My Sky Color

A forty something Dad, Husband, Engineer guy living in Western Oregon. Reflections on all things in life. A few technical things and whatever else comes along.

Monday, June 12, 2006

It is Not a Helicopter
But it Wants to be Treated Like One
So I have this track loader. It is a 18000 pound 1950's model kind of machine (International TD9). It is on long term loan which makes the price right. This machine requires a 1 to 1 service to use ratio. Maybe 1 to 2 ratio. One hour service to two hours of operation. It is educational keeping it going. We use it to take out dead trees, trees that are in the way, and move heavy things.
Right now I am working over the gear shift lever and shift forks. When these old machines sit so much in the Pacific Northwest they tend to get rusty, inside and out. This one has had a few problems in its past. My brother-in-law, the loaner, has a tractor parts and repair business. He has parts, lots of them. So I was able to get a new used transmission top and shift lever. I can salvage the best parts from the two and put it together.
I suppose I should tell what happened to require the repair. It got stuck in second gear. The stuck was only in the shift rails and forks. I removed the shifter and tried to shift it with a pry bar. No luck. I then had to remove the top of the transmission. Upon disassembly I discovered that the transmission top had broke sometime in its past. The boss that contains the steering clutch pivot shaft had broken off. Someone had made up a angle iron fix that used two bolts from the cover to hold it down. Someone had built up the shifter tip with brass instead of steel weld. The soft brass had worn off quickly. The detent ball socket had broken in the past and had been brazed up. The hole was far from round.
It is a fun challenge to rebuild and tighten up this old worn stuff. My evenings this week will be filled with mechanicking. DMP

1 Comments:

At 9:23 AM, Blogger Cami said...

Dave, you're my hero in so many ways. I'm glad that something so problematic can make you so happy...

 

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