The Cultipacker Project.

[JimHam]

Well, I have my summer project. Picked up this old McKormick Deering cultipacker today. It's pretty rough but it has "good bones" as they say so I'm gonna do a full restore on it. Needs four new rollers but came with one extra. Should keep me out of trouble for a while.

 

[DJ54]

Nice..!!

 

[LD1]

IF you are licky enough to find anything like that around here....they are really expensive. Do you mind sharing how much you had to give for that one?

 

[JimHam]

Looky what I found when I pulled off the bearing caps today. Wooden Bearings! Man, that is some old school stuff! Look like they are made out of pine which is not the most durable wood around. I think I will buy some Polypropylene Rod and fab new bearings out of that. It ain't cheap but they should last as long as I'm gonna need this thing.

 

[JimHam]

Lotsa slop in the Rollers too. The bore on the rollers is about 2 inches and the shaft is 1-3/4. Plenty of room there! Most of the removable bolts on the CP are rusted beyond use so I marked everything I want cut off and I'll drop it by the welding shop at the college where I work so the guys can cut them off for me. Don't have a torch at my house but one of the perks of working as an administrator at a community college is access to the nice facilities and free student labor! Our machine tool students can make the bearings for me. :thumbsup:

 

[JimHam]

Got the packer all torn down today and like anything that old it has problems. One problem that is easily, if not cheaply, fixed is more damage to the 15 inch wheels than was apparent at first. 12 of the 21 wheels on the front axle were broken or had cracks around the inner hub. I am hoping that the guys down in the welding shop need practice at repairing cast iron and maybe I can get off with just buying 3 new ones instead of 11. What I am more worried about is the "wallered out" bores on the castings. I guess I will have to see if a machine shop around here could help me. Back in the day when I worked at the machine shop for a coal company we would have probably bored out the casting and pressed a brass bushing in there for the shaft to ride on. A couple of those bores really got into the casting pretty far though so not sure what might work. I plan to put Polypropylene bushings in the castings instead of wood but the lip that secures the axle side of the bearing is gone so there is no support there. Might work for a while if I put some thrust washers against it and held them against the casting with a lock collar. Not sure this old thing is worth what I suspect proper repairs are going to cost so I might have to get some baling wire and duct tape and go to work!

 

[LD1]

I am not positive, but I think the large bores on the wheels is normal. Allows the wheels to move around freely and pound down clods. And even if not, it don't effect anything and will last many more years even with a bore that is 1/4" larger than the axle

 

[JimHam]

yeah, i think they came from the factory with a lot of clearance on the axle but it has worn into the casting in the bearing area so there is no support behind the bearing material and bearings wont last long. i may try to put some braze in there and then file the flats back as close to original as i can so there is material behind the bearing to support it. the inside of the casting is octagonal not round. i'm guessing so the bearings stay in place and don't rotate with the shaft.

 

[teg]

LD1, I found a good deal - Double roller but a rusted out box... bought it for $180. The guy selling it wanted $150. It's got a broke wheel or two but worked fine as is... Rarely see them at that price.

View attachment 464861

 

[JimHam]

So you paid him 30 bucks more than he was asking? Musta felt guilty over that deal.

 

[Mysfyt]

Got the packer all torn down today and like anything that old it has problems. One problem that is easily, if not cheaply, fixed is more damage to the 15 inch wheels than was apparent at first. 12 of the 21 wheels on the front axle were broken or had cracks around the inner hub. I am hoping that the guys down in the welding shop need practice at repairing cast iron and maybe I can get off with just buying 3 new ones instead of 11. What I am more worried about is the "wallered out" bores on the castings. I guess I will have to see if a machine shop around here could help me. Back in the day when I worked at the machine shop for a coal company we would have probably bored out the casting and pressed a brass bushing in there for the shaft to ride on. A couple of those bores really got into the casting pretty far though so not sure what might work. I plan to put Polypropylene bushings in the castings instead of wood but the lip that secures the axle side of the bearing is gone so there is no support there. Might work for a while if I put some thrust washers against it and held them against the casting with a lock collar. Not sure this old thing is worth what I suspect proper repairs are going to cost so I might have to get some baling wire and duct tape and go to work!
View attachment 464819

View attachment 464820

In your top picture, that bore is too far gone to try and bore it and put in a sleeve. Does the welding shop at your cc have a cnc plasma? Or better yet, a water jet? It would be a great project for a student to make a replica of that.

