Front Axle Stay Oliver 1850 Adjustable Front End

How much diametrical slop is there supposed to be where the stay attaches to the axle tube?

The portion of the stay that goes through the sleeves on top of the axle is not appreciably worn in diameter, but the sleeve is very sloppy.

Also..................is the stay the only means of controlling fore/aft axle thrust? It appears so.......about the same as my Allis 190XT. The stay on the Allis is the only thing keeping the axle from moving into the bolster.

Thanks
 
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I imagine I've got about .125ish slop. This might be needed to allow the stay to mate with the pivot on the underside of the frame. I'm sure there has to be some slop.

Also, while I'm at it.................. I never thought about this before rebuilding the pivot......... I've had this thing for over 25yrs, and never looked at an identical model with any attention to detail, so I never noticed that my axle stay is on top of the axle,, not on the bottom like all of the pictures I've very recently looked at.


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I just about fell over, and was thinking that someone must have put the axle back on upside down at some point in its life.


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But looking at the geometry of the welded attachments to the axle I'm figuring it's in the proper orientation. The key seems to be the bump stop. Even if the axle were mounted 180* opposite, and flipped end for end, the bump stop still won't be in the right place. Mounting the axle any other way than it is, would allow the axle tube to hit the bolster.
 
[b:96493b4ff9]The mystery is solved :D

I looked at these by year, and in 1965 the stay is mounted like on mine. So...........I guess I gots a 1965 model year ROFLMAO.

Sorta liked it better when I thought it was a 1964 LOL[/b:96493b4ff9]
 
My 1550 is on top like that. When I got it the nuts were frozen but not tight to the sleeve. The hammering wore into the sleeves so when I tightened
them up the center tube pulled back against the bolster. I put a grade 8 washer on the rear pivot to move it forward a bit. Don't remember how much
clearance was in the sleeves but I'd guess 1/16 at most. As long as you can get the nuts tight I wouldn't worry about it.
 
Bailey's 1800c 1963 is like yours on top,
father in law has a 1755, and an 1855
Cockshutt gas, both on the bottom.

Thanks for sharing this, Bailey's is froze
up there too. Gonna be interesting.
GG
 
(quoted from post at 04:25:40 10/01/22) My 1550 is on top like that. When I got it the nuts were frozen but not tight to the sleeve. The hammering wore into the sleeves so when I tightened
them up the center tube pulled back against the bolster. I put a grade 8 washer on the rear pivot to move it forward a bit. Don't remember how much
clearance was in the sleeves but I'd guess 1/16 at most. As long as you can get the nuts tight I wouldn't worry about it.

Hear ya on the hammering thing.


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Mine had gotten so bad, it took out the threads. It took a 3/4 impact to get the nut off.

Part of the problem is that the axle stay is mild steel, which doesn't hold a thread like a harder alloy. But, on the other hand, it's a good thing it is made from mild. It allows you to fix it.

Today I'll slice the thread off, leave enough of a stub to weld back to, and make a new threaded section to weld in. New threads, new nuts, and I'll be golden for another 50yrs I guess.

Thanks for the reply BTW. I was really thinking I had a problem with an upside down axle.
 
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Threaded ends of stay torched off

Before making new ends, the machine work on the stay pivot has to be completed so that I can dry fit the stay while it's mounted on the tractor.



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Turned some locating pins so that the pivot can be indexed on the mill table. The only unworn area on
this part, is the bolt holes, so it's the only game in town. The part has been padded with Ni99 rod. Miserable stuff to work with. At least this stuff is........I've done Nickel rod in the past, and it didn't run like this............Blue Demon rods(shrug) Is what it is. It's only padding.


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I don't like milling a face like this, but it's the only way the part could be set up. Using a 3" long end mill is asking for chatter, unless you do light cuts.

