Repair/mechanic tricks and or tips?

[gb19711]

We used Oil of Wintergreen in the servive (US Navy) as a pentrating oil. Its non-toxic and can be purchased at the pharmacy. Smells good too!!

 

[SPYDERLK]

Cant figure out a better place for this - Paint the tools and other easily losable stuff you carry on your tractor with baby blue paint. It contrasts with everything in any season.
larry

 

[MadDogDriver]

Cant figure out a better place for this - Paint the tools and other easily losable stuff you carry on your tractor with baby blue paint. It contrasts with everything in any season.
larry

Except your NH tractor

 

[SPYDERLK]

Except your NH tractor

Process of elimination. Look around - cant see it? - then it must be on the tractor
larry

 

[VistanTN]

More for home/shop/barn than equipment, but when caulking window frames, etc. remember the basic rules for avoiding water intrusion: keep it away, if not then keep it out, finally if not then let it get back out. Dunno how many building leaks I've dealt with because over-zealous caulking closed off all escape routes. Caulk top, sides, and just around bottom corners, but leave weep spaces.

 

[SFish]

Talk of penetrating oil and the thread on using wax as penetrating oil reminded me of how we dealt with frozen and rusty nuts in a machinery shop that I worked in many years ago:

If the bolt head was available we just twisted the bold in two with a breaker bar or air wrench on the nut. This was especially the case with taking chain and gear cases of Ditch Witches (and similar equipment) apart because we always put them together again with new hardware.

If the bolt head was not available we used a nut cracker. These are very handy tools that come in a variety of sizes and shapes. They wrap around a nut and have a chisel that is driven into the nut with a screw to split it. These are especially useful when the nut is on a stud.

On large bolts (e.g. 1 inch) we would heat the nut with a torch causing the nut and bolt to expand a little, and then apply water or ice to the bolt to cause it to shrink a little, then stand on the breaker bar. Sometimes just heating the nut worked.

Steve

 

[BTDT]

Stuck nut.. heat joint and then apply candle wax.. the wax will seep into the joint by capilary action, and act as a lube when you do go to unscrew it.

Don't know/remember who suggested this first, but Soundguy's post is where I found this quote. It works. I used it to free up rusted rocker arms that were immoveable due to rust. The wax wicked right in, and with a little encouragement, freed right up.

 

[NHGUY]

I will second and thrid what others have said about welding on todays mondern equipment. Almost all of it has some type of electronic circuit on it now days. I see it month after month where the owner or the owners employees drag the equipment back to our shop because they fried there electronics welding on the equipment without taking the proper precautions. Our own shop even did it once with a new guy who was working in the shop he did not know the rules and was old school. I can tell you that most of the electronics for these modern day machines start at around 850.00 for a small box and I have seen one on a new Case grader that was 8000.00 can you imagine how dumb the guy who welded on that one felt. When the machine is covered in caution do not weld stickers without removing battery connections. His explanation I did not think just a couple minutes of welding would hurt he did not take these caution tags seriously.

 

[patrick_g]

I have decades of experience improvising but much of what I did was because I didn't have a clue how the smart guys did it like for instance using a few drops of water and a freezer to feeeze alternator brushes in the retracted position because I didn't know that if I wiped off the dirt and grease there were holes for paper clips to hold the brushes back. One of many... where were my partners, Curly and Moe when I needed them?

When I ran out of gas in the desert we used the white gas from the Coleman to get us to the next station.

When a windshield post cracked in two on my 1943 Ford Jeep I splinted it with a mesquite branch and some clothes line rope.

When I broke a main leaf and center bolt on the left front of my IH based home made motorhome we splinted the spring with a branch, wrapped it with rope and clamped it together with a pair of GENUINE VICE GRIPS. We put it on so tight it took two of us, each using two hands, to close the pliers. It was important to get it to hold because we had already blown out the rear differential and were running in 4x4 to get front wheel drive and with a broken main leaf the axle wanted to take off without the vehicle. It held for the 200+ miles back to the states and a supply of parts.


You can substitute fence wire for radiator hose clamps in an emergency. To be much kinder to the farmer do not cut both strands of the barbed wire, just one, leaving the fence intact.

Pat

 

[6sunset6]

There must be a million ways to get frozen nuts and bolts off. Here is another. I had a rounded off nut way down deep somewhere. Heated it red and pounded the next size smaller socket down on it with an extention on the socket. Forged the nut to the next smaller size.