These diagonal brace ball joints are worn and the blade slops from side to side. Is there a simple way to get the slop out of the blade. They have been welded up at some point so there is no adjustment. I am not going to be doing any production work.
I saw an old timer remove the bolts on the flanges, slid the flanges back , and wrapped the ball with a strip of leather and bolted the flange back up. I thought he was full of s#$% til I saw it actually worked. I dont know how long it lasted but he was happy with the results.
Hard to see from the photo but are there any shims left between the 4-bolt cap and the housing.?
Oh no, they would have been used up ages ago. I have thought up a devious plan to get thin round plate and press it into a semi hemisphere and jam in it there. I have the workshop facilities to do that.
Build the balls up with some relatively soft weld material maybe..?
That would work.
Welding on the ball or the sockets won't work. Been there and done that. Are you planing on grading something to GPS specs? Unless the push arms are riding against the tracks, the blade being sloppy is no big deal. Old timers around here prefer some movement on old oval track dozers.
I’d be a little more concerned about the condition of your lift cylinders.
Would maching or grinding the caps a little for a tighter fit be an option?
The caps are not the problem, it's the sockets and the trunnion balls that have worn. Stuffing some bent sheet metal is probably the best you can do short of putting in new trunnion balls.
the very first post will work better than anything but new balls. we used to run leather belting for rod bearings in model a ford motors
Yea, I am aware of the condition of the chroming on the lift rams. I am also aware of the price to get them rechromed $1500-$2000 per rod. They will get done eventually, however not at this point in time. I do not like sloppy sloppy blades. I am not after something tight as tight, a bit of free play is fine.
I just saw the shells of the seals on the rods. Hopefully they’ve been replaced and those are the former ones.
Yea that is not the current wiper seal that is installed.
Years ago had similar problem ,boss had machine shop make up new ball and I welded it on.
Yea I could make some elongated balls and weld them on. But I feel the plate method will suffice for the time being. I have new balls and plates ordered for the tilt ram and opposite side.