My 1910 Mitchell "parts car" project

[JV Puleo]

I'm back to the stop that will keep the pinion adjuster from moving. These are the 3 pieces...the 3/4" bar I drilled and tapped last week, a piece of 17/64 drill rod and a 1/4-20 stud.

 

 

One end of the bar was drilled and reamed to 17/64...

 

 

Then I pressed in the piece of drill rod with Locktite and positioned it in the torque tube. I ten trimmed it down so that it was flush with the sides of the opening in the tube.

 

 

And coated it with Prussian blue, replaced the cover and gave it a rap with a plastic hammer. The idea is to exactly locate the center of the 1/4-20 stud.

 

 

Next, I'll mill a slot in the cover so the stop can move forward and back when I adjust the pinion to the ring gear.

[JV Puleo]

That problem with the angle of the rear brake adjuster bothered me all week end and I've thought of a possible fit. I measured it this morning and it appears to be 3-degrees off so I cut a piece of 1" bronze shafting (the prop shaft from my late uncle's boat) and fitted it to the sleeve. You can see how it points down.

 

 

I'm going to TRY to make a special bushing with the hole at a 3-degree angle to compensate for this. I put a 1/2" hole through the piece of prop shaft then cut a piece of 1-1/2" square aluminum to make a holding fixture for it.

 

 

This got faced off, then drilled and reamed to 1".

 

 

 

So that bushing slides in. I'll have to slit it so it will make a clamp in the vise on the mill.

 

 

And since I now have to set the mill up, I will put the slot in the cover plate for the torque tube first (since the chuck was already there).

 

 

I've no idea if this bushing job will work as I intend but it's worth a try. At least I can do it again if it's close but not right on.

[JV Puleo]

I started the day by drilling a hole where I'd marked it with the adjuster stop...

 

 

Then milling it into a slot

 

 

You can see how it's supposed to work.

 

 

 

I then made a thick brass washer to cover the slot. This will get a gasket under it and depending on where the adjustment comes out may have to be replaced but for now, it holds everything together.

 

 

And with the oiler in place. I can put this aside now although it will almost certainly need some tweaking when I assemble the pieces.

 

 

Then I slotted the fixture I made yesterday.

 

 

And did a test setup. I need a long 3/4" end mill for the next operation. I have one that might work but last night I ordered two more since I want to use one that is unworn. The fixture holds the bushing tight in the vise and its tilted using a 3-degree angle gauge. This isn't perfect but it should eliminate 90% of the offset caused by the inaccurate reaming.

 

 

I'm getting to the point where I'll have to get the rear end sandblasted. I don't have the equipment for that – and no place to do it either so I'll have to dragoon my brother-in-law into coming over with his pickup and taking it to the local place I've used in the past. It won't be cheap but it will be a good job. Before I do that I want to remove the truss rod. The end of this was upset after the nut was on so I had to grind it. I did come off quite easily though, without even damaging the nut.

 

 

And last up today, I drilled out the oil hole in the crooked sleeve and threaded it 1/8 NPT. These are going to get little adapters made from pipe plugs with a tiny oil cup, like those I used on the front end pieces.

 

 

Edited September 7, 2022 by JV Puleo (see edit history)

[JV Puleo]

I had a very quiet day in the shop waiting on some bits co come in, so I decided to take a closer look at the brakes. I've handled these dozens of times but it's not until now that I've taken a close look at them. First, I noticed this. The linings are attached with large head copper rivets which only appear to be countersunk as much as the force of riveting them would sink them below the surface. This is the external band. The drum shows very little ware on the outside surface.

 

 

This is one of the arms that moves the paddle shaped brake expanders I made earlier. I had not noticed that they drilled the hole for the tapered pin crooked. I should have noticed this earlier as it will make a bit of a problem. I had intended to put set screws in the holes but the notches I put in the brake expander shafts are at 90-degrees. I'm not sure how to deal with this although I have an idea.

 

 

I also cleaned up the inside of one of the backing plates.

