i have worn out spindle bushings on a john deere 310a backhoe,thought i could just take the large bolt out of the top of the steering arm, and remove the spindle to work on the bushings,but it will not budge,anyone have any experience with these old backhoes? any advice would be greatly appreciated.
There is Devcon (spelling?) a strong epoxy that is generally used to keep splines from working against each other and wearing out. Been awhile since I repaired one of these but I believe some heat should loosen up the epoxy good enough to get apart. Recommend going back together with epoxy.
i did notice a hole in the front of the steering arm that didnt seem to have anything in it,i,ve done a lot of automotive u-joints that are held in by some sort of epoxy,seems that maybe this is the same sort of stuff,any idea where i might be able to acquire this epoxy,and thanks for the reply
Your John Deere dealer can get it for you. Googled Devcon and found there website. Look at Devcon titanium, might be the stuff. From what I remember stuff is expensive. If you have any left over it makes excellent filler for missing pieces in concrete floor.
thanks for the reply i,ll check it out
There is a ton of slop in our 310a between the steering arm and the spindle. Would you guys guess the splines are worn? The right side is tight as can be. Also wondering if it needs to be tightened up? I tried, but the bolts seem to be pretty dang tight and I know nothing about this beast yet and thought I'd check with you guys, thanks a bunch!
I worked on a Deere tractor forklift several years ago that had a steering arm like that, the arm and end of kingpin were a straight (not tapered) spline connection, the bolt and washer simply kept the arm on kingpin shaft. Years of movement had caused much slack in the spline connection and customer couldn't afford replacement parts. I cleaned everything well and used some type of steel base epoxy, might have been a Devcon product, coated the shaft and steering arm splines well, fit the connection, and locked down retainer bolt and washer. Let the machine set for a couple of days for max curing, and the arm stayed tight the remaining couple of years I did work for that customer.
ATCOEQUIP, The swing casting on my 310D has been replaced several years before I bought the old hoe so the pins are still quite tight on the casting. Since there are no bushings in the casting, the holes will eventually wear larger. If I were to apply this Devcon steel on the pin at the points in the casting where the pin does not rotate, would it hold tight and prevent additional wear and also could the pins be replaced if needed later if they are installed with Devcon stuff?
I think I know what you're talking about Deon, the pin boss holes that the pins go through in the swing post, the part the the pin does not rotate, the holes are getting a little wallowed. I suppose it would be worth a try to use some form of steel epoxy. If it didn't work, you'd just be out the cost of the epoxy and your labor. But it would be a thin layer of epoxy at best, and the impact of digging may break it up over time, still suppose it's worth a try though. As for knocking a pin back out that's had this stuff applied to it, never had a chance to do that so I'm not sure what the result would be.
The pins are not tapered so I suppose if one would put a 20 ton jack under the swing pin and heat it with a torch it should release. Like you say, if removal is not a problem then the epoxy will not hurt anything. I know I used JB Weld on a bypass valve plate on an old JD 410 transmission case where the transmission oil had worn a track in the housing from a bad O-ring. The repair worked perfectly. I though that was amazing.
Cant help you with a worn spline, but I can offer a solution for pin bosses wearing. The company that I work for manufactures mining equipment and uses Expander pins at all the joints, including the center articulation joint. The Expander pins use an expandable collet on each end of a tapered pin, that once the bolt in each end is torqued, it locks the collets into the pin bosses. This eliminates any wear associated with movement of the pin inside the bosses. You never need to cut out and replace pin bosses, or linebore at service intervals. You can even install them into worn pin bosses, although there is a limit, by using oversized collets. If you would like further information feel free to shoot me an email. [email protected] MTI has been using these pins for several years, and has had a very good experience with them. By the way, they have a 10 year, 10k hour warranty.