Tale of the Tail Wheel

or . . . Shopsmith saves the day.

In scrounging around for a new longer tail wheel post for my MF Cutter, I pulled a GM rear axle out of my Lego pile.

It was just a hair too big for the retaining collars and yoke so after moaning to myself for a bit, I decided to lay the shopsmith down (It's usually upright as a drill press) and try one of the grinding disks that came with that big old 1/2" grinder I bought last year.

I cut off the splines and left the axle long for now and slowly rotated it against the stone. It worked like a hot damn!!

I just sold one like that, my dad's from the 50s for $50 to a good friend.

(quoted from post at 14:22:27 06/23/16) I just sold one like that, my dad's from the 50s for $50 to a good friend.

Click to expand...

Nice gift!
My dad "should" have had one . . . he would have loved it more than any tool he had. Wish he was here to see it.

This one is a Shopsmith E, made within the first 3 months of 1948 . . . two years after I was born.

Thanks,
Terry

Cool use for that tool..

I like a tight tail,...............wheel....

I have fugged with the tail wheel on my cutter this week... Cut out the P.O.S. pipe the tail wheel wheel pivot pin runs in bored out a 2-1/8" piece of shaft that the 1 1/4" shaft turns in and said "Waller that out beach"...

Took the wheel off and bored out the hub for a 1" shaft for it to turn on... I have the tightest tail,..............wheel around.....

(quoted from post at 19:31:05 06/23/16)
Cool use for that tool..

I like a tight tail,...............wheel....

I have fugged with the tail wheel on my cutter this week... Cut out the P.O.S. pipe the tail wheel wheel pivot pin runs in bored out a 2-1/8" piece of shaft that the 1 1/4" shaft turns in and said "Waller that out beach"...

Took the wheel off and bored out the hub for a 1" shaft for it to turn on... I have the tightest tail,..............wheel around.....

Click to expand...

Thanks!
Necessity, the mother of invention again.

Lucky you with a metal lathe for boring. Sounds like a great sleeve for your pivot pin. Putting a grease nipple in it?

Now I've got a great hard steel pin and my yoke is Ok but oval'd out at the top and bottom from tons of use and too small of an old pin . . . so my pin is snug in the middle of it at least.

Remember you guys saying I needed more height adjustment?
Do you think it is long enough now?

Thanks,
T

As far as the current excess length goes . . .

I was checking my stash of heavy collars today . . .
and found one exactly the same ID as these MF locking collars.
It's 1/4" deeper than those and has no lock screw.

So I'm thinking I'll make a brace from the deck up to that collar that the pin can ride in.
making like an upper stabilizer bearing utilizing that excessively tall tail pin.
It will run truer than it will with the funneled slop in my yoke.

But if I left the heavy pin real tall, with no support the side to side would be too wearing on the yoke.

Now there's a tall tale.

TT

Scratch that last bit of B.S.

I don't know what I'm talking about till I put it back together.

I'm guessing Ferguson yoke setup but someone else made up the pin and forks. One fork is a bit bent . . . maybe get my blacksmith friend to flatten and square it up.

I did not have the original tail wheel for this mower the original was a had a bowed frame not a square frame like our's. The tube had a bit of ware and the tail wheel frame would hit the support frame when I backed it up :x

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It was look'N me straight in the eye but at that time I was to lazy to go after it...

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What I spec the original looked like... I had to make another adjustment bracket also the adjuster holes fell in the wrong place they were not to my like'N...

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/grd/5650383318.html

Hobo,

You wrote:
[color=darkblue:015c7a849f]I did not have the original tail wheel for this mower the original was a had a bowed frame not a square frame like our's. The tube had a bit of ware and the tail wheel frame would hit the support frame when I backed it up.[/color:015c7a849f]

I see . . . and the pin wasn't tall enough so that you could add a spacer between the wheel forks and the Yoke.

I'm thinking of putting that extra collar I have, underneath the yoke like a thrust bearing (between the lower locking collar and the yoke)

[color=darkblue:015c7a849f]What I spec the original looked like... I had to make another adjustment bracket also the adjuster holes fell in the wrong place they were not to my like'N..[/color:015c7a849f].

I see how most setups utilize the entire tail wheel mounting frame for the height adjustment. Nice looking equipment you have!

