You drop the spindle out the bottom, and  put the washer on first, then the bearing, then the washer that I ground a few notches in to let the grease through. Reinstall the spindles, and cover it with a protective boot.

 

 

 

What does this have to do with farm equipment, you ask? 

 

 Few years ago, I bought a trip bucket loader from Lon over in Minnesota. Mounted it on the WD, man is that thing handy! I've never had a loader tractor before.

 

But boy, does that thing steer hard.

 

Hmmmmmmmm....... Here we go again!

 

Spent a little time at the drawing board downstairs in the littlemarvy R&D department.

 

Not long after,I was over in White Bear Lake for some Cummins training, so I was right in Lon's neighborhood again. Picked up an extra set of knees for a WD.  Set them downstairs on my workbench, and pretty much worked around them for almost a year. Other things get in the way, you know?

 

Well, we are having such an easy winter, and I'm tired of looking at them, lets get er done.

 

Took the hubs off, the wheel bearings are junk, like always. Heated up the Ackerman arms to get them off, removed the spindles, and removed the spindle bushings, which were shot as well.

 

 

There were two washers under the tube that bore the weight of the tractor when turning. They measured .160" thick. I bought two 1 5/8" kingpin bearings, which measured .840" tall. So, .840-.160=.680" difference.

 

Took the tubes to a friend who happens to own a machine shop, quite handy.

 

Had him machine the bore for the lower bushing up .680" Then remove .680" from the bottom of the tubes. This will make room for the bearings, but still keep a full bushing on the bottom for maximum surface area.

 

 

I've always used the freezer for parts that have a press fit. Put the new bushings in with the beef stew meat for a few hours, makes them a little easier to drive home.

 

 

Looks good as new!

 

 

 

Packed the kingpin bearings with a grease needle.

 

 

 

And began reassembly. Bearing on the bottom, and ackerman arm on the top. Very little up and down play.

 

 

Now to get the hubs back on. Stopped at the closest Allis dealer, they have a nifty Tisco kit, complete with bearings, races, felt seal, and washers.

 

 

I wasn't going to install them till spring, but its still pretty warm out. Brought the WD down, I need to work on the loader itself a bit too.

 

I changed the WD from narrow front to wide front years ago. I remember when I bought the axle from Alex09, I tried to adjust the axle, but it was stuck tight. Luckily it was stuck tight in the right spot, and the steer tires lined up with the rears.

 

Figured I'd better have a porta power on hand, and I sure am glad I did.

 

Unhooked the tie rod, turned the wheel 90 degrees, and used the porta power to slide the knee out a inch or two.

 

 

Who knows how long they've been in there. Once I got them to move a little ways, then I jacked it up to take the rest of the weight off, and used a small bottle jack to push them the rest of the way out.

 

 

 

Cleaned out the tube as best I could, and sanded the new knees a little bit. Applied some grease and slid them home.

 

 

Switched the wheels over, adjusted the bearings. Greased the kingpins both on the ground and jacked up. Got grease coming out the top of the tube, and out the bottom of the bearings, so I know they are getting lube. I was kind of worried about that. Thought about adding a second grease zerk down low, but maybe I don't need to.

 

 

So there, looking good. I think I will try and fashion some kind of rubber boot to clamp on to cover the bearing, to try and keep dust and dirt out. 

 

I bought the extra set of knees instead of modifying mine, just in case anything goes horribly wrong, I always have the old set of knees to slide back in if needed.

 

 

Too late to try and test it out tonight. Should get to test it out tomorrow.

 

Thanks for looking!

 

 

  Howdy littlemarv,

   Great idea! Lets hear from you with results. Will this bearings take the weight?

  Kurzy

Oh well, you can always try a larger diameter steering wheel!

 

So, tonight I was turning the tractor around, and I used two hands, not the spinner. It wasn't to hard to steer after all.

 

When the loader is off, and with an implement hanging off the back, THEN you may be able to steer with one finger!

 

At any rate, sure doesn't look like I will be too busy wreckering anytime soon. Weatherman says January will be above normal temps. I was going to work on the loader come  spring, but, I got the time now, and macvette lent me his welder, may as well keep going.

 

These bushings were shot when I bought the loader. I made some pins out of some scrap, because the loader didn't come with any.