The backside of the pivot was equally worn, so it gets milled tomorrow, then the messy part...........cleaning up the bore. I don't really have a good surface to indicate on, because the bore was worn oval, so it's gonna be a best guess kinda thing when finding center. It's not uber critical though. The pivot pin on the stay is gonna be replaced too, so it can be welded on to match any errors in boring the casting.

I'm sort of working from both ends towards the middle. The pivot will be the benchmark for the threaded ends, and the threaded ends will be the benchmark for the pivot bore, and pivot pin.
 
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The locating pins are used to fixture the part for boring.


[/img:c934d70237]
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Near the end of the boring process, the only way to tell if you'd completely cleaned up the bore was to use ink, and keep cutting until the ink was completely removed.



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The line on the bore tells ya that there's a huge amount of spring in the tool. It could have taken off more material with a spring pass.

This has been a real PITA to machine. The Nickel tends to push the tool off, while the cast iron cuts like butter. Rather than do a spring cut, I'll use a light dusting with a flap wheel to bring the Nickel down to size before the bushing is pressed in. I really hate this stuff............... I would have been happier with a Bronze buildup, but feel that Bronze won't take the pounding this thing undergoes.
 
Nothing has looked right on this entire job. It looks like everything doesn't line up. It's the usual problem when working with a casting. The actual shape of the casting can be different than the machined surfaces.


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The bolt holes never lined up with the pads on the underside of the casting,, which throws the entire thing off when looking at the other side. It's almost like an optical illusion. You're convinced that your work is completely off center, or not true. A check with straightedges tells you otherwise, but it's a total PITA. It's the reason that everything had to come off those holes. There's no other machined surface on the pivot to index to.


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A quick dry fit to see where I'm at.



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You're fighting for every inch on this piece. I guess it is what it is. They designed it this way.



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It looks as if I've built this face up too much, and will have to mill it back to what it looked like coming off the tractor.



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After the fact, I was able to come up with a pic of a NOS pivot. It appears that my pivot hadn't worn appreciably on the back face. I'll cut it down to match. No biggy I guess. It's tough to work with worn parts........you don't know what they looked like when new.

I had to remove .119 to clean up the bore. This gives me room for a thicker walled bushing, which combined with a smaller pin than OEM, should give me more meat in the wear area. I'm downsizing the pin to 1.00 from 1.125



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Should have the threaded ends ready to weld on by morning. Burn a little midnite oil LOL
 
They didn't get done by morning...........if fact, they took a ton of time to finish.


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Anyways, they're DONE
:roll:

I'm 86ing the original lock nut design, and going with jamb nuts this time around. Lock nuts are worthless, and in fact are what ate up the bulk of the sleeves on the axle.

Couldn't source any fine thread 1 3/8, so went with coarse. I don't believe the tractor will be able to tell the difference.
 
Its coming together, and this is where it gets to be a nail biter.

Everything done to the stay depends on the accuracy of the axle pivot rebuild.

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Been a long strange trip.

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To get here, the pivot needed to be trimmed.


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About .125 had to be removed from the thrust face. This goes back to not knowing what the part looked like when new. It's sort of a detective story I guess.


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This just about caused a heart attack. The stay pivot pin didn't line up.



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However(Thank God), it turns out that the pivot is fine. It's the stay that's off. The wear on the collars which locate the stay on the axle tube are badly worn. So.....when everything is tight, as it is now, the difference in wear patterns on each individual collar throws everything off.


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As it sits now, for everything to fit, the axle is as far forward as it can be. It almost touches the front of the bolster pivot. There's 3/8 clearance, and it's used it all up. To correct this, and bring the axle a bit further back, will either require trimming a bit more off the stay pivot thrust face, or moving the collars on the stay(which have to be replaced anyways). Remember........I'm still looking at making a new stay pivot pin, because it's worn. I need room to compensate for that wear on the new part.

So, at this point, we're talking about 1/4". It has to come from somewhere. Today I guess we'll find it
 
The collars that locate the stay on the axle are badly worn.

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I like to use a scarfing tip to remove metal, and welds. It saves a lot of grinding.

