Overengineering over came.....................

For those that read my post the other day about over engineering I thought I'd post again and show ya'll how I overcame the 2900+ ftlb torque on the JD cylinder rod nut. Basically I fabricated myself a cylinder bench. I'd already fabricated one some years back when Dad and I were working together that had it's own hydraulic power unit and used a cylinder to provide the turning power but it's tied up in the mess associated with Dad and Mom divorcing so I decided to go ahead and make another for myself. Granted it's alot less sophisticated than the first one and is currently limited to 4000 ftlbs by the torque multiplier I've got but I think it'll work for now.....

Like my Grandpa and Dad both used to say, "There's more than one way to skin a cat..."

I don't know why none of the comments I made on the pics showed up but they didn't. Anybody got any ideas on that ????

That said, I plan to fabricate a set of removable legs and get them put on it over the next couple of weeks to get it self supporting instead of setting on the forks of my lift. Too, come warm weather, I want to get it sand blasted and painted since it will probably spend most of it's life outside and out of the way until needed.

When that time comes though I've got splined drive sockets that will handle from a 13/16 hex to a 4" hex so I ought to be able to do about 9 percent of the cylinders on any of my current customers machines. If I can come up with the funds to upgrade to a different multiplier, still with a 1 1/2 square drive but with a 7500 lb output, there will be very few 'normal' sized cylinders I can't do except for the ones with the 'special" rod nuts that aren't hex shaped.

For now though it did what I need for it to do and allowed me to get my customers machine back in service. That's more important to me than it being rusty, and any future engineering nightmares will simply be but another challenge to overcome. But hey, it was built out of stuff I had laying around and about $20 worth of material I picked up at the local scrap yard and that's a marvell of creative engineering in itself....LOL.

Nice job. What's the ratio on the torque multiplier?

Good to see what a guy can do in a pinch! Nice work!

Where do you get/find torque mutipliers? Armand

Are there any pictures aviable of you and your Dads original cylinder bench and did it have an oil containment trough? Do you have plans for an oil containment trough for this bench? I have seen a bench made from a "H" beam that used the web to catch any oil that was left in the cylinder. Armand

Nice...but how do you get to the nut, when there
is a long rod sticking out? Or a clevis or eye
on the end of the rod? A socket won"t work in
such situations!

yes but it's a lot easier if the cats dead first

I never saw spline drive sockets before. Are they common in the heavy equipment repair?

Well done. High torque is difficult to make without a long lever, or Torque multiplier.
Old Bud wheels had torque multiplier wrenches used to make them tight. Jim

Yep - I used one at the tire shop years ago. Put that baby on a nut and hang on. Something "WILL" let go LOL

It's Williams tM 1500 with a ratio of 4 to 1. It's rated at 4000 ft lbs out with around 1100 input.

From what I've seen online they ar more prevelant in iron work than anything else. In my case I used to do alot of work for a local scrap yard and they had a pallet sized box of them, along with a bunch of 1" drive setting in a back room. Given the large sizes in the case I worked out a deal with them to get the whole lot with the thoughts of using them for something like this in the future.

I know there are some odd shaped nuts out there nowdays that a standard socket won't fit having seen a couple of them over the years. In cases like that I can either take the time to fabricate something that will work, if it's feasible to do so, or take them to the local CAT hydraulic shop and let them do the work. Personally I like being able to do as much work in the field as possible because it saves the customer alot of money on the repair since you only have to make one trip to the machine, and in the long run you get them up and going alot faster, and what customer doesn't appreciate that?

Almost forgot. As far as the rod being long, etc I do have a good many of the splined drive sockets that have been cut and 'stretched' so that won't be a problem if I have the right size. Too I can always go back and fabricate a different style head with a hollow center and not use sockets. In that case the part turning the nut is designed like a bearing splitter/puller and basically has a V in both sides to catch the flats on the nut when you tighten the through bolts. That's the way I designed things on bench I made before and I've removed nuts that were well over 3500 ftlbs with it with no problems.

Usually when I do one in the field I pull the rod out and leave the barrel on the machine if at all possible. When I can't I'll usually work the rod back and forth to get all the oil out before I tear it down. That being the case I didn't put a trough on the other one and more than likely won't make one for this one either.

The multiplier was given to me some years back by the same guy in the junk yard that I bought the sockets from. To get one new places like MCmaster Carr, MSC, Grainger, and pretty much any other place that sells tools should either have them or be able to get them. Below is a link to a bunch of places online where you can get one too.
Poke here

I find that mechanical maintenance fellas at fossil fuel power plants custom fabricate some pretty hefty, useful, and dependable tools for their applications. You do pretty good work there Wayne.

Mark

Thank you. It isn't near as pretty or high tech as the other one but it did the job just fine. Having to think on your feet and figure out ways to get the job done, and then turn that idea into reality is one of the things I like most about working in the field.

NCWayne,

That's why I read your posts....always thinking and then doing.

D.

meant as a compliment...