 

 

 

Removed all the remnants of bushings and farmer fixes that have been done over the years.

 

 

I had left the loader out behind the shed for the summer. Some industrial creature stashed a lot of twigs in the arms.

 

 

Got the arms cleaned up. Picked up some 1" DOM bushing stock, and some 1/4" by 3" by 3" plates. Drilled 1 1/4" holes in the plates, welded the bushings and plates on the towers, installed the bushings and plates on the arms, temporarily reassembled, and welded everything in.

 

 

 

 

Going to have to wait till spring for primer and paint. They say don't paint below 50 degrees, so I'm pretty sure it won't turn out well at 25.

 

A loader sure is useful around the yard up at Dad's, and in the woods. But a trip bucket  does have its limitations. Not to mention that the combination of manure bucket, tines, filler plate, and snow bucket is a LOT of weight, way out in front. 

 

So, if I can remove the manure bucket, tines, and filler plate, fill in the snow bucket, and mount that to the loader arms directly, we should be in tall cotton.

 

Removed the snow bucket, filler plate, and manure bucket.

 

 

 

Nice clean starting point. It will be even cleaner once I get all the trip mechanism stuff off as well.

 

 

 

 Thanks for looking.

 

Looks like you are doing a great job .               MACK

   Howdy littlemarv,

   Great to see your work in fixing up the old iron. I do some myself and like other ideas. Now for the painting in the cold. I thought the same thing just too cold to paint. But I was working up in the mountains here on a huge log cabin with a crew. We painted all the reinforcing iron plates right there in the cold! Foreman said keep painting and I did. Believe it or not, cold never hurt that paint. Still to  this day bright and shinny! 

Kurzy

when i weld up something and it is COLD... i grind anything that needs it, wire brush off the welding dust, and then put a coat of primer on ( rattle can or brush) while the metal is still around 100 degrees.... Seems to work fine.

 

 

 

You can see in this picture, going to have to straighten out that bow in the top. The bucket is made of 3/16" steel, so I think I will weld the same size in, then reinforce the back where the brackets will go to pin it on to the loader.

 

Here comes the hard part. SOMEWHERE around here, I have a four spool control valve that I got a couple years ago. Been moving it around, muttering "that's for the loader on the WD". Now I have to go find it.

This panel fit pretty good.

 

 

Tacked them both  in place, to try and keep warping to a minimum.

 

 

Half a box of 6013s later.

 

 

Seems to work pretty good to weld a rods length  over here, then go over there, and jump around to keep stuff cool.

 

Not sure if I can ever so gently tap that top panel straight with a sledgehammer or not.

 

 

Now that I think on it a bit, I wonder if one or both ends of the bucket are bent upwards, that would cause the metal to bow up like that. I didn't check if the bottom was flat, I guess I thought it sat on the cement floor like it should.  Its a little late now, the back is welded tight and there ain't no going back in that department. I may just slice that piece with a thin wheel, straighten it out as best as possible, and weld it back together.

 

 

 

Next, weld all around on the inside, straighten out that top piece, and we should be sitting pretty good in the snow bucket department.

 

One advantage of working on a 40 some year old, farmer fixed bucket is, there is nary a straight piece or square corner left on the dang thing anymore, so you can really only improve it, right?

 

Thanks for looking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When you've got a lot of sl*g, a needle scaler is sure handy. Plus, its just handy for cleaning lots of things, when you mess with old farm equipment.

 

 

One problem that I knew about before I started this project, was the angle on the rear of the bucket. Going to be hard to get the correct angle on the dangle for the tilt cylinders.

 

 

 

I made a set of forks for my brothers D14, his loader looks pretty similar to this one, so I am using it for a pattern of sorts.

 

 

When the bucket is sitting level on the ground, the bottom pin is 6" off the ground. The top pin is 8" higher, and 1" forward from the bottom pin. The tilt cylinder is extended just a bit, so you can curl the bucket back.

 

Due to the back angle of my bucket, I had to make the side plates a little wider, to get the two pins far enough apart to get that same curl out of the bucket. Took some six inch wide pieces, and moved the top pin forward a couple inches.

 

Measured and marked the where the  loader arms should end up. Clamped some sockets that are 3" tall in there, to space them out, and put the pins in to keep everything in alignment, knocked it around with a hammer to get everything to lay down nice.

