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Tractor Repairs Clever Ideas Needed


rockmeupto125

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I was outside and didn't want to spend time typing on my phone.

 

This is my aging but willing Satoh compact tractor.  The early models had a typical conical end on the spindle with the same clamp on the steering knuckle.  I guess they had problems with slippage, so Satoh adopted the splined shaft and arm.

 

This is not a classic device, although it qualifies as an antique.  The splined knuckles, when they are available, are cubic money. 

 

I've thought of many solutions, and have seen quite a few as well.

 

SwampNut's suggestion is near the top in my opinion. And I'm not above welding it together.  Or drilling through it, but there's not enough meat to put a really strong locator in there.  So I threw this up to get all the backyard engineering thoughts.

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The material concerns me.  Aluminum may compress easily and just squirt out, maybe.  Another idea would be the same in galv steel.  Like a piece of rain gutter or whatever.  No matter what, lube the hell out of it to improve conformity and prevent galvanic corrosion between dissimilar metals.

 

 

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JBweld might do it.  I'd open the clamp up, clean and coat both sides, wait for the JB to cure, then tighten.

 

If you can open the clamp up, jam some thin steel in there, and retighten it'll probably work.  Aluminum might also, and it'll be easier to force into shape.  You may want to grind a little bevel into the bottom of the hole, maybe the top of the shaft also, to help squeeze down whatever metal you stick in there.

 

If you don't care at all that it becomes a bitch to disassemble, a weld should do the trick.  Since the bottom probably isn't accessible it might wobble/flex enough to eventually crack the weld up top.  If it's cast iron, hard to tell, then welding might not work.  If heat soaking the parts isn't an issue you could braze it which should be able to fill the entire area instead of just a weld bead on top.

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32 minutes ago, rockmeupto125 said:

Did soda cans always have a plastic coating?

I assume they would have had some kind of barrier, but don't know.  It should be fairly easy to try the can shim and I doubt any harm could come from trying.

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I know the clamp isn't gonna open much without a shitload of force, but anything you can get from it will help.  You can probably hammer in a small cold chisel and it'll stay in place keeping the clamp open.

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It would still be a bit sloppy, but it would stop it from stripping and freely rotating while remaining removable.

 

The more I think about it the more I lean towards JBweld over all the other options.

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Yeah, a little heat and a cold chisel would be a necessity.   I'm not going to be able to open the clamp enough so there is a complete round.  I'll get it partially open and will have to feed a shim around each spline as I gently tap it in, probably taking a couple hours and blueing the air a bit.  The idea of using aluminum is that I won't be able to shape steel in that limited area to fit in the

 

Well, If I'm taking the bolt out anyway, I could just pull the steering knuckle off the spindle, wrap the spindle and punch the shim into the valleys with a screwdriver.  Or just make a cone to guide the male into the female and brute force it together as I would anyway.  Hammering on the top would keep the shim in place. Guess I need to ruin a feeler gauge to figure out how thick I need to go.

 

9 hours ago, XXitanium said:

...tires are in need of upgrades?

 

Which part of them is not holding air?

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11 hours ago, rockmeupto125 said:

Not a concern, its a spindle in a bushing with a grease fitting.

 

Did soda cans always have a plastic coating?  I do not remember that from the the days when we used soda cans for rod bearings....

 

No, that's why they used to put aluminum into your body.

 

10 hours ago, XXitanium said:

...tires are in need of upgrades?

 

Tire cupping should be considered as a possible root cause.

 

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Here's what's left of a can dipped in a hydroxide solution to remove the aluminum.

 

 

 

The liner is either BPA or lacquer.  Yet another reason why sodas are bad for you.  We figured out we needed to protect people from drinking aluminum.  Switched to feeding them BPA.  50 years later...well...that was very bad too.

 

After the hydroxide experiment, you probably shouldn't drink the cola.

 

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Trying to insert thin shims seems like it would be impossible to get a good tight filling of shims without them just getting jammed and bent.  I was thinking you'd lift the piece off, hold the shim(s) on the shaft, then jam/beat the part down over them, then tighten the bolt.  If the female splined hole is square on the bottom you might need to put a bevel on it to help it form the shims rather than cut them or push them down.  I think the ideal shimming would be one piece with the opening at the opening where the clamp is, but separate pieces could work too.

 

My other thought was steel wire strands pushed into the gaps, but I have no idea where to find straight steel wire strands.  Ohh shit, MIG wire!  You might be able to stuff enough in there with the clamp open so that it clamps down tight.  If they loosen up later you can just add more.  I'd go with the thinnest which I believe is .023.  Just realized, I have some straight thin hard stainless wire used for making fishing leaders for toothy fish that I'm pretty sure is even thinner, but I think you could get a good amount of .023 in there.  If you want some of the leader wire and/or MIG wire I can put some in an envelope.  From old memory I'm guessing the ss wire is around .015.

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39 minutes ago, SwampNut said:

Here's what's left of a can dipped in a hydroxide solution to remove the aluminum.

 

 

 

The liner is either BPA or lacquer.  Yet another reason why sodas are bad for you.  We figured out we needed to protect people from drinking aluminum.  Switched to feeding them BPA.  50 years later...well...that was very bad too.

 

After the hydroxide experiment, you probably shouldn't drink the cola.

 

I think the liner is more about protecting the can from the coke rather than the human from the can. 😎

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4 hours ago, rockmeupto125 said:

Yeah, a little heat and a cold chisel would be a necessity.   I'm not going to be able to open the clamp enough so there is a complete round.  I'll get it partially open and will have to feed a shim around each spline as I gently tap it in, probably taking a couple hours and blueing the air a bit.  The idea of using aluminum is that I won't be able to shape steel in that limited area to fit in the

 

If you can find a crimping tool that has spacing that closely matches the spline spacing, you could make a corrugated shim to wrap around.

5-Blade Sheet Metal Crimper | C5R | Malco Products

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