2021 POTD Thread Archive

Well it was ugly with much gnashing of teeth, but I got it. The shaft was bent on the hand wheel end (how this could happen I’ll never know) so much so that it could not be withdrawn out the front because of the bend — it wouldn’t pass through the hand wheel bearing anymore. And on the front end was the cast iron counterweight and pitman with the seized set screw that prevented the shaft being taken out the hand wheel end. Ugh, the only access at it was through the little 1/2” diameter hole on the side of the chassis. Decidedly not pretty, but I have a whole new respect for the strength of the aluminum chassis.

Now to see if I can straighten the shaft which is what started this whole ordeal in the first place…

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-frank
 
francist said:
Well it was ugly with much gnashing of teeth, but I got it. The shaft was bent on the hand wheel end (how this could happen I’ll never know) so much so that it could not be withdrawn out the front because of the bend — it wouldn’t pass through the hand wheel bearing anymore. And on the front end was the cast iron counterweight and pitman with the seized set screw that prevented the shaft being taken out the hand wheel end. Ugh, the only access at it was through the little 1/2” diameter hole on the side of the chassis. Decidedly not pretty, but I have a whole new respect for the strength of the aluminum chassis.

Now to see if I can straighten the shaft which is what started this whole ordeal in the first place…



-frank
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that shop looks comfortable to me. there's just something about some shops that call ya... you know.
I'll bet something fell hard against the handwheel causing the bend...
 
The competition between White elephant No 1 and 2 (two octavia's) continues. Last week i was at work and told my brother everything's ready just put the new ignition coil in the hole plug it in and reinstall the cover. He did the main part right, but did not bolt down air intake with one of the cover bolts, obviously the bolt is too long and it did some damaged, the wire for the oxygen sensor is attached to it and with A/C on fans running they cut the wire. With no oxygen sensor it throw a check engine and run like crap, but my brother continued to drive it till had almost no power at all, it clogged up the catalytic converter. So it come in my garage after pulling the codes i inspected it and found the cut wires. Repair them try driving it it had no power, so i try loosening the flange and felt the exhaust has lots of back pressure. So i had to do something about the Cat, so i fill the tank with pure distilled alcohol swich off the LPG drove it on the highway for 2 hours flat out and it clear up, now it has more power then ever before, after with only very little alcohol left in the tank i fill it up with petrol to stop the alcohol eating the rubber hoses. Had to talk my self out of a speeding ticket, the cop had a good sence of humor.
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Firstram said:
Not in the shop but there's a machine in the picture along with 15 yards of compact fill. Subbing the slab out and I wont have time to lay the stone until Christmas hiatus, so the heavy lifting is done for now!


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Did you compact that all at once or in layers?
 
woodchucker said:
I'll bet something fell hard against the handwheel causing the bend...
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Agreed, I think that would be about the only way. The shaft itself is solid steel and about 1/2” diameter. The bearing sits to within about an inch or inch-and-a-half of the end of the shaft so the leverage to make the bend wasn’t much at all. The motor case (Bakelite) also has a corner out of it so I’m surmising the whole thing fell from a table or something and landed hard on the wheel. Oddly though, the wheel is completely unscathed!

This is a cast aluminum chassis so the machine isn’t that heavy. I have my doubts I’ll be able to straighten it but I’m going to try anyway. The machine isn’t anything super special so if it doesn’t make it off the operating table I’ll not be heartbroken.
 
I made space! One good side of the effect that the tariff on imported steel is that scrap iron prices have risen to the point where it is profitable for haulers to collect it again. The high price that I had heard was almost $200/ton.

Over the years, I have piled the scrap waiting for such an opportunity to the point where the pile was over eight feet high. That, along with a some old agricultural equipment, made for around 6 tons of scrap. I spent ten days cutting up the machinery into manageable pieces and gathering stray pieces.and I found a scrap hauler who would haul it for free, He and his partner spent two days clearing the scrap and made themselves a couple of good day's wages and I got rid of an unsightly pole of scrap. A win-win.

In the process of disassembling the farm machinery, I saved back some pieces of steel for welding aside machining material. This included shafting from 1" to 1-1/2" in diameter, pipe in different diameters up to 3", various thicknesses of plate, and a 4' length of 1-7/8" x 3" bar stock. I also saved a couple of right angle gear boxes and a 22" flywheel that goes over 200 lbs.

Heavy iron is difficult to find as scrap out here. There is little in the way of heavy manufacturing and suppliers for drops so old agricultural iron is a good source.
 
started a new project today. Been wanting to do this for years. And a recent failure caused me to say... it's time.

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