What did YOU do today?

[sgtsandman]

I started drilling holes and countersinking them so that screws can be installed in the aluminum angle I bought to protect the exposed edges of the wood for the drawer box. Two of the four for the bottom are in place. Only six more to go, two more for the bottom and four for the top, and then the front and back corners. At least the corners won't need 45 degree angles cut on them.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I’ll be back tomorrow working on my projects tomorrow…

 

[sgtsandman]

I’ll be back tomorrow working on my projects tomorrow…

Well? We're waiiiiting!

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Well? We're waiiiiting!

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

If it will only turn left, can’t you mow everything on the left, and then turn it around and mow everything on the right?

No, scratch that.

Send us a picture of this link, the one you made, and maybe a screenshot of the real one, and maybe we could give you some ideas. Without seeing it, I’m thinking, can’t you just weld little fins out of 1/4” key stock at the 12 o’clock and 3 o’clock positions, or maybe 1/3, 1/3, 1/3, but that doesn’t help with a guide.

Send us a pic.

Original link is the black one, you can see one of the ball ends that came out of it in the tray below the ratchet. It’s a 5/8” diameter rod. The one I made is 7/16” rod because I don’t have a lathe and the ball ends I came up with were for 7/16” fine thread. I know, my rod looks longer than the original in the pic, but it’s really not, they are very nearly identical other than rod thickness and the fact that I went to a replaceable end. I’m wondering if going to a heim style 7/16” end and a shoulder bolt would help with the floppyness on the end to the right side where it attaches to the steering gear. You can see the little slot in the original one where the little nipple on the bottom of the ball limited side to side movement but I don’t see how I can replicate that without grinding a slot into the replacement end then drilling and tapping the ball for a set screw. That seems pretty fiddly for my limited tooling.

 

[holyford86]

View attachment 131110
Original link is the black one, you can see one of the ball ends that came out of it in the tray below the ratchet. It’s a 5/8” diameter rod. The one I made is 7/16” rod because I don’t have a lathe and the ball ends I came up with were for 7/16” fine thread. I know, my rod looks longer than the original in the pic, but it’s really not, they are very nearly identical other than rod thickness and the fact that I went to a replaceable end. I’m wondering if going to a heim style 7/16” end and a shoulder bolt would help with the floppyness on the end to the right side where it attaches to the steering gear. You can see the little slot in the original one where the little nipple on the bottom of the ball limited side to side movement but I don’t see how I can replicate that without grinding a slot into the replacement end then drilling and tapping the ball for a set screw. That seems pretty fiddly for my limited tooling.

There's always the backwoods lathe, have a friend rotate the rod while you whittle it down with a grinder. I've done it a few times, haha.

As for me I spent 3 days working with an electrician friend to replace the electrical service and main panel in my house. Everything that could go wrong did, but its done now and shouldn't have to worry about it for the rest of my life. The old panel was a Federal Pacific unit which had a couple burned breakers and a bus bar that had partially melted. Now I have a main shut off in my basement, a far better quality breaker panel in the house, along with the ability to add a 100 amp sub panel for the garage (I really miss having the ability to use my welder)

Once its not over 90 degrees I'm going to make a removable access cover for the wall but that's likely not going to happen for another couple weeks. At least it's safe now though. My house is heated with electric heat and this melted bus bar was where the breaker for the living room heat was.

 

[Jazzer]

Good to get that done, my sisters condo burned down from a FP panel. Their breakers were known as “No Blow”’breakers.

 

[Rick W]

View attachment 131110
Original link is the black one, you can see one of the ball ends that came out of it in the tray below the ratchet. It’s a 5/8” diameter rod. The one I made is 7/16” rod because I don’t have a lathe and the ball ends I came up with were for 7/16” fine thread. I know, my rod looks longer than the original in the pic, but it’s really not, they are very nearly identical other than rod thickness and the fact that I went to a replaceable end. I’m wondering if going to a heim style 7/16” end and a shoulder bolt would help with the floppyness on the end to the right side where it attaches to the steering gear. You can see the little slot in the original one where the little nipple on the bottom of the ball limited side to side movement but I don’t see how I can replicate that without grinding a slot into the replacement end then drilling and tapping the ball for a set screw. That seems pretty fiddly for my limited tooling.

