NLA

[Greg B. 1]

I've talked about my fantasy of hanging a loader on my C-165. This evening, I'm going through the parts diagrams and lists. I found a place where it stated that heavy duty spindles and wheels are mandatory for FEL equiped tractors. I start looking for these parts and find that they are ALL NLA.

What's the current wisdom on this situation? I have a lathe and a couple of welders, so, if I HAVE to, I can do spindles. Wheels, however are a horse of another color..... Perhaps green?

Thanks, Gang,

Greg B.

[Rollerman 290]

Greg you seem like the handy type.

I beleive there is a thread in one of the yahoo groups on how to make them.

One of the groups "mrfixit" own's or moderates.

Dale or Nick may chime in too?

I'll see if I can find it later today after my roadtrip & attach a link?

[kj4kicks 151]

Greg, the wheels are the same, you just need to add 4-ply tires. I have a spare set of HD spindles that came with my C-160. The PO said one of them was slightly bent, but I don't know for sure. Maybe they will fit your 165?

Eldon.

[Nick 13]

You can get by without the spindle upgrade but if your like me and like to push the limits then you might want to do an upgrade of some kind. There are still some HD spindle kits around like Eldon has or you could build something. See a few people build sets like the link below shows. One more option is to find a 520-H thats being parted out. After the first couple production years all the 520s had a swept forward axle with heavy 1" spindles and bearings. A few nice things about the 520 axle swap, if you can find one complete, is you gain a few inches of wheelbase, the tierods are larger and with a little work you could also upgrade to the heavy duty gear reduction steering system. My Lawn Ranger was smaller so I just used a Toro Groundsmaster steer axle I had laying around.

http://www.p.f.engineering.50megs.com/photo.html

Nick

[Greg B. 1]

Thanks for the responses, guys. Lots of food for thought, here.

Stephen,

Thanks for the compliment. I owned a prototyping business, years ago, in Grand Rapids, Mi. and my other hobby is building steam engines. Tractors didn't start out to be a hobby, but it seems to have a life of it's own.

I'll watch for the link. Thanks

Eldon,

If you still have those spindles, after the holidays, I may want to talk to you. Could you either post or email me a picture? If the actual spindle isn't bent, I don't see it as a problem. The rest is just mild steel bar and responds well to heat and hammers

Nick,

I keep telling myself that I'm passed the age of "getting by", but that pretty much describes my hobby life! Every piece of equipment I've ever had was ALMOST big, strong or fast enough to do what was required of it. Yes, I tend to lean on my machines. Thanks for the link. I had seen it, before, but had forgotten about it. Way back, in the days that respectible hot rods could pull the front wheels, we used to box Econoline spindles that way.

Seems that someone around here has a 520..... Oh, Eldon...

Thanks, Gang,

Greg B.

[kj4kicks 151]

Who? Me?

A 520?

I'm watching the one on ebay that's in Ohio, also. It only has 960 hours or so on it.

I looked at the Northern Tool page. I disagree with the idea of boring out a 1" spindle, and slipping it over your 7/8 spindle. That defeats the whole purpose! You need the strength in the bend, not on the axle shaft itself.

The HD spindles for the 160 appear to be just like the regular ones, except they have an extra piece of angle iron welded in at the bend. They are still just 7/8".

BTW, these are the ones that will be for sale.

Eldon.

[Greg B. 1]

Eldon,

Thanks for the pic.

Greg B.

[Nick 13]

Eldon,

I think the HD spindle kit wheels also have better bearings. I also wasn't sure what adding the bored out 1" spindle would do other than allow the use of the bolt on wheels. Lot of work for the results.

Nick

[kj4kicks 151]

Nick, that could be true. The PO had already done the swap years ago. However, I took the bearings out of the newer silver wheels, and they fit right in the original cream colored wheels (shown in the above pic). The originals were kind of rough feeling, that's why I changed them when I put the original wheels back on the 160. Maybe they are a better bearing, but I don't know for sure. I didn't check the numbers. Externally, they look the same.

Eldon.

[Nick 13]

I thought they had a different bearing but maybe not. Might have just been the heavy tire and new washers/thrust washer. Never had need to buy a set of the HD spindles myself, always used a 520 or C-195 so both had 1" spindles.

Nick

[Greg B. 1]

Keep goin', guys. I'm listening and learning. This is a much livlier forum than the Yahoo group and a lot more welcoming to "entry level" types than WFM.

Greg B. :D

[Curmudgeon 28]

The heavy duty wheel and spindle kit still uses 3/4" inside dimension bearings and a 3/4" spindle. There is an L-shaped bracket welded in the bend of the spindle as reinforcement.

The wheels have the bearings spaced farther apart, the spindles are longer to accommodate them. There are also thrust bearings on the spindle under the axle to make it easier to turn.

You'll also find that even though the bearings are still 3/4" inside, the outside of the hub portion of the wheel is a larger diameter. I don't know if this represents a larger outside dimension of the bearing or not. Just that I had to have the front wheel weights turned on a lathe to fit over the larger hub.

Dale

[Rollerman 290]

Greg here the link I had seen a while back.

http://www.p.f.engineering.50megs.com/photo.html

[kj4kicks 151]

My mistake above. Don't know why I was thinking 7/8" spindles. Mine are 3/4".

I can't even tell by the parts tractor. It has one threaded spindle, and one not.

Eldon.