Quick fixes on tractors

[Tgrasher]

Every tractor I own was used, probably by more than one owner, before I got ahold of them. All have had repairs that reflect a hurry up job, with no care to keep the tractor original. The latest tractor I've purchased from a daughter, whose dad has advanced Alzheimers, and no one knew any history on the tractor, other than it had set for 10 years. It has a few repairs that make me think somebody liked to use his welder. Here's a picture of the front wheel axle repair. Any suggestions on what to do with this and do you have a quick fix repair that somebody did,

that made you wonder what they were thinking.

 

[tomtinker]

That's what some people call a jam nut application. Maybe the castle nut went beyond the cotter pin hole.

 

[Janicholson]

Every tractor I own was used, probably by more than one owner, before I got ahold of them. All have had repairs that reflect a hurry up job, with no care to keep the tractor original. The latest tractor I've purchased from a daughter, whose dad has advanced Alzheimers, and no one knew any history on the tractor, other than it had set for 10 years. It has a few repairs that make me think somebody liked to use his welder. Here's a picture of the front wheel axle repair. Any suggestions on what to do with this and do you have a quick fix repair that somebody did, View attachment 69965that made you wonder what they were thinking.

Washer on the wrong side of the castle nut! JIM

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

Every tractor I own was used, probably by more than one owner, before I got ahold of them. All have had repairs that reflect a hurry up job, with no care to keep the tractor original. The latest tractor I've purchased from a daughter, whose dad has advanced Alzheimers, and no one knew any history on the tractor, other than it had set for 10 years. It has a few repairs that make me think somebody liked to use his welder. Here's a picture of the front wheel axle repair. Any suggestions on what to do with this and do you have a quick fix repair that somebody did, that made you wonder what they were thinking.

I never wonder what they were thinking. Very rarely if ever are such repairs made out of malicious incompetence, meaning they are purposely trying to make a bad repair. Time and money are the major driving factors in field repairs. Farming wasn't always the lucrative enterprise it is today, and you didn't always have the money to fix everything "the right way."

To fix that you'll probably need to find a good used spindle, probably new bearings and seal, if not an entire hub.

 

[jon f mn]

If that's on there because the threads are stripped I gave gotten a coarse thread die and re threaded them and they held. The coarse threads are deeper than fine.

 

[rustred]

Them spindle threads don’t usually stick out that far to screw another nut on. Lookin pretty dry in there also. Maybe he just ran out of cotter pins and had no 4 inch nails. Lol.

 

[stevob671]

Sometimes you make a quick field repair because rains coming and hays wind-rowed. Then ya kind of forget about it. Fixed a droopy snoot on a mounted picker with a vice grip one year 8 miles from home. 12 years later when we scrapped out the picker, found my vice grip. Immediately remembered where and when it broke. In the OP wheel nut, must not have greased the bearings very often.

 

[timcasbolt]

I've fixed stuff in a hurry that I'm not proud of. Then fixed it again when I was busier.

 

[M-MAN]

My guess is it used to have the two piece nut and he replaced it with a castle nut. When doing that you need a couple extra of the big washers with a keyway notch. Been there done that but I found the extra washers.

 

[ADB-Ia]

Sometimes you make a quick field repair because rains coming and hays wind-rowed. Then ya kind of forget about it. Fixed a droopy snoot on a mounted picker with a vice grip one year 8 miles from home. 12 years later when we scrapped out the picker, found my vice grip. Immediately remembered where and when it broke. In the OP wheel nut, must not have greased the bearings very often.

I had the main drive shaft on my bean head break one afternoon. I had the dealer order one for me to pick up at the depot in Moline the next morning. Rain was moving in that night so I pulled the shaft out, threw it on the shop floor and welded the broken end back on - just butt welded, not grooved out and welded up with multiple passes like you would for a long term repair. The shaft ran perfectly straight (more luck than skill) and I finished the field that night. Next morning I ran and got the new shaft which is still laying on the shelf in my shop 12 years later. Probably about 8,000 acres on a weld that I hoped would run a couple hours.

 

[jwal10]

Became a permanent temporary fix, when it held. Just kept running it or quit using it....James

 

[560Dennis]

Depression innovation !

 

[RJKeith]

Every tractor I own was used, probably by more than one owner, before I got ahold of them. All have had repairs that reflect a hurry up job, with no care to keep the tractor original. The latest tractor I've purchased from a daughter, whose dad has advanced Alzheimers, and no one knew any history on the tractor, other than it had set for 10 years. It has a few repairs that make me think somebody liked to use his welder. Here's a picture of the front wheel axle repair. Any suggestions on what to do with this and do you have a quick fix repair that somebody did, View attachment 69965that made you wonder what they were thinking.