 

 

Tacked it into place,

 

 

Test fit it, looks good, weld them into place.

 

Installed the bucket. I have a couple of 18" stroke cylinders on the way, so I raised the loader and checked how far the holes for the top pins moved, looks like about 9" of travel from flat on the ground to this point, so if I add a little for curling the bucket back, and a little more for dumping when the loader is up in the air, it should be about right.

 

 

The extended forecast calls for a cold snap next weekend. Hopefully everything comes together and I can finish it up this week!

 

 

S l a g

S L A G

 

Welding sl*g

 

 

It's as bad as Sat**day, but I can understand the T U R D part.  But what is so bad about s l a g??  Wonder if we can type slug....a u in there?

You're doin good and I'll drop mine off for you to do when I'm heading up to Alexs' place.  Probably in the spring some time, so make a copy of the plans otherwise you'll forget what you did by then.   But then, by that time, I will have forgotten I was gonna do it in the first place.

I don't know what I'd do without the PS on my WD45!?!  I used to have the loadeer on a different 45, but when I got the PS one, over it went and I've never looked back.  The older ones have power steering by Armstrong.....and I'm not any more.

 

Then I removed the bucket and the loader arms, so I can flip it over and position it wherever so I have a good angle for welding, I haven't vertical or overhead welded in quite some time.

 

Hold it here and weld a little bit,

 

 

Of course, they were out of 6013s, so I picked up some 6011s. I don't think the welds look as clean, but who cares, as long as they hold.

 

 

Flip it this way and weld a little,

 

 

Flip it that way and weld a little, until everything is done!

 

 

Put the loader and bucket back on. My homemade pins were cut out of 7/8" u bolt stock, which I think is probably pretty soft material. I ordered some 1" clevis pins for the main pivots, but I cant get them in. I'm sure something warped or is just a tiny bit crooked, preventing them from going in.

 

Might be better off making some nicer homemade ones out of the same 7/8" material, that way the pins will wear rather than the bushings.

 

Next part of the project, mounting the valve and running the hoses. With my big carcass on the WD, between my knee, the brake pedals, and the hand clutch, there isn't a lot of real estate on the right side for the valve.

 

Figured my best option was to bring a bracket up from the right fender mount plate and have the valve mounted above where the hand clutch lever travels. Need to pick up a length of angle iron and mock it up.

 

More to come...

 

 

 

 

 

Its horrible. Between the angle iron and the brake pedals and the hand clutch and my big feet, and having to reach around the steering wheel, no. Just no.

 

Well, lets try this

 

 

 

More gooder. Its right at your right hand, doesn't impede getting on and off, and the hoses can follow the fender down and head over by the hydraulic pump, where they all need to go anyways.

 

My cylinders were supposed to arrive on the 26th. They showed up today.

 

So, I can test fit and get the upper mounts located.

 

Boy, this bucket is really kicking my backside. That angle on the rear of the bucket is just a pain to work around. Now that I have the cylinders, you can see the bucket is going to hit the lower fittings. Grrrrrr. 

 

 

 

Thought about reworking the mount plates and raise the bottom pins an inch or two, but I think I just may notch the bucket so there is clearance around the fitting area, and box it in inside the bucket.

 

I think the main reason I want a full hydraulic loader is for working with forks, the bucket will not get used as much, but we will see.

 

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! Its a ways away, but I'm making progress. Got all my fittings and plugs on the way, need a filter and base yet too, run some hoses, make a set of forks, and we should be set.

 

Hope the warm weather sticks around....

 

 

 

For now, I'm going to use the original pump. If this project all works out and is really handy, I may somehow switch it to live power.

 

Anyways, got the cylinders mounted, and notched the bucket for clearance.  

 

 

 

 

Not a huge fan of how that worked out, but I can rework the upper part of the bucket this summer, we will see. My main plan for the use of the loader is forks for now.

 

Picked up a hydraulic filter and base.

 

 

Measured everything, and got 8 hoses made up. Started running them and seeing how they are all going to lay and run. For whatever reason, they only have yellow 1/2" return hose at work. Nice contrast, I guess.

 

 

 

I'm going to weld some studs on the loader arm so I can clamp the hoses securely, just zip tied them to mock it up for now.

