Welders? Any welders on this site?

[Al Smith]

As far as cast iron you have several options .Pre heat/post heat or no heat with stitch welds and peening .The later has worked the best for me over the years .To me Ni rod works the best although it's very costly to use .Depending some stainless rod could work like 304 or it might not .There is also the use of gas with cast iron filler rod and borax flux but it's almost an art form to it .I can but I'm not an expert but my Dad RIP was . For a lot of thing brazing works well .

 

[Al Smith]

I once stuck the transfer case of a Chevy 4 WD back together with nickel .It was in several pieces .I tacked it then heated it up and once it hit 350 just kept laying the rod to it on top of fire brick until it was done then dropped the whole thing in a bucket full of
lime .It was hot for several days until it cooled down .It held ..

 

[flushcut]

Thank you! I am really happy with the build. My tires should be done on Tuesday. They are turf tires that are .75” shorter and an inch and half wider that the tires pictured. The paint is no longer nice looking. Battle scarred, but it was new once.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

That's called patina and character

 

[flushcut]

Patina!!!!!

 

[SeanKroll]

I have been thinking I could make a second one and make a means of attaching them together. So you could have four tires. I’ll see how this one actually works first.

Maybe a u-joint in the connection???

 

[SeanKroll]

The next one will have a bigger bunk. But yes, cigar firmly in my teeth. The plan came together!

@flushcut How big a bunk?


What size is it now?


Going to buy metal today.

 

[flushcut]

I don’t think I would make the bunk bigger. I was thinking longer but that would make it harder to grab with the scoops.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

So, instead of comstantly buying wheel kits for my dingo, I sourced the bearings and seals. Figured I could reuse the wheels. New bolts as needed. This one the bearing broke the other day and the race was stuck in solid. And there is a landing in the wheel so pressing it out was not a great option.
I remembered seeing some where that throwing a bead in a race will shrink it some in aiding removal. I welded a piece of flat stock in it first just to have something to press or bang against and threw a.couple beads in it. Pop pow done. Now clean out the wheel and landings, replce seals and bearings and back on she goes.

 

[Marc-Antoine]

There's just one bearing to hold the wheel?

 

[greengreer]

Never seen that trick for a stuck race, I like it!
Just did a few of the wheels on mine, had lost two so I bought a 5 pack for $220. Crazy when just the bearings are only a few buck a pop

Marc- theres just one bearing per bogey wheel but inner and outer wheels, at least on the wide track model

 

[flushcut]

Every tree guy needs a welder IMO. Save money, save time, build your own stuff as needed, well worth investigating in and learning how.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Never seen that trick for a stuck race, I like it!
Just did a few of the wheels on mine, had lost two so I bought a 5 pack for $220. Crazy when just the bearings are only a few buck a pop

Marc- theres just one bearing per bogey wheel but inner and outer wheels, at least on the wide track model

I bought two wheel kits a while back and did some look up and research on the numbers stamped on them. Way cheaper by the dozen individually from other sources. Bogey wheels should be fine used again. We just replaced the tension springs and reset them for a track issue we were having and got a little deeper since we had planned ahead and were already there. I'll probably just make the outer seal out of gasket material under the dust cap

 

[Marc-Antoine]

It's a brutal environment for a bearing and its seals.

 

[Eric H-L]

I am just a simple electrician. I always thought the insides of a welder or motor or generator were mysterious. My job is just to bring the power to it. If the thing doesn’t work…replace it. If it’s really big and valuable send it to a rebuilder who understands the mystery. This video blows me away. She practically builds a welding machine from scratch.

 

[greengreer]

Little Saturday morning project.

 

[BeerGeek]

Little Saturday morning project.

Help my Monday morning brain out here. What exactly is that you've attached to your dump trailer?

 

[Marc-Antoine]

It would be seriously out of level !
I think he made the log splitter attachement for the excavator. Fresh grinding on the beam and fresh welds for the ears. He probably converted an old trailer splitter.

 

[BeerGeek]

Dummy me didn't look at the shadow to see it was attached to some loader arm. Now I see the log splitter. Being I do all my splitting by hand, I rarely look at those things.

 

[greengreer]

Not a great pic but Marc hit the nail on the head. Wacked the axle and motor/ pump components off a splitter and welded some ears for my little Kubota on there. Need to make up a 4 way wedge for it.
Side note the axle is going to be perfect for a little log buggy

 

[Tree09]

Looks good man, let us know how it does. Sitting while splitting sounds ideal to me!!

On an unrelated note, came across this and figured this would be good would be a good share.

Defense Technical Information Center

apps.dtic.mil

 

[BlackSmith]

My father built a splitter for my backhoe, I never used it and sold it soon after he passed away. I can rebuild a Kohler cheaper than run up the hours on the hoe.

 

[Al Smith]

My neighbor has a splitter on a Bob Cat skid loader that works out well for him .He gets some monster logs ,tops of white oak .With an outside burner all it needs to do is fit through the door .I need to have them a lot smaller .It's a nice set up ,heat ,hot water but he goes through 3 times as much wood as myself .Some of those logs weigh over a ton which is right on the limit of what the skid loader can left .He cuts them down with a 60 cc Dolmar to about 3 feet .Every so often it's just too much for the little saw and I fetch one of my100 cc plus big boys and lend a hand . Works well because I can get the machine any time I need it .

 

[greengreer]

Put a few hours on it so far. It's not exactly fast but part of that is how my firewood is setup. I am thinking of adding some plate to make it a 4-way, and it definitely needs some kind of beefy guard under the cylinder so it can scoot wood around without worrying about the hydraulics. I'm also able to curl it up all the way to use it like a more traditional splitter if needed. It would definitely be ideal as is for someone with a wood boiler. perfect for breaking down big rounds into manageable chunks.
I hear the argument about hours on the machine, it's definitely not the cheapest or fastest way to produce firewood. But if I can jump in the Kubota with my head phones and a cold beer and split for an hour at the end of a day without touching a stick of wood, it's much less of a chore at that point.

 

[flushcut]

I would use it to break down the big stuff and use a conventional splitter for the splitting. My Honda 5.5hp runs all day on one gallon. Diesel ain’t cheap anymore.