 

 

As well as the linkage. Both of these parts are bent and neither was all that well made to begin with. I'm guessing that as the car was relegated to "farm truck" status everything was gradually rusting solid or clogged with old hardened grease and, to get it to stop more pressure was applied. Since these go to the hand brake there is a lot of leverage there.

 

 

 

[JV Puleo]

In thinking about these brake parts, I've decided to replace them. I'll just buy what I need for the arm with the clevis pin but I'm going to make the big bolt in the picture above. I started on it by cutting 2 pieces of 5/8" bar.

 

 

Then 4 pieces of 1" hex stock. Two of these will be the nuts and two will be the head of the bolt.

 

 

I've gotten pretty accustomed to making big nuts so I'll spare you every step...

 

 

 

I wasn't feeling all that energetic today so this is as far as I've gotten. I see that some of the bits I'd ordered earlier this week have come in so I have plenty to do for the next few days.

[JV Puleo]

The shaft piece of the new bolts trimmed and with the reliefs for the thread cut. I will make a sleeve to slip over the bolt to get the enlarged end.

 

 

Threading the short end.

 

 

And I screwed the bolt head on with a little Locktite.

 

 

I should finish the other one but it's 4:30 and I've had enough for today. I'll finish these on Monday.

[JV Puleo]

I started the day by finishing the threading I'd started on Saturday and attaching the other bolt head.

 

 

Then they went back in the lathe to trim the bolt heads and put a chamfer on the sides.

 

 

It turns out I didn't have a 5/8-18 turning fixture for the nuts which proved a problem until I found a hex head cap screw with the right thread. I used that as a fixture to trim the nuts.

 

 

The last piece is a sleeve, 3/4" OD and 5/8" ID.

 

 

 

The bolts complete...almost. The sleeves have to be trimmed a little but I'll have to do a test assembly to figure out exactly how much.

 

[JV Puleo]

The sleeves trimmed down. The big bronze washer are stand-offs to center the band on the brake drum.

 

 

Then I went on the the offset bushing...set up in the mill for the 3-degree offset.

 

 

And bored through with a long 3/4" end mill.

 

 

I tried it in the axle and it seems to be very good...

 

 

Except... the end mill bored the hole slightly oversize and leaves me with one of those "borderline" decisions. I doubt this will have any effect on the way it works but, like many things, it niggles me. I will probably do it over since I already have the tooling and I'm so close to perfect that it seems a shame to let it go.

 

I also made this little drilling fixture. It's a 1/8" pipe plug with a 3/16" hole in the center. This is a drill guide to put the oil hole in the bushing.

 

 

[JV Puleo]

After thinking about it over night, I decided to make the offset bushing again so I made up another blank.

 

 

The only difficult part is getting the old one out. For that I used a rusty piece of old mill shafting to make a tool.

 

 

The idea is that it centers in the bearing.

 

 

I put the bushing in with Locktite so I had to heat it up. The only complication was that the sleeve came out too.

 

 

The bushing came out of the sleeve easier than I'd expected so I cleaned the sleeve up and pressed it back in.

 

 

Next I made a pilot for the counterbore cutter I'll use to face off the sleeves and bushings.

 

 

This was easy, except that I lost it and wasted an hour looking for it. In the end I made another and as soon as it was done I found the first one. The pilot will go completely through the bushing so there will be no chance of it rocking.

 

 

In  doing all this, I was looking at the castings that hold the backing plates and it came to me that the two bosses you see at the right of the sleeve were intended to be drilled and two more rivets added to hold the plate. For some reason they didn't do it, probably to save a few cents but it's reasonably clear that the designer intended the bosses to be used.

 

 

 

So, I got to thinking of fixture that would allow me to drill holes straight through. It's easy enough when you can put it in a machine but practically impossible to drill a truly straight hole by hand. While I was thinking about that problem I honed out the hole where the brake parts I made earlier go and tried them. In this case, I don't think it is possible to have done a better job.

 

 

I finally came up with a simple fixture I could make. This is a piece of 1/2" aluminum. The holes are marked 1-3/4" apart which is as accurately as I could measure the cast bosses.

 

 

They were drilled and reamed to 3/4".

