ton arbor press in the garage these days, and not wanting to impose upon Daryl and his hydraulic press, I made every preparation for bushing insertion.

Bushings in the freezer with the butter and the french fries and the chicken nuggets...



Wheels go to the woodstove for maximum expansion...

[Hondarider]

Gonna use the toothbrush again?
Keep up the good work!

I'll probably use one of the kids' toothbrushes this time. I don't want to arouse suspicion.

[Hondarider]

Once my bushings were good and frozen...and the wheel was almost too hot to touch...I grabbed them both and ran like hell for the garage. Within seconds, they were up on the arbor press and I was applying pressure...



FAIL!

Things started off fairly well, but about half way into the insertion, progress halted and no amount of pulling on the handle would get it done. As the bushings and the wheel raced towards temperature equilibrium, I grabbed the whole mess and took it to the anvil instead. The deadblow hammer wasn't much better so I had to resort to the 5lb sledge. It wasn't pretty...and I wasn't proud of my mechanical savagery...but in the end, the rebellious components resigned themselves to their fate and fell into line...succumbing to my will. (I'm not even sure where I get this nonsense)

We've got wheels!