Oops I did it again... 1920 Dodge Brothers Roadster

[JFranklin]

Did they supply the bushings? Or did they have the bushing dimensions? Did they send a tube of JB-Weld?

[Lahti35]

1 hour ago, JFranklin said:

Did they supply the bushings? Or did they have the bushing dimensions? Did they send a tube of JB-Weld?

No JB weld unfortunately for me! 

 

The bushings are made by Romar, a supplier of early dodge parts. I sent the bushings along with the springs to copy all down to Eaton so they had them when making the eyes... At least the bushings were tight in the last set of springs I had made at the other place. 

[Lahti35]

It gets even better! I thought I'd just assemble the springs and put them back in temporarily so I can move the car around but the bolts won't go through the eyes. They deformed the bushings when installing them in the eyes and they're wrecked. The eye holes aren't round and turned the bushings into egg shaped tubes that won't accept the eye bolts. Crazy.

[Mike "Hubbie" Stearns]

I believe I’d be sending them back. Mike

[BobinVirginia]

That’s really a let down considering the good work you’re putting into the car. I hope they make it right for you quickly! 

[Lahti35]

1 hour ago, Mike "Hubbie" Stearns said:

I believe I’d be sending them back. Mike

I've got a message out to them, we'll see what they say this week. 

[Lahti35]

1 hour ago, BobinVirginia said:

That’s really a let down considering the good work you’re putting into the car. I hope they make it right for you quickly! 

Me too, this sort of thing was really unexpected from Eaton...

[Lahti35]

I put the front springs back together with the old main leaves and the usable smaller leaves from each of the two spring shops. I need the Dodge to be able to move out of the barn doorway so I put the front end back together and got it off the jack stands.

 

Tuesday when I get my stock for the steering shaft casting pin I'll finish the steering box up and put it back in the roadster so it will be rollable/steerable. 

 

I put the coil/distributor back on the engine to free up space on my workbench. When the steering box is back in I'll pull the water pump assembly and rebuild that.

 

 

 

I had a few minutes this afternoon later on so I replaced the broken license plate lense with a good one. I also found a spare tire lock a bit ago and put it to use, can't have an unsecured spare! There must be a reason they made all those spare tire locks😄

Edited September 8 by Lahti35 (see edit history)

[dibarlaw]

Lahti35:

 Good to meet you also. As to the dissapointment on the springs. Way back in the last century (1974) I worked for Liggett Spring and Axle East Monongahella, Pa. The bulding was built in the 1890s and some of the equipment was just as old. But we made variety of springs from Amish buggies to Mack trucks. At my time there most of the axles were for the trailer industry. The top spring leaves were fed into a furnace on a chain conveyor. The ends would come out white hot and then the eyes were rolled on a form for the specfic diameter then quenched. We had a Chevrolet assembly line at the time to do spring assemblies for Chevy 1/2 pick ups. I do not recall the piecework rate but no mater when we reached standard the time study man would raise it. Flipping those 4' long or so springs of 4 or 5 leaves started with pressing the rubber/steel bushings in with a pneumatic press. They let out quite a scream! Then fliped over to the hydraulic break down machine. This flexed the spring to full deflection positions then the arc was checked to see that they returned to a standard position. The operator had to listen for a creaking sound which would indicate a leaf in the pack was about to break. He would yell HIT IT! we would hit the floor as pices would sometime shoot past the guard. If it pased it would be picked up and flipped into a clipping machine to apply the binding clips 2 or 3 more times. One operation would be the grinding of the sides for a proper shackle fit. Double 24" diameter grinding wheels properly spaced. A pneumatic fixture, pedal operated, used to ease the eye ends into the grinder for sizing. Some times it would not ease the ends in, grabbing the spring assembly and pitching the operator (ME) holding the spring into the air. Fun times for an 18 year old.

[Nate Dort]

On 9/7/2024 at 8:34 PM, Lahti35 said:

The 1915-1923 or so cars were kind off by themselves down in a depression near the field where they play the "car games". It was a nice little spot that seemed to have a low key friendly atmosphere, I hope they put us there when I apply to take the roadster next year.

A friend of mine let me drive his bright blue 1917 Gray Dort in that field for a few minutes on Saturday. He's been parking down there for years. I've got a stretch goal of getting my 1920 Dort roadworthy enough to bring it to the show next year.

[Lahti35]

2 hours ago, Nate Dort said:

A friend of mine let me drive his bright blue 1917 Gray Dort in that field for a few minutes on Saturday. He's been parking down there for years. I've got a stretch goal of getting my 1920 Dort roadworthy enough to bring it to the show next year.

Sounds like fun to me!

 

I didn't see the Dort, it must have been out driving around. I did enjoy looking at the Essex that was down there, can't remember if it was a '20 or '21. It was directly across from the '23 Dodge touring who's owner sold me the parts Dodge sedan. 

 

 

[Lahti35]

11 hours ago, dibarlaw said:

Lahti35:

 Good to meet you also. As to the dissapointment on the springs. Way back in the last century (1974) I worked for Liggett Spring and Axle East Monongahella, Pa. The bulding was built in the 1890s and some of the equipment was just as old. But we made variety of springs from Amish buggies to Mack trucks. At my time there most of the axles were for the trailer industry. The top spring leaves were fed into a furnace on a chain conveyor. The ends would come out white hot and then the eyes were rolled on a form for the specfic diameter then quenched. We had a Chevrolet assembly line at the time to do spring assemblies for Chevy 1/2 pick ups. I do not recall the piecework rate but no mater when we reached standard the time study man would raise it. Flipping those 4' long or so springs of 4 or 5 leaves started with pressing the rubber/steel bushings in with a pneumatic press. They let out quite a scream! Then fliped over to the hydraulic break down machine. This flexed the spring to full deflection positions then the arc was checked to see that they returned to a standard position. The operator had to listen for a creaking sound which would indicate a leaf in the pack was about to break. He would yell HIT IT! we would hit the floor as pices would sometime shoot past the guard. If it pased it would be picked up and flipped into a clipping machine to apply the binding clips 2 or 3 more times. One operation would be the grinding of the sides for a proper shackle fit. Double 24" diameter grinding wheels properly spaced. A pneumatic fixture, pedal operated, used to ease the eye ends into the grinder for sizing. Some times it would not ease the ends in, grabbing the spring assembly and pitching the operator (ME) holding the spring into the air. Fun times for an 18 year old.

Sounds like a fun time, also sounds like OSHA would have had a fit! I never worked at a place lake that when I was young, just a golf course where I was a moving target while mowing. I never got hit by any balls but the came close a number of times, bouncing off the mower deck or landing a foot from my head while groundskeeping. No cages, if I had continued employment there I would have started wearing a helmet...