 

 

And I made two "drill guides" to go in the holes. I've one more hole to drill for the clamping bolt but I have to think of how to measure where it should go. Fortunately, it's not a critical measurement.

 

Edited September 15, 2022 by JV Puleo (see edit history)

[JV Puleo]

Not much today. I keep running into the problem of having most, but not all, of what I need to finish several parts of the rear axle. One is a 23/32 end mill. I ordered one on ebay, waited a week for it then got a message from the seller saying he couldn't find it. So...I ordered another but that just means a further delay. In the meantime, I made a stab at cleaning the inside of the axle tubes. The entire piece has to be sand blasted but I am very leery of getting sand inside the tubes. It;s extremely destructive to bearings and gears and getting it 100% out may be difficult. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the axle housing is rusty...so I used a wire flue brush on the end of an extension I'd made to wire brush it.

 

 

This worked pretty well. It isn't a clean as the previous housing (which was not rusty) but it's a start and mildly encouraging.

 

 

Another long put off project is an improved hot tank to do the backing plates, brake bands and steering knuckles. I've been looking, unsuccessfully, for a metal tub large enough and last week I had an idea.

 

 

This is the bottom third of an ex-US Navy trash barrel. It's much heavier than those you'll find today at Home Depot and we must have 20 of them at my late uncle's house. I cut it down and added two rings to lift it. I'll probably do this at home because I can leave it set up in the cellar. I still want to remove the galvanize coating on the inside but at least it's big enough.

[TonyAus]

Regarding cleaning the axle housing, you might consider going over accessible surfaces with a knotted wire cup brush in an angle grinder to remove the bulk of the rust.  Then find a blaster who uses sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) to do a final cleanup. Any remaining SB can easily be eliminated with water and is not a threat to moving oily bits.  

[JV Puleo]

That's a good idea. I had looked into soda blasting...there is a place that does it not too far away. When I filled out the "get a quote" form on their web site they didn't get back to me so I dropped the idea but perhaps I should go by and talk to them. Ironically enough, I was looking at cup wire wheels just last night but had to come in today to measure the arbor on the angle grinder. If anything, that would do the front axle just fine.

[Luv2Wrench]

4 hours ago, JV Puleo said:

That's a good idea. I had looked into soda blasting...there is a place that does it not too far away. When I filled out the "get a quote" form on their web site they didn't get back to me so I dropped the idea but perhaps I should go by and talk to them. Ironically enough, I was looking at cup wire wheels just last night but had to come in today to measure the arbor on the angle grinder. If anything, that would do the front axle just fine.

Over the last couple months I've filled out multiple online "get a quote" forms and never heard a thing.  I called one of them and they said "oh, yeah, we don't know how to access that".   I think this is typical.  They buy a website, quote form is an option they select and then no one there understands how to access it on their end.

Have you used adjustable reamers?  I found a couple at one of my machine buys and grabbed them.  I'm thinking about getting more to fill out the set.  I just wonder if they're really accurate enough why don't I see them more.    Seems like a great idea but maybe they don't really do the job.

[JV Puleo]

Yes. In fact, I have a drawer full of them and two sets of pilot reamers. I find them very useful when I'm fitting things...BUT they have to be used very carefully. It is easy to expand them too much and make a hole too big. Generally, for fitting bushings I prefer barrel laps. There are basically two types...with a nut on each end and replaceable blades and the kind that expands in the middle and has a long screw adjustment in the end. I find the latter to be the most useful but, again, you have to be extremely careful how much you expand them.

[JV Puleo]

I didn't get much done today as I'm still waiting on two or three bits and, as luck would have it, I have to do the next jobs in the proper sequence so if I can't do the first one, I can't do any of them. I did make these adapters for the tiny oil cups I'll use to lubricate the brake pivots. The threaded hole in the rear end casting is 1/8 NPT while the thread on the oil cup is 10-32. I used brass pipe plugs, drilled and threaded to 10-32.

 

 

I'm using these because the match the two I fitted to the tie rod ends and a larger one I'll use on the engine. In this case they are really made for model engines but the style matches one that was common in period.