 

 

I was going to put a street L in the bottom of the reservoir, but the PTO is too close. Got a pipe nipple and an elbow to drop it down to clear the PTO for hooking up the return line. I may have to build a guard for this, I don't like this big dingus hanging down.

 

 

Need to make a couple changes on the hoses out on the tilt cylinders on  Monday, then I can keep going.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

 

 

 Nice job, littlemarv,,another day or two and you be ready to start on the forks,,,, I kinda like where you placed the main valve on the fender,,,out of the way should you have to "Bail" some day,,,,,

 Ever since I finished my D14 Industrial,,,I have NOT liked where Allis placed the main valve because it blocks any egress in or out on the right side. The valve is bolted to the beam where you hung your filter, which is also the reservoir and the valve points straight back,,,Blocking all that area,,,I've thougfht and thought bout fabricating an adapter angled towards the center of tractor that would allow in and out on the right and still have good operator access to the main valve,,,,,,,????

 Maybe others can chime in with some pics of theirs,,,??

 

 

After several trips back and forth getting hoses made, finally got them close enough to put together and try it out. After installing the hoses, tightening all the fittings, and dumping in more hydraulic oil than a WD should hold, got everything up and moving. I had to fill the reservoir, work the tilt till they stopped moving, fill and work, fill and work, to get the system filled.

 

If you think about it, the tilt circuits will always be full, on both sides. So that is not a lot of oil going out of and into the reservoir. The lift arms and the loader arms, being one way cylinders, will take oil out of the reservoir and put it back in. I may have to overfill it, if I want to raise the loader and lift arms all the way at the same time. That's a test for up at Grandpa Marvins this spring.

 

I installed some one way control valves in the lift arms years ago, to stop the rear mounted implements from crashing to earth. I suppose, with the new valve bank, I can remove those and just use the lever to control the lowering.

 

So, the original hydraulic lever on the quadrant is now kind of an on/off lever, and I have the three functions on the fender, with one blank one reserved for "future use". Lord only knows what I will dream up next.

 

 

 

The bucket has become my arch nemesis. It curls back, but not as much as I'd like. And, if you aren't paying attention and you tilt forward too far, you can hit the pistons of the cylinders on the loader arms. Won't take long to wreck them cylinders.

 

 

And, when you curl back, the bucket is hitting the cylinders below the fittings.

 

 

So, I could invest more time and make some stop blocks for both directions, but I wonder if I shouldn't wave the white flag if I can find a bucket that would fit better. That back of the bucket being slanted is the cause of all my problems. I thought about getting out my protractor, compass, and etch a skech, and see if I could cut the bucket apart and make the back straight and weld it back together, but I may be better off finding one that will work. If it wasn't for all the  3/16" steel I welded in the back, I'd turn it into a raised flower bed or something.  Grrrrrrrr. That's to be dealt with this summer.

 

Going to build the forks and get the tractor back up to the farm, we are remodeling the kitchen (gulp) and need the garage space.

 

 

Now, to tie up the 50 loose ends or so that come up during my projects- "oh, I'll take care of that later"

 

Well, its later. Mount the hoses and secure them all in place, fabricate my forks, line bore the main pivot pins somehow, and we should be in the home stretch. Plus ten other little things I have forgotten about along the way. Supposed to be near or above freezing this weekend, good weather to work outside yet!

 

Thanks for looking.

 

 

Little Marv, that is why some loaders had the tilt cylinders under the arms...

  And when you get into wet snow, watch so the wet snow does not build up in between the loader arms and cylinders and between arms and bucket and turn into ice and binds... and bends.

 

 

Welded some studs to the inside of the loader arm to hold the hoses.

 

 

Not too thrilled with how this turned out, but after several trips back and forth to remake hoses, it will have to do.

 

 

On to the forks. Picked up the raw materials needed, and laid them out. Find the flattest spot on the garage floor, and square everything up. Clamped some sockets in between the mounting plates to space them out correctly, and put the pins in to hold them in alignment.

 

 

Measure everything again. Repeat for the other side, tack everything into place, measure thrice, then measure again, then weld once.

 

 

I hate to do it, but I have to precision line bore with my die grinder to get the pins in. I just can't weld without some warping, it seems. I skip around and alternate sides, but it always seems to tweak a little. Oh well, I'm working on a 60 year old tractor.

 

 

 

 

 

These forks are 48" long.  While I do plan on lifting pallets with them, I'm mostly interested in handling logs for firewood in the near future.

 

 

Good gravy, this thing measures about 17 feet long now.

 

 

May wind up shortening up the forks? This would be 36".

 

 

This set up should be the strongest when the forks are in line with the loader arms, so I plan on welding some flat stock across the back to keep it from bowing if I lift something with the forks set narrow. And making some stops to keep the forks from sliding off would probably be a good idea.

 

More to come...

 

 

 

 

 

 

I made a similar 'forklift' unit for my D-14. Instead of flat plates, I used 4x4 angle iron (frame) and 3x3 angle( cyliner mounts). Neighbour drilled the mounting holes for me.

To 'cure' the warping after welding(BTDT)

1 ) securely clamp the pieces onto a workbench, get it OFF the floor....

2 ) weld, tack diagonal corners, then tack some more, then fill in the gaps

3) WALK AWAY for at least an hour ! or until steel is room temperature....

my bench is 4by8, toss a piece of thin tin onto it ,then C-clamp everything, square and tight, several places.... since I started doing this, every trailer has been dead straight and flat.

MACK wrote: Don't shorten the forks!!!!. There never long enough .            MACK

X-2!!!

I've got a pair of 42 inchers I'd happily trade you for your 48's.

 

Got the braces welded in the back, should be good to go there.

 

 

Unfortunately, this project will have to go on the back burner for now. Snowstorm tomorrow, bitter cold this weekend, and we are going to start remodeling in the house, so I need every square inch of garage space. Took the WD back to Grandpa Marvins tonight, but kept the forks down here so I can fine tune on them if/when it warms back up.

 

Drove around a little bit, and even plowed his driveway for him. It definitely steers better once you get off the dry pavement!

 

What do you fellows think about putting wide tires on the steer axle? Those narrow tri ribs are going to be trouble up in the woods, and on Grandpas lawn. I've got some 15" tires off of a pickup truck, just need to find some rims.

 

Found some old topics on here about it. I have five bolt hubs on the WD, but of course I didn't measure them and now the tractor is 20 miles away. From what I can tell, I should go to the junkyard and look for some rims with 5 holes on a 5" circle, with a 3 3/8" center  hole.  The lug bolt holes should measure 3" from one to the next. Seems like the 3 3/8" hole is not common and may need to be machined.

 

Thoughts?

 I have been over in my own world. Was VERY refhreshing to come into your shop and see your work on the WD steering and loader. We all have our Allis cross to bear. Mine happens to be the F40 Fork lift right now. You will be able to do a lot with the WD and the loader that I wount be able to do. I would suggest you bite the bullet and get a power steering set up on the old girl too. You would love it with the work your planning to do! 

We would clean bars with the old trip loader and a WD45 with no power steering! I still remember it was terrible!

I always enjoy your fabrication work. As mentioned on 60 year old equipment you cant hurt it much, only improve it!

We need some pictures of the kitchen too. It was 4 years ago that we did ours! Just love it!

Regards,

 Chris

 

Anyways, picking up where we left off, lets put some fattys on the front. I went around to several junkyards, but couldn't find any rims that were the correct bolt circle. I did however, get some sweet wheels and tires from the brother in law, they are like new and were gathering dust in the rafters in his garage.

 

 

Picked up these spacer/adapters on Amazon for $40.

 

My buddy machined out the inner bore to fit over the hubs.

 

 

Picked up some lug nuts, should have grabbed some aluminum polish!

 

 

Not sure if I should get THIS fancy...

 

 

The rims are dished deeper, but its made up for in the spacer, so the offset looks pretty good.

 

 

Tire OD looks about the same

 

 

I was going to dump some corn head grease in the steering gear and see if it turns any better. Looks like its plumb full of nice thick grease already. Maybe TOO thick?

 

 

Bolted the spacers on

 

 

Phew! Gonna be the talk of the neighborhood rollin up on these bad boys. Or something like that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Should note: Due to low flow, if you are lifting the loader and go to tilt the forks at the same time, the loader comes back down. Not a big deal, got used to it immediately.

 

Well, found another image resizing/hosting site. Lets see how long this one works.