I’m sure some of you guys are much more knowledgeable on this, but your replacement rod looks dead on the money to me.

If I’m seeing this correctly, the ball joints in the original were press fit, yes/no? They probably don’t have the same range of motion that your newer fancier ball joints have, but having said that, I don’t know how you could tighten up the new ones. If the ball joints have a much greater range of motion, the connecting rod could flop out of place. Maybe make a little sleeve and crimp it around the bottom of the ball so it limits the motion?

The only other thought I had, is to double check the length of those ball bolts measured from the center of the ball to the center of the connecting rod, Na. I would imagine if that’s off just a little bit, it could raise chaos.

Might not be much help, but that’s the nature of my two cents always! Good luck with it.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I’m sure some of you guys are much more knowledgeable on this, but your replacement rod looks dead on the money to me.

If I’m seeing this correctly, the ball joints in the original were press fit, yes/no? They probably don’t have the same range of motion that your newer fancier ball joints have, but having said that, I don’t know how you could tighten up the new ones. If the ball joints have a much greater range of motion, the connecting rod could flop out of place. Maybe make a little sleeve and crimp it around the bottom of the ball so it limits the motion?

The only other thought I had, is to double check the length of those ball bolts measured from the center of the ball to the center of the connecting rod, Na. I would imagine if that’s off just a little bit, it could raise chaos.

Might not be much help, but that’s the nature of my two cents always! Good luck with it.

Yes, the originals were some sort of semi-press fit because originally they had a metal clip to help hold them in, as I recall. The clips are long gone. But I’m pretty sure they were there at one point. Dad’s tractor that I borrowed a link didn’t have the same exact bends and the balls were just press fit, no clips. Since it was a newer tractor I had thought perhaps it was an improved design but no, it does not appear to be entirely interchangeable.

I had thought about doing heims on both ends but I wasn’t sure if that would work since these ball ends have more movement so I started with those. Plus the ball ends I got were for an MTD tractor (most small lawn/garden tractors like MTD, Craftsman, etc. were manufactured by AYP which is American Yard Products, so the theory I had was perhaps they should work?). Anyway, a heim is like $20-30 depending on the size and how rust resistant it is. These ball ends were $8 each. I think perhaps a heim at the steering gear end could be easily set up to limit motion in a certain direction but the design of the ball ends makes limiting motion more difficult.

The floppiness is only half of the problem, the other half is that the rod is flexing too much. There’s not as much room to gusset it as I thought originally and the bends don’t seem to be the problem as much as the long section with the one small bend, that actually bows the opposite direction of the bend…

 

[JoshT]

Well? We're waiiiiting!

You know what that song says about tomorrow...

"You're always a day away."

Don't worry, he'll post something tomorrow.

 

[superj]

Added a hitch step so its easier to get in the bed. It folds down

 

[holyford86]

Good to get that done, my sisters condo burned down from a FP panel. Their breakers were known as “No Blow”’breakers.

Agreed, I just bought the house in January and I knew from first walk through that it was an issue (realtor even made a point to mention it) home inspector also mentioned it and put in his report. I adjusted my offer accordingly for that and a couple other issues. I have good insurance but I'm not too keen on testing it out, haha.

 

[pjtoledo]

used wrong tool, a small chisel and 25/32 socket to the rescue.
doing brakes on the 2019 Edge, I used a 12 point sharp-edge socket on the stainless cladded lug nuts.
that socket grabbed only the, the, points(?) of the stainless cladding and flattened/rounded them in a bad way.
used a bit of persuasion to get a smaller 6 point on it, removed without any hassle.
once removed and the cladding cut off the nut is a 25/32", and I happen to have one of those.

moral of the story, use 6pt flank drive on cladded nuts.

now, oh damn, hate to admit it, I need new nuts.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I hate the cladded nuts. I throw every one I end up with straight in the scrap bin. They cause more headaches than anything. If I want a good chromed nut, I’ll buy McGuards.

 

[Rick W]

I’m ready to jump, ready to jump hard and high, but I’m going to let it go, the problem is when my nuts are messed up