They screw into the casting like this...

 

 

 

At the very end of the day two of the things I need to go on did arrive so I set up the mill to make another offset bushing. In this case I am plunge milling with a 23/32 end mill and I'll ream the hole afterward.

 

 

I should have done it this way to begin with.

[JV Puleo]

I bored out the offset bushing this morning then reamed it with this .7495 reamer...

 

 

I fitted it to the casting, twisting it until this protractor, set at 90-degrees, was flush with the original machined surface on the back of the casting.

 

 

Then marked it with a sharpie and pressed it in with Locktite "slip fit."

 

 

I then used a barrel lap to finish the hole and slipped one of the adjusters in. The fit of the shaft isn't quite as perfect as I'd like but it is certainly a lot better than it was and it is straight.

 

 

I have to make a little adapter for a 1" socket but when I do, I'll face the sleeve and bushing off with this counterbore.

 

 

The last step was to drill an oil hole in the bushing using this little pilot plug.

 

[JV Puleo]

Last night I was re-reading some of Ed's comments about fixing pre-war cars and I found myself feeling guilty that I hadn't pressed on to make this brake bushing job perfect. So, I decided to spend the money and get a special cutter ground to put the holes in the offset bushings. I'll drop the pieces to be reground off tomorrow morning and in the meantime I tackled the arms that connect to the actuator shafts. You'll remember these were originally attached with tapered pins and that the holes for the pins were not drilled at a 90-degree angle which means they don't line up wit the detents I put in the shafts. I had intended to use pointed set screws and to eliminate the angle of the original holes they have to be bigger. I lined the shaft up so the hole will now be at 90-degrees and opened them up with  5/16" END MILL.

 

 

Then drilled them out with a "Q" letter size drill.

 

 

And tapped them 3/8-24.

 

 

This is probably better than it would have been if I'd used smaller screws.

 

 

The extra space between the casting and the arm will be taken up with bronze thrust washers.

Edited September 21, 2022 by JV Puleo (see edit history)

[JV Puleo]

I took the morning off to visit the cutter grinding shop. The owner has been very helpful. In fact, nothing I've asked for has been a problem and, so far, everything he's done has come out perfect. This is a new experience for me. I've had very little success with sending work out so it's a real relief to find a supplier that is fast, accurate and entirely reliable.

 

One problem I have found is the bolts that connect the torque tube to the axle housing. I've misplaced the originals (though tomorrow I'll try to find them) and I haven't been able to figure out exactly what size they are. Also, the housing I'm using is not the one that came with the car. There are small differences and I've no way of telling if the Mitchell changed something. I'll address that tomorrow as well. It's essential that I not hurry...that's when all the errors occur.

[JV Puleo]

I started the day by fiddling with the flange on the differential housing. The threads are 3/8-16 so I chased them out with a tap and very lightly draw filed the flange. It shows obvious signs of having been pried off a torque tube but a paper gasket thould take care of that.

 

 

Next, I made this alignment tool to get the center of the bushing straight in the hole...

 

 

I got the previous bushing out with little effort and tried it. The idea is to rotate the bushing until the face on the tool is flush with the boss on the housing.

 

 

But...I forgot that the bushings have to be aligned before they are honed so I put it back in the lathe to take of a couple more thousandths.

 

[JV Puleo]

While waiting for my special cutter I'd decided to clean up the front axle today. I took TonyAus's suggestion and bought a selection of knotted wire brushes...something I've never used before but they did a fantastic job on the places I could reach on the rear axle housing. Before I could start these arrived.

 

 

The big piece of aluminum is going to be fixture for a delicate job on the rear end. The 3 pieces of steel are for the nuts that hold the rear wheel bearings in place. I've already made those but I've never been happy with my solution to the problem. A week or two ago I had another idea...one that will be MUCH better than my original design so I'm doing it over. Two pieces will be the LH and RH nuts and the third will be the tool for screwing them on and adjusting them.

 

I started by facing them off and reaming a 1" hole in the center.

 

 

Then they were faced off and the thickness reduced to 3/4". I ordered 1" pieces and the steel supplier cut them .100 oversize. That's usually good but it left me with a lot of metal to remove.

