Broken Shift Lever

The shift lever on an ATV takes a lot of abuse.  They are constantly being kicked and pushed around with your foot.  The most common problem with them is that they work loose and the small splines that connect them to the shift shaft wear out.  That did not happen to this machine, instead the lever simply broke off.

This photos shows me holding the lever in place where it is supposed to be.

This close up tells a little more of the story.  To remove the lever you take out the pinch bolt by the green arrow and the lever slides off the shaft.  It is important that the bolt is removed all the way, there is a groove in the shaft that the bolt passes through.   A few years ago someone was working on this machine and wanted to get the shift lever off for some reason.  They loosened the bolt, but did not remove it all the way, leaving the lever loose but still stuck.  They then got a large crow bar and preyed on the back side of the lever.  Eventually the small C clip that holds the shift shaft into the transmission failed and the whole shaft came loose.

After this happened they called me up to ask if I could fix the shift shaft that was now falling out of the transmission.  To fix it properly would require removing the engine from the machine and splitting the entire engine and transmission open to replace the C clip on the end of the shaft.  This would be a very long and expensive job. 

In order to save myself some time (and the customer a lot of money), I found an easier way.  The shaft was still able to shift the gears inside, but would simple fall out because there was no longer anything to hold it in place.  The red arrow points to my quick and easy solution.  I simply welded an "ear" unto the frame that keeps the shaft from sliding out.  It has worked fine for several years, and this new problem appears to  be unrelated.  This time the lever actually broke off at an original factory weld.

Fixing the lever this time is a rather simple welding job.  The only complication is the limited access to the welding area.  This photo shows one of my welding tricks.  Sometimes you can bend your welding rod to reach around obstructions.  In this case I used a "U" bend in the rod to allow me to weld on the back side of the lever where there is only a couple of inches of space.

Here is the completed job, ready for a few more years of being kicked around.

Traveling - Nome

I recently spent some time in Nome at my friend Roger's.  You may remember Roger from my house jacking project this fall, or you may have seen him lighting a fuse over on my family blog.  Roger helped me out with the house so I came into Nome to help him out with a few mechanic jobs.

Roger has a Polaris 550 with a lot of hard miles on it.  Almost all those miles have been across bumpy tundra pulling a big sled.  When the machine was new Roger built this tow hitch and fuel can rack for the back.  It is made from 1/4" steel plate and it has held up fine.   Unfortunately the aluminum tunnel that it is bolted to is starting to crack in half.

I took everything apart on the back of the machine so I could straighten out the bent and broken tunnel.  Once I had that back together I welded up some longer braces for the tow hitch.  The hitch now has two pieces of flat bar that run all the way up to the foot wells. 

Snowmobile Tow Hitch

In the winter our primary means of transportation is by snowmobile.  Most of the time when you are snowmobiling here you are pulling a sled.  All of this sled pulling puts a lot of wear and tear on the tow hitch.

The factory made tow hitches that come with snowmobiles are never tough enough.  I replace a lot of them for people.  Here is a collection of broken and wore out hitches.  Many of these are the type that fit into a tube on the rear bumper and they are held in place by some type of pin.  The pin is never strong enough, it eventually bends.  Frequently the hitches are made from metal that is too thin or they have inadequate welds.  Another source of trouble is the latch that keeps the sled connected, the springs fall out or the latch bends.

Over the years I have come up with a replacement that solves all of these problems.  I build my tow hitches with a 1/2" clevis, a 3/4" bolt and a nyloc nut.  If you use a quality clevis they are made with an alloy steel that seems to wear better than the typical mild steel factory units.  The shape of the clevis also makes for a better tow hook than the usual "J" hook.  The clevis is narrow at the top and keeps the sled draw bar from coming out.  The shape works so well that I often don't screw the clevis pin in the top.

After grinding the galvanizing off the clevis I clamp them together for welding.

This is a very important weld that must be done carefully.  These are the tools that I use to clean the slag off between weld passes.  The top three are typical welding tools, but the bottom one is one of my favorites.  It is a standard Stanley awl.  If you hold it loosely with one hand and tap on the end of it rapidly with the wire brush of the side of the chipping hammer it acts like a mini needle scaler.

Here is a close up of the completed weld.  An old well driller that I used to work with would say that a good weld "looked like a stack of dimes."

This is the completed hitch.  The nyloc nut holds it much more secure than a little pin through a hole.

Here is the new hitch on the back of a Polaris.

Welding - Sled Hitch

A lot of my time spent in the shop is on mechanic work, but I also do a far amount of welding.  Today I made a hitch for a snowmobile sled.  This is a very common welding job for me.  I seem to make a few every winter.  Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the hitch.

I did take a photo of my home made "fish mouth" marking tool.  When you weld two tubes (or pipes) together you need to cut a "fish mouth" into one of them to make them fit together.  There are several different commercially manufactured machines for cutting these notches,  but they are all rather expensive or require a selection of cutters matched to your tubing size. 

Over the years I have found that it is easy to cut these notches with an angle grinders if you have the tube marked properly.  The tricky part is marking the tube.

This photo shows the tube being marked on top.   My marking gauge can be adjusted to a wide range of tubing sizes and can also mark tubes that intersect at different angles.  Once the tube is marked I use one angle grinder with a .045 cutoff wheel to take the big chunks out and then another grinder with a regular wheel to trim down to the line.  With a little practice it only takes a few minutes for each tube.

Hopefully next time I'll remember to get some photos of the notches and the welding.



Trailer

There are 3 or 4 regional airlines that operate out of Nome.  Tim Henry is the local "agent" in Brevig for two of the airlines.  When the planes land here he hauls all of the freight that comes in and helps the passengers get to and from the airport.   He normally has 2 or 3 planes a day that he takes care of.  Many of the planes will have 500 to 1000 lbs of freight.  Some of the larger planes could have as much as 5000 lbs.  It all adds up to a lot of miles and abuse on his trailer.

Today he brought the trailer over to my shop to have it fixed up.  The frame is cracked in a few places and the tongue was almost ready to fall off.  I used my crane to flip the trailer up on edge.  I used an angle grinder to cut off the broken parts.  Tomorrow I will weld up the cracks and reinforce the tongue.

In this photo you can see some of the work that I have coming up.  There are three ATVs, one motorcycle, and a few outboard motors.

Update:
Finished the trailer today, 3 hours total time. I didn't get a picture of the finished job.  As I was finishing the last weld a large Ryan Air cargo plane flew over.  Tim stopped down to get the trailer just as I was putting my tools away.

Hydraulic Press

Here are the parts for a hydraulic press that I am building for a friend.