Pin to bushing clearance?

[the old grind]

Guys, I'll take my inquiring mind to the sideline now, but want to follow the thread. btw: 'Googled' DOM to find that most is mild steel that would wear out quickly & wouldn't fare well as bushing stock...

Dave, thanks for jumping in and letting my good intentions off the hook. I did do a wee bit of welding decades ago during my (toolmaking) apprenticeship, where getting a whole part glowing like a light bulb wasn't appreciated as often as I managed it. :banghead: I might have known it was no biggie this time. :duh: (perhaps a blessing?) btw: Nice work, there!!

Steve, .. pics when you git 'er done??

 

[BukitCase]

'nuther iggorant savage here, but try surplus hydraulics - search on cross tube, it should come up with a lot of cylinders that use "cross tube" ends, instead of the usual yokes. Maybe that's where the crosstube material is coming from, as in replacement ends for that type cylinder??!?

Dunno, see first part of post :=)

 

[jmc]

Guys, I'll take my inquiring mind to the sideline now, but want to follow the thread.

Dave, thanks for jumping in and letting my good intentions off the hook. I did do a wee bit of welding decades ago during my (toolmaking) apprenticeship, where getting a whole part glowing like a light bulb wasn't appreciated as often as I managed it.

Old Grind,

Hope you don't wander off too far, this board can use a few more tookmakers!

John

 

[Arc weld]

I had to make a special top link for a custom scarifier I made. I used a piece of 1 1/2" by 3/16" wall sq. tubing and for the pin ends, went to Princess Auto and found the weld on bushings for the end of hyd. cylinders. They were about a 1/4" wall and fit 3/4" pins perfect. They even have a hole for a grease fitting. Larger cylinders use 1" and even bigger pins.

 

[Steve in MT]

AH HA, Cross tubes on the end of a cylinder, I get it now. I'll check with the hydraulic shop tomorrow and find out what the scoop on cross tubing is and post what I found out. Yes, I want to try my hand at building a smallish size backhoe for the Kubota L3400. Right now I'm getting everything together to add a rear remote to the little guy. I plan on hiding the single spool valve where the draft control lever is supposed to be. I will take some decent pictures this time. As far as the backhoe, Im slowly gathering up materials for that as well. So far I came up with some 4" square tubing and have 3 cylinders at the ready. It all takes time, and a small fist full of money.

 

[Arc weld]

When you get your control valve, make sure you get one that allows more than one function at a time. I forget the proper terminology but the key to smooth backhoe operation is using 2 or more functions at the same time.

 

[ThomasH]

4130 steel DOM tubing is sold in sizes to use for bushing material, is weldable and tough. McMaster Carr sells it, typically with .010 clearance over standard sized cold rolled rod. I just looked on their site, and a 6 foot piece of 1.010 is about $75. Other places that sell DOM tubing may also carry it, it's fairly common.

 

[David Devuono]

David, you have my attention. Can you tell me what the wall thickness is on the cross tubes? Looking at your bucket, they appear to be about 1/4" which is about the size on a factory bucket. Sorry, but I have not heard of "Cross tubes" before. What are they and what were they designed for? When you built your backhoe, were you able to use these in the center pivot position as well? I dont recall that DOM was cheap to buy but thats what I was able to come up with at the time that I built my quick attach. Inquiring minds need to know (and I'm sure that I'm not the only one)
Steve

As you have found out, cross tubes are used to build hydraulic cylinders. They are indeed 1/4 wall for the one inch size. For my backhoe main boom and boom pivot, I used a larger size crosstube. 1 1/4 with a 3/8 wall.

 

[Steve in MT]

As per David's suggestion, I went to the hydraulic shop to check out cross tubes. They didnt have anything in stock so I ordered 2 pieces of 1"id and 1 piece of 1-1/4id. I hit the poor guy right at closing time so I didnt ask him prices and told him to just put them on his next stock order and not to special order them. I didnt figure that these will put me in the poor house (I'm already there)and they will get used. ThomasH suggested McMaster Carr and had to Google them as I never heard of them. He is right, they have a bunch of odd size tubing and if I ever have to have a long piece to cut up then this is the way to go. McMaster Carr also has that same oddball tubing that I have which measures .995id. I didnt measure this stuff when I bought it and assumed that it was 1" id which is also why my 1"pins didnt fit and I had to burr bit the stuff. I still have a little bit of the tubing left and want to be able to use it and searched around for reamers and found one on ebay for $29.99. This is a Ford kingpin reamer and measures 1.004 so in theory it should work just fine. This reamer is NIB and is old stock. I checked around and to buy one of these new and fresh will set a person back about $100.00 bucks or more so therefore not worth it to have sitting in the tool box. Thanks for all the answers.
Steve