 

 

I finished one and have started on the second...

 

Edited September 26, 2022 by JV Puleo (see edit history)

[JV Puleo]

I finished reducing the thickness on the other two discs and put them in the lathe to turn down to 3-7/8".

 

 

 

Then put one of them in the mill to drill center holes. These are going to be match drilled and reamed. The holes in the tool will carry a 3/8" dowel pin and they will align with the holes in the nuts. The 1/2" rod with Dychem on the end is my do-it-yourself edge finder.

 

 

Last, I made a bushing out of ground stock with a 1/2" hole in the center. I'll bolt all three discs together to drill and ream them. That way the holes are guaranteed to align with each other.

 

 

[JV Puleo]

I set up the hot tank at home so I wouldn't have to empty and refill it every day. After some fiddling, it worked really well although I suspect I will have to do at least the internal brake band again once I've removed the old lining. I ran out of lye though and that won't be here until Monday.

 

 

In the shop I set up the nuts & tool to be drilled and reamed.

 

 

 

Then put the tool in the lathe to counterbore the inner surface. It was just about at this point I thought to check the hubs and discovered I'd made an error. The discs for the nuts are too bit. I made them to fit inside the hub but forgot that they have to fit inside the sleeve that holds the outer rear wheel bearing. Fortunately, there is enough material to fix this but for a moment I was afraid I'd have to start over.

 

 

This is probably the best flat bottomed counterbore I've ever done.

 

 

I then had to put them back in the lathe to reduce the OD by .200.

 

 

This makes further problems but I'm reasonably certain I can deal with it. Actually, they are probably better for being smaller so I've nothing to complain about.

 

 

The last step was threading the tool. The thread is 1-1/6-16. It seems an odd size but it is perfect for threading a 1" hole.

 

 

The last step today was setting up the lathe to turn hex stock. Tomorrow I'll make the nut that will drive the tool out of 1-1/2" hex. One of the things I keep in the back of my mind is that several of these tools will have to be kept on the car. In fact, I intend to build a took kit into the body. I don't have Ed's confidence when it comes to going down the road without them...at least not any distance. I've used 1-1/2 hex for all the water and oil fittings. The idea is to include an appropriate wrench in the tool kit and there is no need to have more sizes than necessary.

[edinmass]

Hell…..a tool kit? We drove the 34 Buick today for the first time in 62 years and didn’t carry any tools. Of course the hurricane Ian ment a short drive. And to be 100 percent honest……we had a new tow strap and a truck following! 😎

[ply33]

7 minutes ago, edinmass said:

Hell…..a tool kit? We drove the 34 Buick today for the first time in 62 years and didn’t carry any tools. Of course the hurricane Ian ment a short drive. And to be 100 percent honest……we had a new tow strap and a truck following! 😎

I bet you have a minimal tool kit that consisted of at least a cellphone and either a credit card and/or a AAA membership card. I actually have these items with me at all times so regardless of which car I drive I know I am covered for mechanical issues.

[JV Puleo]

Actually, I always carry a fairly extensive took kit and with a car like this it will be even more comprehensive. After all...who is better qualified to fix it if it breaks? I've no faith at all in anyone who doesn't know very early cars. In any case, when and IF I ever finish this project I'll probably go on one of my adventures...maybe driving 1000 miles alone...not followed by a break down truck so if something fails I'm completely on my own to fix it.

 

By the time I'm done I will have made about 70% of the car. When you've made that much it's inevitable that something will fail. I just hope it isn't catastrophic.

Edited September 28, 2022 by JV Puleo (see edit history)

[edinmass]

I’ll ride shotgun. And post the photos here. 👍

[Terry Harper]

39 minutes ago, JV Puleo said:

By the time I'm done I will have made about 70% of the car. When you've made that much it's inevitable that something will fail. I just hope it isn't catastrophic.

Joe, given the quality of your work and the careful thought and craftsmanship you have put into everything there will be no catastrophic failure. Little adjustment here and there? YUP! But that's just to keep it interesting. 

