Pins and bushings question
Printed From: Unofficial Allis
Category: Allis Chalmers
Forum Name: Construction and other equipment
Forum Description: everything else with orange (or yellow) paint
URL: https://www.allischalmers.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=84476
Printed Date: 25 Apr 2025 at 3:24am
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Topic: Pins and bushings question
Posted By: Yooper Rod
Subject: Pins and bushings question
Date Posted: 07 Feb 2014 at 7:00pm
| Because I have an HD-3 dozer and a 715 backhoe, as well as 2 farm tractors; sorry they're red, and a bunch of ancient farm machinery, I am kicking the idea of getting a metal lathe to fab some of my parts. I was wondering if anyone on the forum has turned their own pins and bushings. |
Replies:
Posted By: Yooper Rod
Date Posted: 07 Feb 2014 at 7:03pm
| I forgot to say that since I am now RETIRED, I now have the time for my restoration projects |
Posted By: JC-WI
Date Posted: 07 Feb 2014 at 9:27pm
|
Pins and bushings for the HD3 tracks? or things like loader pins ad bushings? anything is possible but certainly needs the correct netal allurgy to withstand the wesr and stress...
Fellow made P&B for a crawler just to show it... wasn't very long and the work he done was worn too. Mild steel didn't work well for him. ------------- He who says there is no evil has already deceived himself The truth is the truth, sugar coated or not. Trawler II says, "Remember that." |
Posted By: DiyDave
Date Posted: 08 Feb 2014 at 6:10am
| Pins and bushings are hardened, you need special equipment to handle them, like tool post grinders. |
Posted By: DMiller
Date Posted: 08 Feb 2014 at 7:55am
|
Most pins/bushings are formed soft, hardened after rough finishing then finish surfaced after hardened. Holds true for almost all hardened steel products, all rough formed soft then hardened after. Tolerances won't be hard to work out but a annealing oven to soften a high hardness steel then another treatment system of oven tempering/cooler media to bring it back to a hardness level to make it work functional will be expensive. Those are temperature and time critical events the industries made strides in, smithing can come close but when you are talking of dozens of pins/bushings then the quality control can be suspect with eventual catastrophic failures. Beyond that will need a pin/bushing remover/installer, and some way to repair the face wear region of the links for proper ride height and roller contact wear area. |
Posted By: CTuckerNWIL
Date Posted: 08 Feb 2014 at 9:02am
|
You could make your own pins and bushings for loaders and backhoes. They won't last as long as "store bought ones" but you could have fun making them. Getting grease to the working points will make em last as long as you'll ever need if you don't make a living with the machines. The heat treat process can vary widely with materials used and can be complicated. You can harden oil quenched material with a torch, if you know what you are doing but tempering is a little trickier. You might be able to buy stock in sizes that would work just by cutting to length. The problem there is having to buy long lengths and needing multiple sizes. Aww heck, just buy the lathe and have at it. Of all the machine tools I have used in my life, the lathe has always been my favorite, just some are more fun than others.  http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c146/Bluegrallis/clips%20from%20work/DSCN0935.mp4" rel="nofollow">  ------------- http://www.ae-ta.com" rel="nofollow - http://www.ae-ta.com Lena 1935 WC12xxx, Willie 1951 CA6xx Dad bought new, 1954WD45 PS, 1960 D17 NF |
Posted By: Andrew_D
Date Posted: 08 Feb 2014 at 9:03am
|
I wouldn't recommend making your own track pins and bushings. That's goping to be a lot of work and if not done with the correct material, you'll be doing it again...and again...and again... As far as other "round objects"...go for it! I've got a WW2-era lathe. Canadian made. 20" swing x ~4' centers. Works great for repair work around the farm. Also do a bit for neighbours now and then, including a local construction company. Also have a large mill and a 4' radial arm drill in my "large tools" collection. All manual, no CNC stuff, which is fine for one-off repair work. Andrew Edit: CTuckerNWIL... That's a lathe! |
Posted By: Coke-in-MN
Date Posted: 08 Feb 2014 at 10:20am
|
Track pins and bushings are left to the mfg. as more to them than home projects. Loader and moving parts which use pins and bushings - another story. Have replaced most pins in most equipment (if worn) on about everything i own with ones i have made myself. Bushings are another story as they are hardened material that protects the base metal from wear - so finding them either from bearing house or OEM supplier is easiest but even then i have modified some to make them work ------------- Faith isn't a jump in the dark. It is a walk in the light. Faith is not guessing; it is knowing something. "Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful." |
Posted By: Yooper Rod
Date Posted: 08 Feb 2014 at 6:28pm
| Thanks for the inputs. I just wanted to know if anyone had done it. Looked around on the internet last night and found a few lathes and some heat treat ovens that are in my price range. Thought it might be a fun project. Besides I'm on a little bit of a roll, managed to convince my better half that I needed that almost new Lincoln welder I bought yesterday. |
Posted By: Dozer
Date Posted: 10 Feb 2014 at 4:21pm
|
I was seriously thinking of doing this myself a while ago. Pins and bushings are made of low alloy steel and hardened. Turned Ground and Polished barstock is available. It happens that My HD6G uses 1.375 pins (a standard size available with tight tolerences) SAE 1040 TG&P steel is up to the task with exelent hardenability. That is ware the good news ends. When I priced the steel it was $12.79 per foot. Each 10 foot bar weighs 50.43# The raw material for one track is $306.96 If you are uncomfortable taking a 50# 10 foot bar into your basement, for a little bit more you can have your steel supplier cut the pins to length on their automatic saw. Now all you have to do is face and chamfer the pins and take them to the heat treater. For the bushings DOM alloy tubing is available in SAE 1040, 1045, 1050 and 4130 all good choises. The bushing material is more expensive than the pins. The last set of pins and bushings I was able to purchase cost $475 and $125 for shipping for one track. If you need a couple pins and bushings that you can't purchase, then go to it. I consider myself more than frugal, I'm down right cheap and I think many of us who like to play with old crawlers are verrrrry cheap. So realisticly you have no market. Sorry I expect that some of you will argue that pins and bushings are made of more exotic alloys than I have mentioned but my experience shows that replacement pins and bushings are made of lower alloy and carburized. |
Posted By: blackbirdstud
Date Posted: 10 Feb 2014 at 6:10pm
| well If I have any input i work in a prototype department at Timken bearing I am making pins and bushings now on a CNC lathe so I can spit them out liek hot cakes... I plan on heat treating them as well...any specs on hardness of the old pins? |