 

[teg]

So you paid him 30 bucks more than he was asking? Musta felt guilty over that deal.

Not as much as guilty as happy to take it off his hands and give him a bonus! He was a very nice business gentleman... spent over an hour with him at his place talking about where he used the seeder/cultipacker. Boring talk for anyone not interested in the history of our "city". He's grading company turned into grading and seeding... then into golf courses. I played on a few of them. (mainly, tearing up his nice grass). Very few times, I don't pay more than the asking price. Never have asked to pay any less than the asking price.

 

[patchnball]

wood bearings were white oak. Wengers in PA sells wheels for them or you can get new replacements if you look on the web. Make new wood bearings,,,,,and yes their is a lot of slop in the system. Broke end bracket on one of mine so I made whole new frame. Good to go. Just bought some large wheels from OMNI MFG in MN. Were a different pattern but should work fine. They are also metal so they wont shatter like the original cast ones.You could make your bushing out of white oak just like the bearings. They can't move sideways and you will never wear them out. Fastenal has washers big enough to make spacers to keep side to side movement to a minimum. I suggest making a new hitch.......pc of metal channel would work.

 

[JimHam]

patchnbal, I agree on the hitch. I can't figure out how the one that came on it even works. Im going to take the "loop" off the original and use a piece of channel or rectangular tube to make a new one.

Mysfyt, I talked to the senior welding instructor about it and he's going to see if he can get a good deal on some nickel rods and then weld up the cracks in the wheels - or braze them where the spokes are cracked. He suggested using Delrin to make bushings. The damage to the original casting took out a section of the flange that holds the bushings in the hex bore. It got into the hex a little bit damaging one of the flats. I think we can either build up the flat and file it back to original surface or heck, just slap some JB weld in there and file it smooth :thumbsup:. The bushings take all the wear from the axle but I think there needs to be material on that one flat to back up the bushings or they would crack and break out. It would be a good project but we are nearing the end of the semester and I don't want to wait till next Fall to get this project done. White oak would be a lot cheaper than Delrin, just hard for me to use wood for a bushing material but I guess the old-timers got by with it pretty well.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

IF you want a good working cultipacker, get a "crow foot" cultipacker, they work MUCH better, especially it damp/wet ground.

LOT'S of cultipackers around here, the "crow foots" by far, bring the highest price...and there's a reason why...

Wood bearings were common in old machinery like that, I've turned a lot of new ones out of oak with a wood lathe, easy job to do... If they are kept greased, you won't wear them out in YOUR life time!

SR

 

[LD1]

Lots of variations to a cultipacker. Never heard the term crow-foot before....had to google that one. Assume thats the ones that are open-looking?

Dont know the terms, but there is also the kind that have the thin spiked wheel between each smooth wheel, and also the ones that have knubs on the wheels

 

[JimHam]

Well yeah, but i own this one now so i gotta fix it and use it - or sell it. But if i sold mine and bought another then I'd wind up having to fix it too. I'm planning to use it to roll in broadcast seed for small food plots so these rollers should do the job.

 

[patchnball]

slap it back together to use for this spring planting. Then this fall/winter go for full restoration. This delay will give you time to gather parts.

 

[JimHam]

Progress on repairing parts on the cultipacker! Our Sr. welding instructor took a personal interest in this project and instead of having students braze the cracked wheel hubs (which was not working out very well) he took them home and used some nickle alloy rods made for welding cast iron and did a great job welding up some of the cracked hubs. I showed him the wallowed out bore I was concerned about and he also took it home, fabricated a piece to fill in the worn out bore and welded it in place so that is now repaired. Here are some pictures.





4 of the wheels were scrap but I got an extra with the cultipacker and just have to buy three new wheels for it. The guy wouldn't even let me pay for the rods which run about $8 apiece. Said he had them left over from another project and wasn't using them anyhow. Saved me a good chunk of change. Have to get him a Cracker Barrel gift card in appreciation.

 

[patchnball]

looks great. something like what I will have to get done sometime.