[JV Puleo]

This (since it isn't all that clear from what I've done) is what I am making. There are two of them, one with a RH thread and one with a LH thread. They are threaded split collars. Once clamped in place they may as well be welded on. I will have to put a small hole in the hub to accommodate the socket head screw but its a substantial casting and I doubt it will make any difference in strength.

 

[JV Puleo]

I started today by putting a 3/4" hole in the hex stock. It occurred to me that there was no reason why this had to be solid and it will be easier to do if I turn it on a mandrel.

 

 

I pressed it on and turned it down to 1-1/6"

 

 

Then threaded it using the "disc" of the tool for the threading gauge.

 

 

I screwed it in tight with some flux on the threads and soldered the two pieces together.

 

 

Then put in the lathe to face it off. At this point I thought "why am I making this so thick" so I went further than intended and took a full 1/4" off.

 

 

Then flipped it around and finished the nut on the other side.

 

 

 

By reducing the thickness I was able to use some 3/8" x 1" dowel pins I had. I put these in with a little Locktite press fit...

 

 

Last, I set up the lathe to bore and thread the split nuts...

 

[JV Puleo]

I started the day by boring out one of the nuts. The size is 2.1875, the hole size for a 2-1/4-16 thread.

 

 

I was about 3/4 done when I ran into a problem. The chuck jaws are too long and the boring tool hit them. I'd figured that out before but neglected to do it again when I reduced the diameter of the nuts. I had to take it out of the chuck and reposition it with the jaws reversed. It is very difficult to do that and get the face perfectly perpendicular to the hole but I was able to do it using two 1/2" ground lathe bits in my "I'll never use this stuff" box. It actually worked much better than I'd expected.

 

 

Then threaded...

 

 

I don't have a really good gauge for this although I tried to compensate for that. It still came out a tiny bit looser than I'd aimed for but I'm thinking that, given the fact that this is a split nut and I will clamp it in place, it should be fine.

 

 

With that done, I took a break and drilled out the holes in the nuts for the tool. They were reamed 3/8" but for the tool to slip on easily they have to be a bit bigger...

 

 

It wasn't much and you still have to be careful when inserting the tool in the holes because if it's off, the pins bind.

 

 

Then I went back to the lathe and bored the second nut. I finished this by the end of the day and I'll do the LH thread tomorrow.

 

[JV Puleo]

Pressing on with the rear wheel retaining nuts, I did the second nut with a LH thread. I always have to stop and think about this beforehand because I'm not good with lefts & rights...

 

 

But it came out fine. In fact, a little better than the RH nut.

 

 

Then into the mill to bore about 1/2 of the counterbore for the socket head cap screw with a 15/32 end mill to get a flat surface to drill.

 

 

Then through the entire nut with a letter size "I" drill for a 1/16-24 thread.

 

 

I then put the end mill back in and went down .325 to set the head of the cap screw at the edge.

 

 

The last step was slitting it with this huge slitting saw.

 

 

The reason for the big slitting saw was that I want a very shallow slit on the opposite side. This saw just made it.

 

 

This was the LH nut. I finished the day by starting on the RH nut. If you were actually manufacturing these you'd have fixtures to hold it for each operation. Since I don't have them, and am only making two, I have to do all these operations in sequence and then start again.

Edited October 2, 2022 by JV Puleo (see edit history)

[chistech]

1 hour ago, JV Puleo said:Since I don't have them, and am only making two, I have to do all these operations in sequence and then start again.

I know the feeling my friend. So much time is lost to one off or two off setups with the stuff we do unfortunately.

[JV Puleo]

I finished slitting the 2nd nut today. This is really tedious work because the mill runs slot, the feed is slow and I take very small cuts. Not knowing how fast I can push it, I take my time. I'm sure a real machinist could do it in half the time but I'm not one for taking chances in ruining a part I've spend days making. Also, the very firs time I used a slitting saw it broke in the middle of a cut because I was running it much too fast. I'd guessed at the speed and I guessed completely wrong.

 

 

Next, I drilled out the holes. The upper half of the nut needs a hole slightly larger than 5/16 while the lower half is threaded. I lined it up using the drill I'd used to make the holes in the first place. Then drilled out the upper half.

 

 

Then I used this long tap (it's called a "pulley tap") to thread the lower half.

 

 

There's only one or possibly two steps left but my special cutters are done so I'll go and pick them up tomorrow than finish this.

[JV Puleo]

The last step! Putting in the hole opposite the slit so that the nuts will pinch the threads. I started by drilling a 3/8" hole.

 

 

Then opened it up with a 1/2" end mill.

 

 

And these are the finished nuts.

 

 

Then I fitted them. the RH threaded nut had the looser thread, something I was worried about but I was over thinking it. It went on easily and locked up fine.

 

 

I had to lap the threads on the LH threaded nut. That took a little time but it came out perfect also.

 

I picked up my special cutters as well, including this one.

 

 

This is 3/8" "car reamer". These are made slightly oversize so a bolt will slip through them easily. I wanted one that was .005 undersize so I had this reground to .370. This is to ream holes where I will use fine thread bolts rather than rivets. This is actually the RR system...RR chassis are bolted together. The undersize holes were lined up, then reamed to fit a bolt with no side-to-side play. Despite the often reported notion that they used tapered bolts (as mentioned in a recent RROC publication)...they didn't. I've taken bolts out of a PI chassis and I know they weren't tapered. They were tight...

[JV Puleo]

A Question...

 

What is a good source for woven brake lining? I need 1/4 x 2 and 1/4  1-1/2, about 8 feet of each.

[mikewest]

Joe I have the place to get the lining. Rochester Clutch and brake is a friend of mine. We can sell you what you want or Ill get you a price on installed. 

[JV Puleo]

Thanks Mike... I don't need it right away but I'm getting close.

In fact, I took a break from the machine work this morning and removed the lining from one of the rear external bands. These still need more cleaning but the hot tank did a great job of getting the old paint off. The rivets are solid and weren't countersunk...something I don't remember seeing before. They were something of a chore to remove without damaging anything.

 

 

With that done, I went back to the offset bushing I've already made twice. Let's hope the third time is a charm. Setting it up was easy enough (since I've done it before). I bored it with the special .748 reamer/cutter I had ground.

 

 

Which did a perfect job...hole is .002 undersize.

 

 

Then I used the alignment tool I'd made to get it the hole square with the back edge.

 

 

I pressed it in and then honed it to fit the brake actuating shaft. So far, so good.

 

 

The next step was to face the bushing and sleeve off flush with the front edge. Since both are at an angle I used this huge countersink with a long arbor so it will bear on the inner surface of the bushing. I tried several ways of turning this. Oddly enough, turning it by hand seemed to work best. I do not want to use an electric drill.

 

 

In this case, slow and precise are what is called for so even though it took time, the result was about as good as I could hope for.

 

 

I'm not sure if it's perfect...in fact, I don't know if the front of the casting is perfectly parallel with the rear. Being Mitchell, it probably isn't. It's actually better than it looks here and a whole lot better than it was.

I have to do the back side now but I'm off tomorrow so I may not get to it until Friday.

 

Edited October 5, 2022 by JV Puleo (see edit history)

[JV Puleo]

I used Locktite on the bushing so I had to let it set before I faced off the back side. In the meantime I worked on the backing plate. This is the problem...the plates appear to have been punched from 1/8" sheet steel in a big press. The hole in the center is very tight. I had to drive them off with a hammer but in order to fit them now they have to go on easily since I'll have them on and off many times. This plate is from the original rear axle...the one with a crack in it but is in much better condition than the plate that was on this axle.

 

 

The plates are 13-1/2" in diameter so this is a case where having a big lathe is critical. I put the big chuck on...

 

 

And set it up to bore a tiny amount out of the center. The difficult part was indicating it and it took me two or three hours to work out a way to do it. This is a radial indicator, intended to be used in a milling machine where you can move the table. Since I can't do that on the lathe I have to be able to move the indicator and it has to be solid. I finally cobbled up a mount using a surface grinder vice and the mounting block for the tool post grinder.