One thing to consider is when did the tractor break. Likely not at the end of fall harvest when one had all winter in the shop to fix it, but more likely in the middle of something that had to get done before weather, like hay on the ground and a storm coming. I try not to be too harsh on those that do such things.

 

[Tgrasher]

The kind of fixes I have come across and are referring to are: welded seat mechanism because the rubber torsion spring gave way, holes cut in side panels to access sediment bowl shut off or wires behind dash, shortened drawbar by cutting off the front and blowing a new hole in it for the belly pin, lengthening the drawbar by welding a sandwiched piece into it, drilling out front wheel lug bolt holes, after stripping the originals out, and putting bolts with nuts on to hold the rim in place, putting a steel bushing in the steering wheel column and welding it, instead of the original bronze, etc. The NF front axle in the picture had the castle nut stripped so the repair was to weld a piece of smaller threaded stock on the end and use the castle nut and four washers to shim the bearing tight. The normal notched bearing washer was all that sealed the bearing. All the things I've mentioned, and there are more, I just can't remember them all, I have repaired. I'm no expert at any of the skills that they require but I trudge through them until I have them fixed right and as original as I can make them. I like a tractor to be as it came from the factory and take pride in making it so.

 

[J Hamilton]

I don't think I've ever owned a disk that didn't have the nut welded on the gang shaft. A few times while doing an engine rebuild, I've found strips of an aluminum can under a rod bearing. Needless to say the bearing was spun, rod was junk but luckily the crank was able to be turned. Once I had a throttle return spring break on an old dump truck and used a bungee cord on it to get back to the shop.

 

[moresmoke]

Especially on old tractors, there was a point in time when they had virtually no value. Some of the people that owned them could barely afford that, and there was no point in investing more than absolutely necessary to get by.

In the OPs wheel spindle example, if the tractor was worth $500 when it needed fixing, it would have cost probably $200 to have the spindle welded and rethreaded. No point in throwing good money at it when not necessary. It obviously served out the old man’s needs and is not his problem anymore.

Ive run across a tractor that had seized a piston in the engine. They torched off the rod and ran it as a 3 cylinder for many years. Yeah, it didn’t run the greatest, but it still cultivated the owners garden and put food on the table. Sometimes the money is just not there to fix things right or buy a new one.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

Depression innovation !

So very true. Two entire generations of farmers were affected by the Depression, the ones that actually lived through the Depression and the "Depression babies" like my Dad and his siblings. My grandparents literally saved everything and didn't spend a dime they absolutely did not have to.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

The kind of fixes I have come across and are referring to are: welded seat mechanism because the rubber torsion spring gave way, holes cut in side panels to access sediment bowl shut off or wires behind dash, shortened drawbar by cutting off the front and blowing a new hole in it for the belly pin, lengthening the drawbar by welding a sandwiched piece into it, drilling out front wheel lug bolt holes, after stripping the originals out, and putting bolts with nuts on to hold the rim in place, putting a steel bushing in the steering wheel column and welding it, instead of the original bronze, etc. The NF front axle in the picture had the castle nut stripped so the repair was to weld a piece of smaller threaded stock on the end and use the castle nut and four washers to shim the bearing tight. The normal notched bearing washer was all that sealed the bearing. All the things I've mentioned, and there are more, I just can't remember them all, I have repaired. I'm no expert at any of the skills that they require but I trudge through them until I have them fixed right and as original as I can make them. I like a tractor to be as it came from the factory and take pride in making it so.

Yup, all repairs to get you back in the field as quickly and inexpensively as possible. The work took priority and pride was a secondary concern (and a deadly sin as I understand it).

Think about it this way: If those repairs were not made that way back in the day, you'd have nothing to do now.

 

[showcrop]

Here is what I found after removing the hub and bearings:

The bearing race had been broken by forcing it over the weld. There was little left of it. There was no surface for the seal to seal to either. I had to source a new piece of smooth tubing to have a seal.

 

[Fred Werring]

Every tractor I own was used, probably by more than one owner, before I got ahold of them. All have had repairs that reflect a hurry up job, with no care to keep the tractor original. The latest tractor I've purchased from a daughter, whose dad has advanced Alzheimers, and no one knew any history on the tractor, other than it had set for 10 years. It has a few repairs that make me think somebody liked to use his welder. Here's a picture of the front wheel axle repair. Any suggestions on what to do with this and do you have a quick fix repair that somebody did, View attachment 69965that made you wonder what they were thinking.

Wonder if there's enough thread on there to use a clamping nut.

Wheel Clamp Lock nut

As far as farmerized fixes...before I learned about clamp nuts, stripped the spindle on my 5000, which was my only tractor at the time. Wound up getting the preload set on the bearings, then a few tack welds to hold the nut in place. Been there 25 years now.