FEL rebuild

[mark in portugal]

I wanted to rebuild my FEL for a long time; it痴 more than 50 years old and all the pivot holes are egg shaped, the pins worn out, and generally it was a shake rattle and roll situation.
When the top mount cracked, it seemed time to get into it.
I don稚 know if any of this will be useful to anyone, but thought I壇 share it anyway



After welding and reinforcing the upper mounts, it was time to rebore the holes; but how? The holes need to be accurately bored and inline. Also more or less parallel with the lower cylinder mounts, bucket pivots, and bucket cylinder mount.



I had a couple of pieces of straight round rod, 25mm and 30mm. So I put a ball bearing on a router mounted cobalt burr, and made a template on my lathe oversized so that the burr would cut a 30mm hole. The template is pinned to the lower holes of the rops so that dimension will be ok, then clamped onto the FEL with bolts and a backing plate to hold it after the long rod is pulled out.






The burr can only cut for about 10 seconds at a time before it overheats. So I count to ten, than do something else for a few minutes. The cut comes out nice;



I made an error on my first try and had to weld in one hole and recut it.



better;



the rops had t be rebored too, because the pins are going up to 30mm. It was built 1" [25.2mm] but the holes were so sloppy I'd previously put in 27mm pivot pins.



This came out really nice, no noticeable slop and the bar slides through the 4 holes.



The lower cylinder mounts were steel bushing welded into plate. I cut out the old ones by cutting the weld with a holesaw, and made new mild steel bushings to fit into the old holes.



The upper mount bushings are new, and now have bronze liners pressed in.









I made a boring tool for my drill press, but it痴 a crude thing. It made the holes round again, and the cut was close enough if I ream the bushings after I press them in. I honed the holes with my home made hone to get the worst of the scoring off. Originally it was all steel on steel.












I painted it with black Hammerite The FEL is all nice and tight now, but I still have to make proper pivots for the buckets.
One of these days?

 

[4get gto]

50 more years on that bugger. You diffinty gave it some thought and looks as though it turned out good for you. Makes you feel good don't it ( knowing you brought it back to life) ?

 

[Billrog]

Nice job it will now out last another 50 years. :thumbsup:

 

[mark in portugal]

Thanks guys;
The FEL was made for an MF35. Amazingly, the chrome on the cylinders is intact, and the rods do appear to be original; although they are double acting, and I don't think that was common at the time. I replaced the seals some years ago, internal leakage causes the arms to drop now so I guess I need to change them again.

It doesn't fit my tractor very well, it interferes with steering when down. Still, I get a lot of work out of it.

 

[mark in portugal]

Thanks guys;
The FEL was made for an MF35. Amazingly, the chrome on the cylinders is intact, and the rods do appear to be original; although they are double acting, and I don't think that was common at the time. I replaced the seals some years ago, internal leakage causes the arms to drop now so I guess I need to change them again.

It doesn't fit my tractor very well, it interferes with steering when down. Still, I get a lot of work out of it.

 

[Spanner]

Some innovative engineering Mark. Well done. 'You do what you have to do with what you have at your disposal' as they say.
The hedge-trimmer is equally innovative. Did you make that too?

 

[4get gto]

If I had that hedge trimmer I'd let my hedges grow so high I would never see my neighbor! Or want to.

 

[CincyFlyer]

BTN (Better Than New)

 

[mark in portugal]

Yes, I made the hedge trimmer; it reaches 10' high and 10' out [although it gets a bit bendy if fully extended]. Cuts right or left, forward + back, at any angle.

However, it won't cut through heavy material and tends to get jammed on horizontal cuts. I'm trying to find better cutting blades.

I don't see the neighbors, or passing cars on the road....

 

[4get gto]

That thing is crazy. Won't find one of those at Home Depot!

 

[Spanner]

Again, some accomplished engineering and imaginative use of 'scrap' components. What blades are you using at present?

Incidentally, how did you end up in Portugal and where do you originate from?

 

[mark in portugal]

It's a grass cutting blade I bought from my local tractor shop; the price was ok.

I'd like to use upper and lower cutting blades with a scissor action, that should double my cutting ability. But I'm having trouble sourcing the blades.
I pretty much have to buy in Europe, anything from outside gets stuck in customs and costs a fortune in duty.

I'll check a couple of shops next time I'm in town.

How I came to Portugal; not sure. We heard the weather is good and land affordable. So is health care.
We live in a bubble of ignorance, since we don't speak the language. Can't read the papers, don't get upset by politics.
I'm from the US but don't want to go back to live.

 

[Spanner]

:thumbsup:
Learning some language skills would not be a bad thing.
Tasting the wine & port was my sole purpose for visiting once. Well worth the airfare from London.
I still have the sole souvenir I got - a small battery alarm clock we needed to ensure we didn't miss the plane back on Monday morning. 1990.
I recall many 'unfinished' houses due to avoiding some 'Completed Dwelling Tax' issue, I believe.
Best wishes.

 

[mark in portugal]

There are lots of unfinished houses now too, still left from the 2008 housing crash.
Everyone thought it was a great investment to build second homes that they never intended to live in. The British were especialy enamoured of the idea, but a lot of Germans built as well.

