Rapidor driveshaft removal

[MattF]

My first post on here, so before jumping to the asking advice part, hello all.

Wondered if anyone might be able to offer any tips on removing the driveshaft and crank arm from a Major? I'm in the process of stripping mine down, (there's some minor slop/wear in the bronze bushes, so thought I'd sort some new ones out and generally overhaul the saw before I put it into service), but I'll be damned if I can get the shaft out. This is the beastie giving me the grief:

The key, I'm assuming, is pressed into the shaft?, else the one I've got is just being awkward as the key won't tap out, and I've also tried putting a wood block between the uprights and using the internal nut to press against the block as I unwind it to try and push the shaft outwards, but I can't get either that crank arm casting to come off the shaft or the key to come out, so I can't get the shaft out either way at the moment.

Any hints or tips would be extremely welcome as to the best way to attack this, without resorting to just beating the crap out of it with a big hammer.

 

[the snooper]

i would imagine the key is removing the crank arm to show what is retaining the shaft

 

[MattF]

It's convincing that arm to part company with the shaft which is one of the problems I'm having. From what I can tell, it doesn't appear that there's anything stopping the shaft from coming out once either that arm is off or else the key is out, but getting either of those two to part from the shaft is a trying experience.

 

[rtbcomp]

If that's a Woodruff key try tapping it down at one end (use a brass drift) that should rotate it out of its slot.

 

[brightspark]

on the oposite leg take out the retaining bolt on the top as in my picture and remove the round bearing shaft tap it out . remove the nut on the crank and try tapping the shaft with a drift to loosen the crank dont damage the thread if. it wont budge warm the crank up and try again. once .crank is removed they will probably be a woodruff key fitted remove it and the shaft should pull through . failing that remove the woodruff key on right hand side of shaft tap the shaft in and put a couple of spacers between crank and the bearing then tap through as earlier described . i rebuilt and made new bushes for mine

 

[MattF]

Cheers for the advice chaps. Finally got it out. It definitely made me work for the result though. Started initially by trying to remove the key again, and that wouldn't budge no matter which method or way it was attacked. Tried popping it out as suggested by using a drift at one end, then by using a centre punch on the end of the key, to see if the taper of the punch shaft pushing against the shaft might raise it etc, but nowt worked, so called it a day on that method before any bad marking occured to the shaft. The key is looking a tad worse for wear now, but I should be able to get that out easily enough to replace it, now that the shaft is out.

Ended up heating the arm, again as suggested, (left the bolt insitu but flush with the outer end of the thread, to prevent any thread damage, and incase the shaft decided to try flying out once it started moving), then tapped the shaft with a mild steel rod with a larger piece of aluminium rod, (roughly the diameter of the nut, placed over the end of the steel bar), to distribute the load and prevent damage to the bolt/nut. That method eventually popped it, after progressing up a hammer size/weight or two. Turns out it's a taper fit between that arm and the shaft, so that explains why it was a devil to get apart. The shaft slid out smooth as owt once the seal between the two was cracked. Thanks again for all of the advice.

i rebuilt and made new bushes for mine

Aye, I'd already been admiring your saw. I've been browsing the forum over the last week or two to try and dig up any info on these beasts, and was quite impressed with the job you've done on yours. It's a credit to you. How did you go about making the bush, if you don't mind me asking? On this one, this is the only bush on the machine, (so at least I don't have cartloads of bushes to make, which I suppose is a plus), and it's a single length with two oilways grooved out on the inner surface.

 

[brightspark]

i cant remember if i cast the bush and turned it down or got one given of a guy that worked for a bus company and gave me a spring hanger bush near enough the rite size and i machined it to fit it was over 30years ago take a sample to any bearing place and they may have something that just needs a bit of machining to fit as its quite large and costly for a piece of bronze that size

 

[Robotstar5]

take a sample to any bearing place and they may have something that just needs a bit of machining to fit as its quite large and costly for a piece of bronze that size

Or have you got anywhere like this near you?

 

[MattF]

Cheers chaps. We do have one bearing supplier around here I could try, (wasn't sure if they still tended to stock these types of bush bearing nowadays), and I'll have a nose around the local scrappies and see if I can find owt which can be made to fit.

It's good to see from that link that some scrap merchants are finally twigging that there's a good local market for scrap metal. Some of them over this way will let you have a delve of whatever they have knocking about, but they aren't usually too fussy about how they store it, (read that as they just chuck it in the container or on a pile), so finding odds and sods in undamaged condition can be a fun exercise.