WD 45 Hydraulic Control Lever - Wear or as made?

That brought to mind something I noticed when I rebuilt the pump. One of the pieces of the control linkage had what I though was some interesting machining done to it. But as I thought about it, I realized that could be the source of my troubles. I pulled the pump off and that part out.

If it's wear, it wore so nicely. But it seems like it would have been a strange way to design the part. So I thought I'd see if anyone could confirm that indeed the pin is worn, and it's not like it should be, before I repair it. It's the part referred to as the "Control Lever" in the parts diagram, circled in red in the image below. The suspected wear is squared in red in the next two photos. Thanks for looking!

Scott

Yes, it's inside the control housing on the back of the pump.

It would definitely cause the piston rod to not go in as far, therefore not opening the valves as much. But maybe that's by design?

Scott

 I don't have the answer, but I do plan to take my pump apart in the near future I will check mine. I have had one of these apart. but it just doesn't look like wear.

Regards,

 Chris

I agree, it definitely doesn't look like wear. And yet, it seems like a strange way to machine a piece. It doesn't seem like it would be strong enough. However, I don't see any wear on the mating piece. Perhaps one is heat treated, the other not? Although, again, seems odd.

Scott

I use Sandy Lake for a lot of issues. They have a great tech staff. And in sales don't forget that Brenda wrenched on these AC units at some point in here work at Sandy Lake. They are the real deal, and can help with more than just AC parts! 

SteveM C/IL wrote: I believe the draft regulating cam was changed to different profile in the WD45's.

Is this related to traction boost? Or am I getting concepts mixed up here?

I made an adapter to hold a punch onto my shop press.

Those of you with experience with cheap hydraulic presses will probably guess what happened.

The piece that the hydraulic jack sits on shifted, causing the punch to get bent. While trying to straighten it, it broke.

So I made a new punch, that had a much shorter section that was narrow. And used some shims between the piece and the frame, so it couldn't shift. This worked much better.

Some of the pin stayed in the hole, so I wonder if perhaps there was some sort of threadlocker in there? If I were to do it again, I would heat it up with a torch to break down any compound in there.

I turned a new pin, which had to be two slightly different diameters, one to fit the hole that it was pressed into, and a slightly smaller one to fit into the linkage that it attached to.

I pressed the new pin in along with a bit of threadlocker just to make sure.

The pump was reassembled, and along with rebuilt cylinders and new hoses, was put back on the tractor. After messing with trying to bleed the cylinders as specified in the manual and ending up with the packing sliding back out of the ram, I decided it was good enough. At first you could tell that at the end of it's travel it was compressing the air in there, but the air seems to have worked it's way out and doesn't appear to be a problem anymore.

With the repaired piece, I could actually adjust the linkages so that there was a definite spot where it raised, held, and lowered, unlike the 'ranges' that it used to have. The repair seems to have worked, and I'm happy with the result.

Thanks for your help.

Scott

Just ran across this. Wow, that is an impressive fix. Going to have to remember this.

Any chance the pin was actually threaded, given some stayed behind in the hole? Or just seemed to have something to hold it in place with a loose press fit?