My next problem needing your input is my wheel axle.
The two bearings were seized up solid and the axle was turning in the inner race. Two grooves the same width as the inner bearing race had worn over half way worn through the softer material of the axle.

So i have two new sealed bearings with the correct OD for the outer race fit in the hub, but I think I need an axle that will be tight in the inner race and haven't got one together yet. If I had one, I could drive the bearing on one end of the axle, install the axle and then push the other bearing on and into it's recess. I'm also wondering about threaded rod with nuts sandwiching the inner races . . . (?)

Any ideas for tightening up a slightly smaller axle in the inner races? Brass buildup maybe?

Here's a photo of my tail wheel when I got it.

Thanks,
T

Sorry . . . the axle WASN"T turning in the inner races, the seized inner races were just eating through it.

I would have thought the axle would have been a common big arse bolt.

My hub did not have bearings it's a sold cast iron hub with a hole drilled for the axle. I did not understand why you needed such a long shaft till you posted the pix...

(quoted from post at 13:33:10 06/24/16)
I would have thought the axle would have been a common big arse bolt.

Click to expand...

You're right, it was a big bolt.
What I'm getting at is how to stop the inner race from turning
and eating its way through the bolt as you see it did. But the bearing WAS totally seized so maybe that's the only reason why it happened.

So maybe even though the axle/bolt is loose within the inner race, when I squeeze it all tight and tighten the allen screws in the small collars up against the inner races, the inner races will stay fixed with the axle.

Nuttin last forever I guess the bolt is the sacrificial part I would not let it bother me... How much do you plan to use it a year.. I use mine about 8hr a year I thought the worn out tube that was on it would last and it may have if I had the correct combination. You could add a grease fitting to the hub and keep it greased :?:
That's what I think got mine either it was never greased are it quit taking grease...

Thanks for the reminder, I've got better things to do with my time.

Hmmmm. . . what else can I create in a musical vein . . .

Did you know that Les Paul's first recording studio turn table was a Cadillac flywheel? :?

(quoted from post at 05:34:51 06/24/16)
I did not have the original tail wheel for this mower the original was a had a bowed frame not a square frame like our's. The tube had a bit of wear and the tail wheel frame would hit the support frame when I backed it up

Click to expand...

I have that same rear frame assembly on my cutter. How much slop does the wheel support shaft have? I'm looking at a way to tighten mine up since it just flops around.

AS of now none

I was told to get a piece of 1 1/4 ID sec 80 pipe... Let me clarify what I used now that I am not haft a sleep.

I stopped by a local machine shop and picked up a 4" piece of 3/8 thick wall pipe that had a 1.240 ID hole in it, I clucked it up in a lathe and bored it out to 1-1/4".



I took a piece of 1/4" plate and cut it to fit around the pipe to give it extra support ( those tubes are know to break loose from the frame)

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I ran across this today while I was blade shopping.

http://www.ruralking.com/a-frame-assembly-4-6.html

There are some steel suppliers on the internet that sell DOM round steel tube. What you need is a chunk of 2"OD x .375 wall X 1.25 ID. It won't be cheap, probably $25 for 6",plus shipping. still beats buying the whole 'A' arm.

TOH could fix you up all you would need to do it cut the old one out and weld the new parts in. He would need to know the length of the original tube and the OD of the shaft. If you wanted support plates like I added to the bottom of mine he would need a little more info.

I don't think one like I made is gonna waller out anytime soon My Shaft had some ware but it was mostly in the middle it will hold more grease...

301.655.0631
[email protected]

Hobo,

You wrote:

I took a piece of 1/4" plate and cut it to fit around the pipe to give it extra support ( those tubes are know to break loose from the frame)

I used the same idea of a shim to take up the wobble in my rear blade. The shim is in two halves and comes together around the inner pipe and the outer pipe rides on it.

Hobo,

Got my tail wheel finished and back on.
The little locking collars on the axle allow for bearing adjustment and keep the inner race from turning on the smaller axle bolt.
Feels good all around.

Now for a chain skirt like yours.
Thanks for the input.
Terry

COOL.. I was not done with mine it would make a loud bang every now and again I found a bent blade... I should have caught it somehow a a few big pieces of concrete found there way onto a vacant lot I have in town.. :twisted: