Sloth

Hello gentlemen, thank you you for your advice. Below are some pictures of the half shafts (yesterday I managed to delete them on my telephone 😒). Both finished half shafts. Shaft end with key way Shaft end with differential gear. Drivers side hub with the tapered hole and "offending" key way, the passengers side hub is even worse. First option would be: widening the key way to 10 mm (my old 3/8" broach is missing some edges on the teeth 😒, delivery time of a new one -6 weeks..-). My doubts are, that this key way will be much wider than the existing one, I have no idea what the mechanical implications are. Another option would be: leaving the key way at the shaft as is (5/16") and broaching a new one at the opposite direction of the existing one, and filling up the existing one. I am still pondering what to do. Regards, Harm

Hello, today I ran in a nasty problem. Last week I finished the half shafts, milled the key ways (5/16") and fitted the keys to test it with the hubs. At first glance the keys fitted nicely into the key way of the hubs. But I got a bit suspicious because on the end of the hubs (at the brake drum end so to say) I saw about 3/64" play. Taking the half shaft out and measured the key way at the hub, the hub key way seems tapered over the full length (about 5"). I guess this wear is caused by non fitting keys or lose half shaft nuts. To rectify this there are some solutions: broaching a new larger key way (3/8") or turning out the core of the hub brazing a new core in it, turning a new taper and broaching the correct key way. But I am a bit stuck now, what to do to repair this? Gentleman can you give me some advice what to do? Regards, Harm

Hello Al, Spring came slowly en went away very fast, may be next week its getting better.... It seems Spring has a bit of a starting problem 😄. Yesterday I took the mower -John Deere X740- out, came half way (1 acre of the 2) ran very hot, V belt broken, well, not a good start of the mowing season 🤬. I hope to have the Oakland running end of April.... The brakes need some attention too. Regards, Harm

Hello, I started last week trying to assemble the multi plate clutch. That went well, till I tried to move the clutch plates against each other. Sometimes it went more or less smooth (but with a lot of force), but most of the time it get stuck and they wont' move at all. After trying the same with the broken hub, the movement of that one went very smooth. Inspecting the slots in the hub it dawned to me that the slots in the reproduction hub, that are the slots with the fixed pins were to small and had a wrong angle. So, putting the hub into the milling machine and made the slots larger and on the right angle. The consequence of all this was that I had to turn new bigger pins. After some fiddling and small adjustments, the mechanism now works very smooth. Multi plate clutch mechanism, with the modified slots enlarged pins. Parts of the multi plate clutch. Left side: assembled clutch plates with inner hub and clutch movement mechanism. Middle: Universal Joint Right: clutch plates outer hub, bearings and driven gear (in side the gear box) Same parts as above, pictured at the back. Yesterday I painted the clutch and gear box housings. Painted clutch and gear box housings. To morrow I hope to start with tuning new half shafts. The current half shafts: one to short and the other one to long and with a botched screw thread (not repairable). Furthermore the square part for the differential gears is just to small (on both half axles). Regards, Harm

Hello, Found the parts I needed. Regards, Harm

Hello, I am restoring (very slowly) an 1935 851 Auburn cabriolet. I am looking for a left hand steering arm and front axle backing plates. Regards, Harm

Hello Al, yes I did it that way. But Ann assisted me, as you have to work fast. The rivet cools rather fast. The last action (after hammering) is heating the hammered head to a white / yellow heath and using a small pneumatic hammer with a rivet tool to make a nice round head. Regards, Harm

Hello all, thank you for your kind words. I consider the upholstery part as done. Just left some small chores to be done when I put the hood on the car. Last Monday I send the ring and pinion to a Steel Hardening Company. I used this company in the past, they will Nitrading the gears. Hope to receive the gear back at Thursday next week. To day I riveted both parts of the outer shell of the multi-plate clutch together. The riveting went well, see pictures. So, at last, I can start with assembling the clutch, gearbox and third member. Regards, Harm

Thanks.

Hello sir, are these handles still for sale or sold a long time ago? Regards, Harm

Hi Al, about 10 - 12 Lbs. So that is quite a lot. I think you will need the same amount for your Locomobile, maybe less if it is not diamond tufted but straight.

I have not been much in the shop. Last weeks were very cold 🥶 (for a Dutch point of view). As I keep the shop heated with a pellet stove, the stove was this time not up to the task. Instead I took the passengers rear seat into the nicely warm house, and upholstered it (the seat that is 😉). Fitting the back slab on the cushion was a bit hard in my fingers, pushing the half round needle through 6 layers of leather and some burlap is a heavy task. Thinking this over, and contemplating how large the back seat cushion really is, I thought that there must be an easier way to do this. So I looked at a website for horse saddle makers, tips, tricks and tools. Long story short: those people using a special tool for it. I ordered one at a leather shop. Its not expensive at all, I payed $35 for it. Well that was quiet a revelation, I don not say its easy, but its really a much less though job now. It works like a small hand sewing machine. You push the needle trough all the layers you wish to be sewn. Retread it a little till it forms a small loop on the end of the needle, and feed a sew thread through the loop. And then repeat it, to sew the back slab to the side slabs took me 6 hours. But on the end, my fingers were not nearly as sore as when I made the front cushions. Here is the result of my labor: Regards, Harm

Today I competed the sewing of the back slab to the side panel of the passengers seat cushion. Put it into the car, not unhappy with the result. Only thing to do is: investigate what causes the wrinkle on the right side of the seat. Same happens on the drivers side 😡. On the picture it can clearly be seen, in reality not so much, but I can unsee it anymore, very annoying. I started covering the back seat with hessian. Next thing to do, sewing side panels. Passengers cushion, ready for installation into the car. Detail of the cushion back slab sewn to the side panel. Completed front seats. Hessian on the rear seat. Regards, Harm

Hello Al, good luck. 😉

Hello Al, The answer to your question: the Singer can not be used as the amount of material is to small to use the Singer sewing feet. Maybe there are sewing machines for this, but I am not aware of them. Below are some detail pictures to make it more clear what I mean. Cushion upside down, with underside cover slab. These two parts should be sewn together. I use a curved strong sewing needle for sewing together the bottom slab and the cushion side panel. And this is where the fun begins 😉 All the layers are sewn before, so holding all the layers in position is easy. For regular leather work I use thread number 20, plenty strong for these cushions. For sewing the back slab to the side panel, I use thread number 10. To make it a bit more easy to get the threat through all the layers, I use hard leather wax on a small rag. (swiping the thread with the waxed rag) Al, thank you for your kind words. Regards, Harm