Broken Crank - Update?

[RobS]

Not sure why I'm so curious about this but...

Some time ago (over a year?) a fellow TBNer diagnosed and discovered that he had a broken crankshaft. I recall the tractor was a Ford two cylinder diesel. He was going to bolt it together (I think) and did so successfully. I was pretty amazed to hear that but don't recall much after that. I also can't find the thread.

Anyone remember this or am I dreaming? Any idea if his tractor is still running?

I'm sure I'll sleep better tonight having the answers to these questions /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Von]

Rob, If I remember right it was a Ford 1510. And I think we were taking bets on how long it would last. I think my guess was under an hour. Never heard back on this one, heck maybe its still running! But I can't see how.

 

[SteveV]

Guess I'd be that fellow. The poor Ford 1200 lies in pieces at a neighbor's who is still looking for a suitable crank. The bolt together broke two 1/2 in die bolts (like grade 8) by fracturing them in fairly cleaning at the break after 15 hours or so. The patch was more for the experience than an expectation that it would last for any lenght of time. Basically there's a couple of forces to be delt with by the crank but the combination of cold metal and a new clutch disk were just too much for this crank. SteveV

 

[RobS]

Hi Steve, good to see you're still around. Sorry to hear about the crank, but not too surprising. I wouldn't have expected it to last that long. Does sound like a fun exercise though. Seems a shame to lose a whole tractor for a single part, eh? Ever look into having a crank machined up from scratch? Might be a good project for a local vocational school to take on and they could probably make good use of the tractor if you could donate it to them.

Thanks for the update, I'm positive I'll sleep well tonight /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[SteveV]

Economics entered the picture after the first tear down. The machine was bought cheap and machining equipment that could turn out a one up crank shaft would be very expensive, voc school or not. The cast material would befuddle a rooky machinist anyway, it hardens to unmachinabe with the application of just the heat from a dull drill, I can only imagine the problems taking that last pass before the grinding ops. This particular crank had its support bearing size increased in later revs which clued me that there was a better design out there. The tractor served its life well, had I not been working it back and forth speed casting snow on a ten degree morning after leaving the machine outside overnight with one plugged injector and a new clutch, I might be using it to move trailers around my back yard! SteveV

 

[normde2001]

Gosh Steve, that might be considered by some to be second degree murder of a tractor.

 

[mrcaptainbob]

Sounds like there are cranks available then if there's later revisions. If it's only the diameter increase for the main bearings then maybe it would only be a matter of having the old block line bored for larger bearings......? Sure would be nice to breath life back in to the beast.......