Driveshaft U-Joint Repair

While getting my old John Deere 420 spruced up for the spring season, I noticed a slightly loose and wobbly universal joint.  This driveshaft is the one that powers the mower deck rather than the hydrostat, so it was pretty easy to get to.

I unbolted the gearbox from the 60" deck and put the whole assembly on the bench to make it easy to work on.  At the same time, I drained the gear lube as good preventative maintenance, and will refill it after my u-joint repair.

Here's my u-joint all pulled apart.  The yoke that attaches to the gearbox is slightly warbled out.  The caps and needle bearings actually look just fine.  And luckily, the yoke further upstream looks fine for now.

Thus, I just have to replace that yoke which seems simple enough.  

But as I did some research and reading, I found I should also replace the cross bearings, too.  It's a cheap piece, and for the work invested, it's the right thing to do.

I didn't buy the yoke through John Deere - - I went aftermarket, and found the Weasler series 6 u-joint is the right fit.  It has the right 1" bore, the 1/4" keyway, but it is missing a hole for the roll pin.  

But, I have the right tools to make a hole for that roll pin.

Enter, the knee mill:

This was a lesson in proper setup.  I had to make sure the hole I drill is perfectly perpendicular, perfectly 90 degrees offset from the keyway, perfectly offset from the end of the yoke, and this hole had to go through the center of the bore.  It's alot to think about.

Straight up and down isn't a problem - I used a machinist's square:

Offset the right distance from the back of the yoke isn't a problem either.  And ensuring center of the bore was easy, too.  I just used an indicator:

But making sure I was 90 degrees off from the keyway is another matter.  How do I make sure that rotational twist is set up?

Assuming the keyway is inline with the cap bearing centers, I clamped a very straight rod across the yoke as such:

Then I simply run a dial indicator across that straight rod and see how flat I am.  This part took quite a bit of trial and error, but I finally got it so my indicator didn't fluctuate much.

With all my dimensions dialed in and set up (about 45 minutes), I started my hole drilling:  First off, I like to start with a center drill to keep the hole properly located.  Otherwise, drill bits tend to "walk":

Follow this up with a proper drill bit.  This is a 0.250" hole for a 0.250" roll pin, but this drill bit I am using is undersized at 0.205" or so:

I like to use a solid carbide endmill to make my hole to size.  By doing this, I'm essentially reaming out my hole for a nice side wall without "following" the previous hole drilled by a drill bit.  This will be perfectly straight with a good surface finish.

Of course, it goes without saying I had to do the 45 minute setup twice - - once for each side.  I couldn't simply drill all the way through.

So the moment of truth:  Do my two different setups produce holes that line up with each other?  Yes, they do!  I was able to insert my carbide endmill through both holes with a very nice sliding fit.  Big sigh of relief.

While I have no pictures pressing on my new bearings and caps, it went OK.  I used a manual Drake press rather than a hydraulic press to give me some "feel".  I also had a buddy help out (Thanks Steve!).  Four hands is much nicer than 2 hands in a job like this.

I gave it a spritz of black satin paint (close enough to John Deere's Black Blitz paint):

The last challenge in this whole ordeal was to remove my stuck woodruff key from the gearbox shaft.  I stumbled across this idea from the internet - drill and tap the key, and pull out the key by pushing a screw into it.  That process worked much better than I thought.  I'll use this way from now on.

New woodruff key inserted after the shaft was cleaned up.

And my new yoke and u-joint slid right on.  As a bonus, my hole I drilled lined up perfectly for a new roll pin.  I'm quite happy with this fix.

Go Kart!

A good buddy of mine gave me his old go kart that they have had family fun with for the past decade.  

I've been wanting a good project for my kids to get some mechanical experience with, and this is the perfect project.  It has lots of things the kids can learn on:  gears and sprockets and chains and linkages and frame welding.  

The kart has a few problems to fix.  Seat belts are held in place with field tile flags:

Chain fell off the sprocket:

Engine runs, but we'll go through it and make sure the preventative maintenance has been performed.  

All in all, it looks like a ton of fun to get the kids in the barn and have them work this go kart back to running condition.  

Vintage Baseboard Heater Restoration

I restored a couple more old 1960s vintage Electromode baseboard heaters.  With tearing out our carpet and showcasing the nice wood floors beneath, and also painting the walls and staining the baseboards, these old heaters looked drastically out of place.