 

In the doldrums of winter, I googled homemade grapple and came across this video

 

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I know, I know, wrong color. But the idea is sound!

 

Took some guesses as to the measurements and away we go.

 

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Got the measurements and ordered a cylinder from Amazon.

 

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Found a couple of old running gears, scrounged up enough free tires to get them all rolling. Had to free up the kingpins, so I picked up a torch set this winter. It was set up for acetylene, but I switched it to propane, and went and purchased a small oxygen tank.

 

Man, I don't know how I made it the first 41 years without having one of these in the garage!

 

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So there, looks pretty handy. The reason behind this whole entire project is more efficient production of firewood up at Dads. He can't handle the big stuff anymore, so it's up to me. He goes up in the woods and works on the tops, which is smaller wood for the kitchen stove, and I get to handle the bigger stuff, which gets split and goes in the basement.

 

We used to cut it up into blocks, then wrestle them onto the trailer, then throw them off in the yard, then pick them up and put them on the splitter, then pick them up and pile them, then pick them up and put them on the trailer, then pick them up and drop them down the chute.  Once the tree is felled, seems all you are doing is picking stuff up!

 

Anyways, back in April, we select cut a few more mature trees. Wound up with 15 logs, of varying lengths and thicknesses. I used the log arch to take them home last year one by one, which is a great method, albeit quite slow. By the time I got one log home through the woods in 1st gear, each turn took almost an hour.

 

I've been chomping at the bit to get them out, but its just been too wet. Finally got a little dry spell, so was able to get back to work.

 

Went up and hauled all the logs out to a clearing, where its fairly level.

 

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Some of the bigger ones I cut shorter, cause I knew they would be heavy.

 

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This one was 16'

 

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You can't tell in the picture, but this one was so big I wasn't even going to try it with the loader, just saved him for last and took him home with me.

 

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If you can pardon the shoddy cinematography...

 

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Well, here goes nothing...

 

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Boy, does this work slick. I set two or three on the bottom, then set some stringers across so I can get my forks under them.

 

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Didn't take long to get a load of 10 logs of varying sizes.

 

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Take them home, to be unloaded an cut up in the yard. Holding them up in the air to saw them into blocks is awesome- no more bending over to cut, and you can hold it with the grapple.

 

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Up to the clearing again after supper to get the rest.

 

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That's hauling them all home and cutting them up in a little over 4 hours.

 

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It was a pretty easy winter, so Pa doesn't need a whole lot of wood this year. But if we ever need some high production, I think we've really got something here. Now all we need is a rear mounted hydraulic crane, to effortlessly lift the blocks onto the splitter. Hmmmmmm....

 

Thanks for looking.

 

 

Well, might as well get after that little project, before it gets any hotter. Went up and started cutting and hacking at the overgrown fence line.

 

Borrowed some fork extensions

 

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And enlisted some "kid power" for this one. I cut the brush, and they stack it on the forks. You can't tell it, but there is a WD back there.

 

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Hauled away pile after pile and dumped it in the woods. It would have taken days for us to do this by hand.

 

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I think the dog is the smartest one of the bunch. He supervises from the shade.

 

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That worn out trip bucket loader is really starting to be a pretty good purchase.

WOW!!!  Progress, ingenuity, some prayers, some money and and a GREAT HEAD!!  Your thinker is working just great.

The kids are getting SO BIG!!

"Now all we need is a rear mounted hydraulic crane, to effortlessly lift the blocks onto the splitter. Hmmmmmm...."

Here we go.......  and yes, the dog is the smartest one.  I know that from experience too.  Remind me to come up when it's raining and too wet to go out doing ANY kind of work...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tLGwQs7xns" rel="nofollow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tLGwQs7xns

 

I think we've got a pretty good system here. I can sneak in just about anywhere with the log arch and bring out logs. We have gone so far as to hook it to the front of the gator and push it deep into the woods where its just about impossible to back into, then back the gator out and back the B in to bring out some tough ones. We have established a clearing on each end of the woods, where I can load them onto wagons and bring more home faster, with less wear and tear on the trails. I can hold them up for cutting into blocks, which is way easier on the ol' spine. Then, we can effortlessly lift them onto the splitter. From there on out my dad can manage the blocks, which is the whole point of all this tomfoolery, so the old man can make fire wood by himself.