Check your landing gear

[patrickg]

Well, at least your tail wheel. I was blissfully brush hogging away in the classical "Drunkards Walk" pattern, i.e. wandering about at random, actually going after targets of opportunity (trees) when I noticed I no longer had a tail wheel (castor wheel) on the back of my 6 ft brush hog. Earlier in the day I was "banking some favors with a neighbor" brush hogging a field for him and then I had a tail wheel. It was attached with a 1/2 inch SS bolt with a "NYLOCK" (nut with nylon locking portion) It just... came off. So, calling up tracking skills from my native American genes (there aren't that many), I went back over the tortuously twisted convoluted path and eventually found the wheel and the bolt laying beside it. Nut was elsewhere and not of enough economic importance to warrant further search. I had called the dealer to get a price on a replacement castor wheel assembly and was quite motivated to find the old one after that chat as it was $219 + shipping.

Anyone have anything to say about the security of nylocks? Was this a fluke or was it predictable? I have it double nutted with regular bolts now and if it shows signs of losening I'll weld it. Oh yeah, when delivered there was a large washer between the bolt and the tube the castor wheel assy pivots in. It was only in use when the wheel was off the ground so I pointed that out to the delivery guy and he put it under the wheel where it would act as a bearing surface for the weight of the rear of the implement. Seemed like a good idea at the time. Any thoughts?

Patrick

 

[fishman]

Patrickg,

I've never had a problem with nylock nuts, but then I don't have a tractor either /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif. Seriously though, they seem to work fine usually. Most demanding task I have used them on is to fasten a blade to my Stihl brushcutter. No problems, but it is designed to tighten with use, not absorb random shocks like a wheel.

 

[scruffy]

PatrickG, personally, I prefer using a regular nut and Lok-Tite to secure it. It doesn't have the flexibility and won't 'squish' under abusive use causing it to loosen and fall off.

 

[glennmac]

Let's see, Patrick. The hydraulic scarifier bar on your top end box blade crumples and now the wheel on your heavy duty brush hog falls off. Maybe you should be grateful that you cant put a backhoe on your cabbed 4610. (Dont read the thread about the Woods 9000.) As Satchell Paige said: Don't look back, something might be gaining on ya.

 

[geneP]

Patrick, Maybe the big washer not being between the bolt/nut and the frame is the culprit. Without the washer, the bolt/nut has to ride on the tail wheel frame, wheras the washer would isolate it from all the twisting of the tail wheel.

 

[GlueGuy]

Patrick,

I've found that Nylocks work just fine as long as (1)They're not worn out, (2) The application doesn't involve high heat (i.e engine compartment), (3) There are plenty of threads on the bolt they're attached to.

In fact, most of the Nylocks that I've used are dang tight, and hold real well. If it's in an engine compartment, I will always go with a castelated or regular lock nut though.

The GlueGuy

 

[patrickg]

Glueguy, I too have had success with nylocks, previously. As far as I know, the tail wheel had been removed and replaced once since original assy. There was over an inch of threads behind the nut. It was a 1/2 inch bolt which takes a good force to tighten a nylock of that size (or loosen). The highest heat that it was exposed to was just being outside during use. Even with direct sun I don't think it would get over 130-140 with an ambient in low 100's.

Not having any castelated nuts handy, I double nutted it and if it shows any sigh of loosening I'll weld it.

Several folks commented but no one has mentioned any problems like this so I'll continue to use nylocks as before but not with the blind faith I previously had.

As you are probably a locktite user with much much more experience than I have, what would you recommend for zerks? I have zerks in my FEL that can't be both tightened and accessed. I need locktight or something to keep them pointed in the right direction but not let them move under vibration. I got one suggestioin that I didn't like too well, bugger the threads a bit to make it fit tighter.

Patrick

 

[GlueGuy]

Patrick,

Aren't greese zerks sort of a pipe thread (tapered)? One way to do it might be to fashion up a thin locknut for the zerk. Figure out how much you want the zerk to be "up", and grind down a nut to match that space. Then thread the nut onto the zerk before you insert into the impliment. That way you can tighten it up fairly well, and maybe put in a little blue locktite to seal it.

I would be very careful about using the red...

The GlueGuy

 

[patrickg]

Glueguy (locktiteguy?) The number of threads on the zerks in question is quite low. I don't really want the zerk UP by any particular amount, I just need it to tignten about a quarter turn or so sooner. A quarter turn at whatever pitch is a pretty thin spacer but it would keep the tapered threads from mating very tightly and could lead to stripping. As you mentioned the threads seem to be like miniature NPT models. So a spacer would probably not be a good idea. I thought I recalled a while back (10-20 years ago) reading about stuff like locktite that you put on threads to get them to tighten early (especially tapered threads). I think it partially filled the interstitial spaces in the threads and removed some clearance so they get tighter sooner. I supose I could "nick" the zerk-female zerk hole (socket) juncture with my wire feed gun and prevent its turning. Boy, this is where I wish I had kept a prototype of a portable batery operated arc welder I helped develop. I modified one copy to tig weld with a slide volume control under your thumb on the torch that let you turn the arc down to about 5 amps. I think a good welder-artiste (definitely not me) could have repaired razor blades with it.

I have two other zerks that need help as well. One on my portable electric cement mixer, zerk screws into cast iron and I am more than nervous about trying to peen near the hole, weld, or anything that would possibly mess it up. the other is a U-joint on my brush hog. Darned zerk came off in the end of my pneumatic grease gun. The yoke of the U-joint where that zerk goes is cast as well so It too would be a candidate for the locktite-esque thread goop.

Everybody has his thing to avoid. A certain jumping frog had butter, for some folks its spiders or snakes. For me it is a fear or dread of cast iron. It breaks too easily and doesn't like being welded (by me) even with the high nickel content rods in Lincoln's big book of everything you always wanted to know about welding. Now, glue and its cousins on the other hand is not so frightening. I may not use it right but at least it doesn't star in any of my bad dreams.

Patrick

 

[GlueGuy]

Got any left-over threads at the top of the zerk? Might try going deeper instead. Just get a matching tap, and run it down "a little", then try your zerk on it. I would think that going 3/4 turn tighter would put the zerk in the same position as 1/4 looser.

Another thought is to remote the zerk, or have you tried using a flexible connector on your greese gun?

Only issue with locktite is that it's not meant for holding something that's not "tight". It's only meant to keep things from turning. The red stuff is more like glue.

The GlueGuy