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Hit it with a cup brush to remove the slag, and you can see very little finish work is left.

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Rounded out the afternoon making the new stay pivot pin. Unlike the pin for the axle, which was made from Stressproof.........the pivot pin for the axle stay is made of 1018 because it has to be welded to the round stock. You can't weld Stressproof.

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This is the last of the machine work.

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Bushing for the stay pivot.

The pin is .998, the major diameter for the 1-14 nut. The finish bore on the bushing is 1.003 A clearance of .005 has always worked for me. .002 would be grand, but unless someone gifts me a spiral grease groove cutter, it ain't happenin'.

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And a bit o' heat on the casting.

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It went together harder than I expected.......sorta. I believe I mentioned how the two materials(cast iron and Nickel) machined with my less than rigid boring head. The Nickel pushed the tool off, while the cast iron cut normally. I figured I'd have some problems...........and I did. Had I not hit the Ni rod deposits lightly with a die grinder, it would have been worse.
 
I truly dislike the Ni rod. I wish I could have brazed the thing instead, but it's too soft for a wear surface.

The upshot..............I lost a few thousands during the press fit.

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And I wound up with a taper to boot
:roll:

No point in crying about it. Rummaged around, and found an adjustable reamer, and got to it.

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Not a pleasant way to spend an afternoon. I figure I adjusted the reamer around 15-20 times to gradually take the taper out, and true the bore. Lovely.

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And, once again..........life is grand.
 
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Last thing on the punch list, which is a good thing. I'm sick of lookin' at this thing.

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The endplay turned out spot on. With a 1-14 nut, and the 6 divisions of castellation, I'm dead nutz on. Life's slowly gettin' better.

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From here on out, it's strictly fitup, welding, and probably some flame straightening(heat shrinking). This is where the rubber meets the road. I'f I'm off a bit, it all goes down the crapper.

But I'd have to be off by quite a bit for it to be as bad as it was.

https://youtu.be/hA9puNmMOSE
 
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The stay is dry fitted to come up with the measurements to cut the threaded stubs to length.

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It's put in a jig to line it up. I drag these out every few years it seems. Handy to have.

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Time to fire up the hot glue gun. (The ladder is there for an elbow brace)
 
I guess a little bit of a back story here................

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Like that stuck rod?? ROFLMAO

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Now, there's nothing special about a buncha 7018 stringers. What is special, is the fact that I've been near on blind for over 5yrs, until I recently had cataract surgery. It had gotten so difficult to weld, that I'd just about given it up. All I could see was a bright hazy blur. Welding was by "feel" for all those years. It's nice to be able to see a puddle again. The eye doc said my sight had degenerated to 20/200 in my left eye.

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On something like this, I like to weld it fully out without stopping. Welding on alternating sides of the piece keeps it straight. Round stock builds a lot of heat, more so than plate. You can see the heat input with that heat signature on the threaded end. LOL
 

I am enjoying this thread. I would've just let it ride until failure then find a salvage, but I must compliment your steadfast determination.
 
https://youtu.be/I1bDv9xVba8

No pics, but one. Get near the end, and it's just a get it done deal.

Although..............I like to poke the wire welder guys a bit :D The one pic from the day.

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Need to get into a tight spot to lay a tack in........Nothing beats stick.
 
I'm sitting here, after closing out another one.

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I like to be reminded of my Father's world, when we made what we use.

I still crank out the work, even with a little tiny shop. We just keep on keepin' on. Next time you eat a steak, thank folks like us.
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The old gal gets to work tomorrow. Need to bring in what's left on the hay meadow. Cutting dead grass, but it is what it is. Cows will eat paper when they're hungry. Hell.................it's Oklahoma(shrug) Not big time, but we're still solvent.

Gotta quickie deal coming up. Making high cut shoes for a Krone disc mower.

I couldn't do it without K'kins (Kelly-kins). She's my rock.
 

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