sterring slop repair help.

[welderman85 53]

:tools-hammerdrill: have been playing around with my c-85 while waiting for my sandblaster to get done with the gt1142. i have been pulling parts to e-tank and got to the front end to day i noticed slop in the axle. where the rod gose through the axle beam. it seems like theres quit a bit. i didnt get to disamble any further to inspect it better but i suspect the hole in the axle beam is oblong and wore. how can i fix this so its tight again. thanks

[sorekiwi 761]

Sorry Welderman. I'm not sure exactly where you are talking about - are you talking about where the spindle goes through the axle, as in your picture?

If so, you need to pull the spindles out and look at them as well as the front axle itself. In my experiance the spindles themselves are usually worn more than the bore in the axle, its reasonably common to find .010" wear on the spindles and only a couple of thou in the axle. A better set of spindles might nelp. or being a welder you might try a little welding and filing to close up the tolerances a little?

If the hole in the axle beam is worn, you could drill and ream it out to 7/8" and fit a bronze bush top and bottom.

[welderman85 53]

thanks for the fast reply.thats the spot i was talking about. i will have to check it out a little better. i guess i didnt even think of the rods wearing out. thanks

[squonk 38,967]

I had a lot a slop in this area on my 160. I found an axle with the bushings all ready in there. It did wonders for the steering effort.

[Don1977 604]

Drilling it will follow the existing hole. It need to be done on a milling machine to get it back in the original position.

[rmaynard 14,911]

I used a self-centering 7/8" reamer in a hand-held drill. Then I inserted 3/4" ID x 7/8" OD bronze bushings. That tightened things up real nice.

[littleredrider 408]

My 854 is BAD. I got some bushing but didn't have the right sized bit to drill, so gave it to a buddy to do. He has all kinds of toys at work, so should be quick and easy. He called me couple weeks ago and said that he had to weld up one of the hole and redrill it. the hold from the factory wasn't centered, and he drilled it offset. Kinda sucks, waiting on it so I can finish the restore on it....I got the bushing from Kaman Industries....

[welderman85 53]

thank you for your help. it was the spindles there is a groove wore into them. going to try to fix just for the fun of it, if not ill just pick up a set of spindles. ill keep you posted. thanks again