There's NO WORK here; how can anyone pay a mortgage?
There's tourist business but very seasonal.
All the houses around us are finished, but not occupied but for a few weeks a year.

So the language; there's really no one to talk to anyway. I manage to communicate with my neighbor "bulldozer" Jose [about machines] and a little bit with my other neighbor "farmer" Jose [about the weather and his crops], but don't manage well with hunchback Jose in back.
Guy who owned the house before us was named..... Jose.

 

[mark in portugal]

A few updates on my FEL repairs in the last few years;
First, I replaced the main cylinder seals and pistons.
The seals weren't looking good.

The bores were already honed slightly oversize, and by the time I finished getting all the scores out, they were even bigger.

New style seals come with plastic bushings to protect the bore, so I made new pistons to accommodate them, slightly oversized to compensate for the increased bore.

This is actually easy work, great accuracy not required.
I engraved the new seal number on the piston, for the next guy.

The old pistons can't have been original; they're a tiny bit oversized too, the bore was once 2". And the center bore is a bit eccentric, highly unlikely if factory made.

Even though the increased diameter is minor, 0.4mm as I recall, the gap in the plastic bushing is obvious.

After reassembly, the FEL held position much better, and after I changed the spool valve block it's really good.
Not bad for 60 year old material!

 

[mark in portugal]

This is what happens when you use your old FEL frame to pound in fence posts.
My tractor gets abused, then cherished with love, new plate, and welding.

The only strip I had that was wide enough is 10mm thick; so I'm all set for pounding in more fence posts should the need arise.

I made a sort of cap that sits on wooden fence posts to prevent splitting while pounding, 2 steel plates with a 1" thick plastic buffer between them. It works ok.
Not perfect, buy ok.

 

[mark in portugal]

The FEL came mounted on the tractor, and basically doesn't fit over the large front tires. Or between them.

When the front axle is angled, steering was severely limited.

First I bought a length of serious strip, 15 X 120 mm. It only comes in 6 meter lengths, but I'll use the rest some day.
It had to be bent, and my home made press was able to do it, but it took all the pressure it has,

Frame bolts are 14mm, not a common size.

Next I made new pivot pins, threaded, and hardened because I felt like it and the material I have is made for that.
I heat them red, drop them in a bucket of water, and then temper in an oven at 500C.
The big ones are for the main pivot, 30mm thick. The other ones are for another job.

After a light polish, I bored out these plate bits to fit.

Next is the rough work; frame sections made from 30mm solid square bar.
They're not too heavy to carry by hand, but are far easier to fit while dangling on a rope.

On the bottom right is the tricky part, a receiver for bolts that will pass through the front plate I've attached to the tractor already.
The rick it to bolt up the parts, then weld them together, remove and complete the welds while hoping they don't warp too far to refit.

Tire clearance is now ok at full lock and tilt.
I still need to make a front grill; I want it to be hinged to tilt forward with the old engine cover attached.
And there will be lights, protected behind strong SS mesh.

The FEL arms still interfere with the steering when they're lowered, and I haven't thought of any reasonable plan to solve that problem.
It's rare that the arms can't be simply lifted out of the way with a pull on the lever, so I'll probably just live with that.

 

[mark in portugal]

And another update, because I'm housebound today.
I replaced the hydraulic valve block.
I bought this block from flowfit in the UK before Brexit cut us off. Good material for good prices.
The old one leaked internally, and was a 2 bank.

I wanted to rationalize the plumbing, because the way the old one was done was to interrupt the tube at the original rear block, with a hose running forward and another running back. 4 or 5 feet of extra tubing.
So my first job was to make a tubing bender. It bolts to my workbench / tool box.
Not my own idea, I saw one like this in a workshop in India.

This is 18mm steel hydraulic tube, stiffer than some but still hand bendable with a decent lever.

To get around the clutch pedal, it needed some extra curve.

Stupidly, I broke this rare hydraulic fitting.

It took a couple of hours; I bored it out, brazed in a piece of rod, threaded and bored it. I like this sort of work, it makes me feel clever and compensates for the dumb feeling of dumb mistakes.

The original SAME auxiliary valve block is actually inadequate for the flow, even before I upgraded to a larger hydraulic pump.
Also, the fittings aren't available here, so I made an adaptor to fit the type my local tractor shop uses. He makes up hose sections for me fast and fairly priced, and he's just a few miles up the road too.

I made a bunch of fittings, which was silly really; they cost nothing but took nearly an hour each, when I could have bought off the shelf for 6 euros.
Except the end one, 3/4" male to 1/2" female custom elbow.

I put the extra ball valve that I used on my old valve block to hold my hedgecutter up, but actually this new block has so little internal leakage that it's not necessary. And it leaks just a little through the gland, so I'll be removing it during the next hydraulic system upgrade, when I'll be adding a priority bypass valve for the 3-point lift.

As you can see, there are quick couplings on the outer bank. That's for my hydraulic hedgecutter that needs continuous flow, so I made a little lock toggle to hold the lever when that machine is used.

 

[ptsg]

Looking great! Good job Mark!

 

[mark in portugal]

Thanks Pedro; I'd rather be outside with the milling machine today but for other reasons I need to be on watch in the house.