 

They work just fine, and I like them better than a new model from a big box store.  The heating element on these old units are solid and they don't creak and squeak as they heat up and cool down.  It seemed best to freshen them up, too.

They were pretty disgusting.  I think you're supposed to clean out these units every few years, but I don't think they've been cleaned out since they were new in 1964.  

There was quite an accumulation of fuzz and dust.

I really don't know what that fuzz was - probably old  carpet fibers, dust, hair, bug parts, etc.

This is the inside of the heater cover that pops off for easy cleaning.  Obviously it needs it.

This fuzz is pretty easy to remove with a long-haired brush.  I used the little bench-brush that I use to clean off my workbench.  

Prior to paint, there was quite a bit of degreasing to do.  I used a few iterations of soap and degreasers, and on some pieces I opted for simply getting my wire wheel out and taking off that paint down to bare metal.

Paint went on pretty smooth.  The hardest part was waiting for a warm day so the paint would flow.

Not seen below is the heat shield that I painted separately a nice satin black.  It's a good contrast.

Here's a comparison:  Old gross heater below:

...and newly restored heater:

Definitely a big improvement.  I'm quite happy with the results.

The Tilley Hat Guarantee

I bought my old Tilley Hat back in 2003.  I've taken it on all our camping trips, and I have mowed the yard with it for 18 summers.

I used it so much I wore a hole in the crown.  Tilley is known for their "Lifetime Guarantee", but I was pretty skeptical.  Sure, it says "Lifetime Guarantee" to market their product to you, but will they live up to their name and do what they promise?  A lot can change in 18 years.

To honor the guarantee, Tilley asked me to further destroy the hat and cut off the entire crown.  That was a sad moment.

But my skepticism was unfounded.  Tilley came through and honored their guarantee.  I was all ready to shoot back all kinds of arguments, but there was no argument.  I showed them the pictures they asked for, and Tilley said, "No problem!".  I was quite happy!

They were unable to replace my old hat with an exact model and color as what I had, so I had to switch over to an olive drab color. 

But wouldn't you know, I have some other people in the house that have latched onto my new hat.  And anyways, I think this guy makes the new Tilley Hat look pretty good!

So thank you, Tilley, for honoring your Lifetime Guarantee and holding true.  I'm a lifelong customer, and I hope I can get another 18 years of good use out of this next hat.

The Old Jeep

I've been sorting through old photos, and came across a few pictures of my old Jeep that made me think of good old times.

I bought this 1979 CJ5 Jeep from a friend I used to hang out with quite a bit.  It was a real beast - all engine and tires and not much else to it.  The picture below is when I drove it home to the farm in Huntington.  It was July 1, 1995.  I was 20 years old.

I'm not sure who took this picture.  Mom is in the passenger seat.  Dad and younger sister is in the back seat.  Older sister is to the right looking amazed I bought something so silly.

But it was a blast to run around in.  It followed me through college, and my first job, and all the way to my current home.  Here are 2 of my kids having fun in the backseat in May 2010 (before Kiddo #3 came around).

I finally sold it to a buddy back in Huntington.  I drove it up for him - my last ride - one evening.  That day was September 25, 2010.

So 15 years from beginning to end for the Jeep journey.  I'm not sad to see it go, but it sure was fun for that season of life.

More Guinea Pigs

 A few months ago, we added 5 more guinea pigs to the house.  We had one, and added these 5 more, for now a total of 6 guinea pigs.

Kids picked out their names as seen below:

Don't ask me how the kids came up with those names, but by now, the names have kind of stuck and it's difficult to call them anything else.  I hope they don't mind.

My New Workbench

I've been working on a new workbench design for awhile.  

My old workbench is aging.  It is an island workbench made out of 2x4s, and it has a simple 4x8 OSB sheet on top.  I made some crude caster wheels that pop out, but that design never worked very well so I hardly ever moved my island workbench.

The past many weeks, I made a new design and built it up.  I improved the retracting/extending casters, and am very pleased with the results.  I can pull the handle about 12 inches, and that moves the workbench up about half an inch - - that's alot of mechanical advantage.

And once the casters are down, my linkage is locked in place with a 3 point over-center linkage.  It all works just beautifully.

See my video below for how my linkage works: