Affordable Center Pivot Nut Wrench

[MossRoad]

I found an affordable wrench for the center pivot nut on the PT425 that we have talked about before. As you may or may not recall, there is one big honkin nut in the center pivot that has to be tightened on occasion. I found this adjustable wrench at TSC in the lose tool bins that seem to always be blocking the cash register lanes. See attached. It was $8.54 plus tax.

It works fine. I was able to turn the nut about 1/2 face, flip the wrench over and turn it the next 1/2 face. I used a piece of steel tubing as an extension, as the handle is too short for much leverage. You just have to watch out for the hydraulic hoses on the steering cylinger.

Mine was about 3 faces lose. I could feel it bouncing the sections when driving and could see the two halves flex a tiny bit when pushing down on the FEL.

 

[tlb]

MR,
How hard was it to turn the nut? I have what appears as lots of play between the two halves of my 425 but I can bearly move the nut using
a big honkin adjustable wrench I bought at Harbor Freight.
Thanks,
-Tim

 

[shvl73]

I wonder why they don't use a castle nut with a cotter pin? Add some grease fittings and I'd think it could work.

 

[MossRoad]

MR,
How hard was it to turn the nut? I have what appears as lots of play between the two halves of my 425 but I can bearly move the nut using
a big honkin adjustable wrench I bought at Harbor Freight.
Thanks,
-Tim

Not too hard with a 2' piece of tubing on the end of the wrench . I just snugged it up. No idea of how many foot pounds it took. I turned the steering wheel all the way to one side, then backed it off about 1/8 turn to make sure I didn't have a bind in the joint before I tightened the nut.

I looked at the setup of it. The nut is on top of the joint. I expected a bolt head on the bottom, but there is no bolt head. Instead, there appears to be a rectangular piece of 1/8 or 3/16 steel welded to the threaded rod where I expected to see a bolt head. There is a piece of key stock welded to the joint next to the rectangle to keep the rectangle from spinning when you tighten the nut. Then there is a grease fitting in that plate. So, the threaded rod must be hollow with a hole to the side somewhere to allow the grease to go up and into the joint.

Now why does anyone suppose they did it this way??? Why didn't they just use a bolt? If they were worried about the grease fitting being exposed, they could have done some things...

1. drill out the bolt for the grease channel.
2. counter sink a hole to the depth that would allow the grease fitting to be installed deep enough to hide it.
3. counter sink it again to allow for the grease grease fitting nut and the grease gun to get around the fitting.

The current setup requires steps 1 and 2 mentioned above, plus cutting out that plate, drilling a hole in it and welding it to the threaded rod. Any thoughts?

 

[2deeskip]

MR, aren't you glad you didn't have to hold a bolt head while tightening that nut?
The other thing the welded plate, retained with the keystock, does is keep the center pin from rotating, keeping the wear where it is supposed to be similar to something you discussed on your backhoe construction.

 

[MossRoad]

Yes, I understand about making sure the pin doesn't rotate, but they could have done the same thing with a bolt. That's what I'm doing to keep mine from spinning.