The Cultipacker Project.

[JimHam]

Well, I have my summer project. Picked up this old McKormick Deering cultipacker today. It's pretty rough but it has "good bones" as they say so I'm gonna do a full restore on it. Needs four new rollers but came with one extra. Should keep me out of trouble for a while.

 

[DJ54]

Nice..!!

 

[LD1]

IF you are licky enough to find anything like that around here....they are really expensive. Do you mind sharing how much you had to give for that one?

 

[JimHam]

Looky what I found when I pulled off the bearing caps today. Wooden Bearings! Man, that is some old school stuff! Look like they are made out of pine which is not the most durable wood around. I think I will buy some Polypropylene Rod and fab new bearings out of that. It ain't cheap but they should last as long as I'm gonna need this thing.

 

[JimHam]

Lotsa slop in the Rollers too. The bore on the rollers is about 2 inches and the shaft is 1-3/4. Plenty of room there! Most of the removable bolts on the CP are rusted beyond use so I marked everything I want cut off and I'll drop it by the welding shop at the college where I work so the guys can cut them off for me. Don't have a torch at my house but one of the perks of working as an administrator at a community college is access to the nice facilities and free student labor! Our machine tool students can make the bearings for me. :thumbsup:

 

[JimHam]

Got the packer all torn down today and like anything that old it has problems. One problem that is easily, if not cheaply, fixed is more damage to the 15 inch wheels than was apparent at first. 12 of the 21 wheels on the front axle were broken or had cracks around the inner hub. I am hoping that the guys down in the welding shop need practice at repairing cast iron and maybe I can get off with just buying 3 new ones instead of 11. What I am more worried about is the "wallered out" bores on the castings. I guess I will have to see if a machine shop around here could help me. Back in the day when I worked at the machine shop for a coal company we would have probably bored out the casting and pressed a brass bushing in there for the shaft to ride on. A couple of those bores really got into the casting pretty far though so not sure what might work. I plan to put Polypropylene bushings in the castings instead of wood but the lip that secures the axle side of the bearing is gone so there is no support there. Might work for a while if I put some thrust washers against it and held them against the casting with a lock collar. Not sure this old thing is worth what I suspect proper repairs are going to cost so I might have to get some baling wire and duct tape and go to work!

 

[LD1]

I am not positive, but I think the large bores on the wheels is normal. Allows the wheels to move around freely and pound down clods. And even if not, it don't effect anything and will last many more years even with a bore that is 1/4" larger than the axle

 

[JimHam]

yeah, i think they came from the factory with a lot of clearance on the axle but it has worn into the casting in the bearing area so there is no support behind the bearing material and bearings wont last long. i may try to put some braze in there and then file the flats back as close to original as i can so there is material behind the bearing to support it. the inside of the casting is octagonal not round. i'm guessing so the bearings stay in place and don't rotate with the shaft.

 

[teg]

LD1, I found a good deal - Double roller but a rusted out box... bought it for $180. The guy selling it wanted $150. It's got a broke wheel or two but worked fine as is... Rarely see them at that price.

View attachment 464861

 

[JimHam]

So you paid him 30 bucks more than he was asking? Musta felt guilty over that deal.