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I’m told that the artwork for these stickers is nearly finished so I’ve taken a little time out to fettle up a headstock to put the first one onto. I had the idea that I would make up a display of all of the Trusty tools that fit to the headstock, so this is the first stage.
I don’t know about you, but it’s ages since I’ve tried to get one of these apart and it certainly brought back many unhappy memories struggling with this one. All of the bolt-on parts came off easily but where I always struggle is getting the pin out of the front casting to separate the front from the back. The pin normally rusts itself to the casting and you just cannot get enough heat into it to get the pin to move- until now, that is! Back to the farm with a few wooden pallets I went, filled up the oil drum with them, chucked a bit of old hay in to get it started then go for a cup of tea. By the time I came back it had settled down to a lovely red glow all around the drum with a thick covering of hot embers across the bottom. I put the headstock in (minus the aluminium cast pieces) and filled it up again with more pallet wood. After a short while the whole assembly was glowing red so I left it to burn out and cool down. That night the pin came out with a bit of persuasion from the lump hammer but it wasn’t easy- the technique is to knock it backwards and forwards, dosing it with oil and WD40 every time. Eventually it moves more and more until it comes out completely.
I have now got it to the paint stage, so not long now!
PS Normally using this technique I pull the red hot metal out of the fire and plunge it into the stream to crack the rust seal by using differential expansion/contraction. This works well if you have a steel fabrication but I didn’t trust it with cast iron; you only break it once!
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This is turning into a marathon rebuild! The castor wheel is now done and awaiting a coat of paint.
If you look on one of the previous pictures you will see all of the parts laid out and the one troublesome bit- the leg- which had originally had a circular end turned on it for the castor wheel fork to rotate on. In it’s long working life the circular end had worn to a barrel shape and the holes in the fork had worn oversize. To remedy this I firstly filed four flats on the circular end of the leg to reduce it down to good metal, then filed it circular using the centre of each flat as a datum. That took a day of drudgery with a hand file but I simply couldn’t see any other way of doing it. Normally half an hour with the lathe would have had it sorted but that wasn’t an option.
In a similar way I filed the oversize holes in the fork so they were circular then measured the two sizes- the leg I finished down to 3/4″ diameter with a hand file again and the fork was opened up very slightly to 1″ with a blacksmith drill bit in the pillar drill. I then managed to buy a steel tube with outside diameter 1″ and bored the centre hole out to 3/4″ using the pillar drill. I left the leg a couple of thou oversize so I could heat up the tube, knock it over the leg and when it cooled it is now fixed firmly with no fastenings needed. I did file the outside down a little so that it slid nicely over the fork, then drilled a hole for the split pin so that the fork doesn’t fall off the end every time I pick up the handlebars.
That sorted that problem out, now for the wheel! Another trip to the steelholders got me a length of thick-walled steel tube which I opened out to 3/8″ internal diameter to take the centre bolt. The outside diameter was 3/4″ so I opened up the centre hole of the wheel (I couldn’t face doing any more hand filing) and the wheel fitted over the new axle. All I had to do then was to make up some new spacers to put either side of the wheel and the job was done; I could have used a stack of washers instead but I wanted it to look more like it would when it was new.
Next job is to make some new hook bolts to attach the frame to the tractor. That is going to be next week to give me time over this weekend to fettle an old headstock ready for the new Greyhound stickers when I get them; not long now!
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To say that I’m surprised would be an understatement. After 24hrs most of the rust and orange paint had come off and was floating on the surface with the bubbles of hydrogen above the positive electrode. There was a large-ish patch of orange paint at the bottom of the wheel so I changed the hanger around so that the hanger (which is conducting the electricity) was right next to the patch that I wanted to sort. After another 24hrs it was gone, lifted off and swimming about in the bubbles. All I had to do was to wash thoroughly in the sink (waiting until Mrs. Geoff had gone out) with hot water and washing up liquid, then rinse off with water and scrubbing with a nail brush. Excellent results and I would thoroughly recommend it, especially with the larger parts that would otherwise have cost a fortune to soak in acid.
The only thing to be cautious about is the hydrogen that it gives off; we all know how flammable hydrogen is (if you don’t, watch the video of The Hindenberg zeppelin) so you really need to do it in a well ventilated place. My garage is ideal because it’s so draughty it never gets a lethal build up.
The wheel is now painted in red oxide to stop it rusting. I will attend to the axle and centre hole once the paint is dry but I didn’t want to undo all the work that I’d done getting rid of the rust.
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More problems to solve this time.
I was lying in bed about a week ago dreaming (as you do) and something occurred to me about the cultivator. As it is pulled through the ground it will keep getting deeper and deeper unless it is fitted with a depth wheel to oppose the downward force. Also, because it is bolted rigidly to the rear of the chassis of the tractor it will tilt as the tractor wheels encounter bumps and hollows; two depth wheels at each end of the frame will not work and the only practical solution is to have one wheel right in the middle with a tine behind it to take out the wheel marks.
Luckily I have a few spare legs off implements that I’ve bought over the years so I found a nice one with a square shaft that would match the rest of the tines. It had a castor at the bottom and a four spoked cast iron wheel- great!
After the last batch of brick cleaner was disposed of- it had got to the stage where it didn’t really work any more- I thought I’d try a different approach. Watching Combat Dealers one afternoon they used electrolysis on some very rusty pieces of military equipment, so I thought I’d give it a try.
A 2-gallon bucket of water, pour in some bicarbonate of soda, put an electrode down one side of the bucket and suspend the workpiece in the solution (preferably from something that doesn’t conduct electricity like a piece of wood).
A battery charger is the only technical thing needed as you need to pass about 2 amps through the solution; the positive lead attaches to the electrode down the side of the bucket and the negative to the workpiece. The only thing you have to watch for is to make sure the area is well ventilated because the solution gives off hydrogen which is highly inflammable.
I must say that it worked very well and the whole lot cleaned up nicely after an overnight bath in the solution. It was then that I found a lot more problems that had been hidden under the rust. Somebody had repaired the wheel and there was a lot of welding around the rim but the worst was the cast iron carrier which incorporated a bearing surface. It had worn down to a taper and the hole in the centre of the wheel was tapered to the extent that it measured 1 1/2″ diameter one side but only 1″ diameter at the other. I can repair it but I need my lathe to do it, so I’ve put the two to one side to attend to once I’ve got my workshop set up. I’ve got a similar wheel off something that I’ve acquired at some point so I’m using that as a replacement. It’s only just gone into the bucket so you’ll have to wait for the results, hopefully not too long.
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The one thing about this time of year is that it’s so B****y cold! I’ve tried painting all the parts that I’ve de-rusted but the paint just won’t dry. It reminds me of the story that one of my mates told me about a farmer who bought a very large quantity of paint at a post-war disposal sale of ministry stuff. He painted the whole farm with it, spruced it up a treat it did, then wondered why it wouldn’t dry. It was wet for weeks before he decided to investigate, then found that he’d bought a job lot of gas-sensitive paint that was designed not to dry- it was supposed to change colour when gas was detected!
You can see everything has a nice coat of green paint all ready to re-assemble, but I can’t get it to dry in the cold. I’ve already been warned off the airing cupboard and the industrial fan heater just takes the chill off without getting really hot. I’ll just have to wait.
Something that you may be able to help with though- the cultivator points are about 7″ long with two holes in as per the photo. I’ve found a single hole version in my local agricultural merchants which will fit and I could change the whole set, but does anyone know where I can find something that looks like the original?
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