John Deere 2650 steering arm

[Guineafowl]

Nearly 1/8 turn of slack (RHS). Someone’s had a go at welding it:

Most of the wear is in the green cast part, not the shaft, comparing with the other side. It’s set up as a tapered fit, so tightening the main bolt takes up all the slack.

Good one left, bad one right:

A new arm is very expensive, and would probably be a false economy unless the shaft/kingpin is replaced too.

Any bright ideas on repairing it, before I just weld it up?

 

[Wildefalcon]

Bore it out and fit a sleeve, use a hand reamer to get the taper and then file for the splines.

 

[m_c]

Agriline list a spindle - https://agrilineproducts.com/74559-spindle-lh-rh-al28222-for-john-deere-2450-2650-2650n-2850 but not the arm.
Probably worth asking them if they can supply it, as they can occasionally get other bits.

Although having just looked at the spindle repair kits, there's apparently two different sizes. 35 and 38mm, so you'll probably have to measure yours to check.

 

[Guineafowl]

Bore it out and fit a sleeve, use a hand reamer to get the taper and then file for the splines.

I was thinking along those lines. How would I secure the sleeve, and get the right taper?

Agriline list a spindle - https://agrilineproducts.com/74559-spindle-lh-rh-al28222-for-john-deere-2450-2650-2650n-2850 but not the arm.
Probably worth asking them if they can supply it, as they can occasionally get other bits.

Although having just looked at the spindle repair kits, there's apparently two different sizes. 35 and 38mm, so you'll probably have to measure yours to check.

Spindle and arm will come to about £600 from Nick Young tractor parts. An option if I ruin it, though.

 

[Fazerruss]

I was thinking along those lines. How would I secure the sleeve, and get the right taper?

Spindle and arm will come to about £600 from Nick Young tractor parts. An option if I ruin it, though.

Make a taper shaft in the lathe. Use engineers blue and test fit the arm on shaft and keep doing cuts after adjusting compound slide until the taper matches.
Then swap shaft for arm in 4 jaw chuck and bore out to matching taper after you have brazed up the arm first. Keep a close eye on every cut and stop as soon as you touch the parent metal. The braze will have filled in the worn areas.
Then broach the splines while still in the lathe. ( it will take a while but it'll be perfect. Same ass broaching a keyway in lathe).

 

[Turbo]

Make a taper shaft in the lathe. Use engineers blue and test fit the arm on shaft and keep doing cuts after adjusting compound slide until the taper matches.
Then swap shaft for arm in 4 jaw chuck and bore out to matching taper after you have brazed up the arm first. Keep a close eye on every cut and stop as soon as you touch the parent metal. The braze will have filled in the worn areas.
Then broach the splines while still in the lathe. ( it will take a while but it'll be perfect. Same ass broaching a keyway in lathe).

Going to need a big lathe to swing that arm!

If it was me I'd service the king pin so it doesn't need servicing for years and weld the arm on. Vee everything out and use 309 or 312 rods.

The other alternative is to add dowel pins in between the splines with half in the shaft and half in the arm, replicating the splines. Will need a good pillar drill or milling machine to bore the holes.

Can you modify something so that the arm can slide further down on the taper?

 

[Gareth J]

Find someone breaking a 2wd 20 series? If you can get a casting that hasn't gone slack should be as good as a new one.

Then build up and file back any wear in the shaft.

 

[frank horton]

perhaps import a used arm.....from the US
or there must be breaker around....UK
a vv good breakers at

Barbezieux-Saint-Hilaire. france....​

acres of tractors, I mean acres......I never had a problem when asking for anything, they always had it.....​

another good place will be Holland and no language probs....they r big users of that brand....

 

[Brad93]

Build up with weld and remachine or bore out and sleeve

 

[reb78]

There's a tractor breaker in Devon who might be worth a try - https://www.rongreet.co.uk/

 

[8ob]

Clean up both bits, coat both in devcon or the like and push it back on, leave to cure for a day, refit retaining bolt. That will outlive the tractor.

Bob

 

[Brad93]

Clean up both bits, coat both in devcon or the like and push it back on, leave to cure for a day, refit retaining bolt. That will outlive the tractor.

Bob

Not a bad idea at all

OP if you can shotblast both parts for maximum adhesion

 

[MoreWellie]

Clean up both bits, coat both in devcon or the like and push it back on, leave to cure for a day, refit retaining bolt. That will outlive the tractor

and presumably hope that you never need to take it off

 

[Guineafowl]

Make a taper shaft in the lathe. Use engineers blue and test fit the arm on shaft and keep doing cuts after adjusting compound slide until the taper matches.
Then swap shaft for arm in 4 jaw chuck and bore out to matching taper after you have brazed up the arm first. Keep a close eye on every cut and stop as soon as you touch the parent metal. The braze will have filled in the worn areas.
Then broach the splines while still in the lathe. ( it will take a while but it'll be perfect. Same ass broaching a keyway in lathe).

Lathe not big enough to swing the arm, sadly, so it would have to be an insert job. Also, the taper in the arm is buggered, so I'd have to copy the intact one on the other side. An option, though, cheers.

Going to need a big lathe to swing that arm!

If it was me I'd service the king pin so it doesn't need servicing for years and weld the arm on. Vee everything out and use 309 or 312 rods.

The other alternative is to add dowel pins in between the splines with half in the shaft and half in the arm, replicating the splines. Will need a good pillar drill or milling machine to bore the holes.

Can you modify something so that the arm can slide further down on the taper?

Yes, welding as a last resort. I've got some nikko steel rods, and would preheat the arm, and hopefully do a bit better than the last bloke.
I think the kingpin (male splined bit) is hardened, so the bit might divert into the arm. As I say, female taper is goosed so sliding further down won't help.

There's a tractor breaker in Devon who might be worth a try - https://www.rongreet.co.uk/

I'd forgotten about him! Went there many years ago. Trying him, now.

Clean up both bits, coat both in devcon or the like and push it back on, leave to cure for a day, refit retaining bolt. That will outlive the tractor.

Bob

Would that be Devcon metal epoxy putty?

and presumably hope that you never need to take it off

Yes, ideally make it dismantle-able, hence trying to avoid welding. I could maybe wrap or grease the shaft?

 

[sako243]

What about painting the king pin with a reasonably thick coat of paint. Then do @8ob's method to effectively refill the taper and then you can possibly remove the king pin at a later date by breaking the paint layer out.

 

[8ob]

Getting it off again would be easy, five minutes with a blow torch and it will let go. If you could get a seal around the base of the arm you could probably get away with running araldite into the gap.

Bob

 

[Brad93]

Exactly as bob says.

Belzona 1111 is another brand

Resimac is another

 

[addjunkie]

Clean up both bits, coat both in devcon or the like and push it back on, leave to cure for a day, refit retaining bolt. That will outlive the tractor.

Bob

Id agree with this, or once set, drill down in a couple of places and insert hard pins to give extra stiction when turning.
Belzona 1111 would get my vote.

 

[Gareth J]

I would imagine anything epoxyish would get chewed up and fail in a pretty short time. Unless, maybe, you're just pootling on a golf course.

But hey ho, it's a relatively inexpensive and non destructive option and plenty of experienced folk recommending products so, worth a go...

 

[Brad93]

I would imagine anything epoxyish would get chewed up and fail in a pretty short time. Unless, maybe, you're just pootling on a golf course.

But hey ho, it's a relatively inexpensive and non destructive option and plenty of experienced folk recommending products so, worth a go...

We've used it on compressor shafts and vanes spinning at a few thousand RPM