 

 

I only bored it about .005...just enough for it to slip on.

 

 

Then put it on the axle and "nailed" it in place with a couple of tapered pins.

 

 

 

The holes in the center line up fine. Those for the brake arm and the outboard securing bolt are a tiny bit off. Neither of these make any difference because I work with them.

 

 

With that done, I took it off and mounted the fixture I'd made to drill the two additional securing bolts.

 

 

 

I drilled one hole and added a long 1/4" socket head cap screw to secure it so, when drilling the second hole there is no chance it could shift even a small amount.

 

 

Then drilled the second hole. These came out fine. I'll drill the backing plate after it's secured to the axle.

 

[JV Puleo]

Ordinarily, I'd want to do each step on both backing plates but this is really a "fitting" job and I'm feeling my way to the end so I decided to do one and then do the other. I made an other fixture to drill out the single rivet hole on the far end of the casting.

 

 

These parts are not intended to ever come apart. In fact, once the sleeves that center the bearings are in place they can't come apart without doing some damage so I want to fit everything first...as well as paint the casting before I make the final assembly.

 

I drilled and reamed to 3/8". This will get a 1/4" button-head Allen screw. The head of that size screw is slightly larger than 3/8" so everything will press together. So that the screw is centered I made a little sleeve, 1/4 ID and 3/8 OD that I Loctited in so that the leading edge is flush with the backing plate.

 

 

I put a 1/4" socket head cap screw in to hole it in place and reamed the 4 holes in the center of the plate. doing one at a time and inserting a bolt after each was reamed.

 

 

Then I drilled the plate to the two bolts I'm adding using the hole I'd made earlier as the drill guide and put a couple of "place holders" in.

 

 

You can see from this photo that the hole for the brake arm does not align perfectly with the bushing I made. This may be because it's an offset bushing but also these are not the backing plates that were on this housing so they may not have aligned perfectly in any case. I'm going to bore the plate out so that I can put a bronze thrust washer between the paddle shaped piece on the brake actuator and the casting. It will then bear completely on the casting rather than the backing place. I put some Prussian blue on a piece of 3/4 bar and spun it around to mark the offset. It didn't work so I'll just enlarge the hole enough to get a 3/4" piece in from the front and oi it again.

 

Edited October 10, 2022 by JV Puleo (see edit history)

[mikewest]

5 hours ago, JV Puleo said:

Ordinarily, I'd want to do each step on both backing plates but this is really a "fitting" job and I'm feeling my way to the end so I decided to do one and then do the other. I made an other fixture to drill out the single rivet hole on the far end of the casting.

 

 

These parts are not intended to ever come apart. In fact, once the sleeves that center the bearings are in place they can't come apart without doing some damage so I want to fit everything first...as well as paint the casting before I make the final assembly.

 

I drilled and reamed to 3/8". This will get a 1/4" button-head Allen screw. The head of that size screw is slightly larger than 3/8" so everything will press together. So that the screw is centered I made a little sleeve, 1/4 ID and 3/8 OD that I Loctited in so that the leading edge is flush with the backing plate.

 

 

I put a 1/4" socket head cap screw in to hole it in place and reamed the 4 holes in the center of the plate. doing one at a time and inserting a bolt after each was reamed.

 

 

Then I drilled the plate to the two bolts I'm adding using the hole I'd made earlier as the drill guide and put a couple of "place holders" in.

 

 

You can see from this photo that the hole for the brake arm does not align perfectly with the bushing I made. This may be because it's an offset bushing but also these are not the backing plates that were on this housing so they may not have aligned perfectly in any case. I'm going to bore the plate out so that I can put a bronze thrust washer between the paddle shaped piece on the brake actuator and the casting. It will then bear completely on the casting rather than the backing place. I put some Prussian blue on a piece of 3/4 bar and spun it around to mark the offset. It didn't work so I'll just enlarge the hole enough to get a 3/4" piece in from the front and oi it again.

 

Joe Its Mike .Im in Florida cleaning up storm damage  and fixing the shack. The split ring  clamp looks good.Much better that wwhat wwas original.