Two New Tools For Making Deere Tractor Repairs

Two New Tools For Making Deere Tractor Repairs FARM SHOP Tools 20-3-32 Mechanic and inventor Bruce Gamble, La Feria, Texas, designed and built a tool to repair the front casting on Deere MFWD tractors. "It works fast and saves about $1,000 per job," says Gamble. The problem is that the front axle pivot pin wears through the bronze bushing and into the casting, thus "egg-shaping" the hole. If you try to put a new bushing in the hole, it won't hold. Gamble's tool makes it possible to drill out the old hole to a larger diameter and then install a new bushing. The best part is you can make the repair right on the tractor. His tool consists of a 1 1/2-in. dia., 25-in. long boring bar that attaches to a 1/2-in. electric drill, a guide assembly, and a drill press-type feeding mechanism. Gamble removes the front axle and weights and bolts a 16-in. sq., 3/4-in. thick steel plate onto the front of the frame to hold the drill in place. The guide assembly bolts to the plate to keep the boring bar aligned properly. He inserts the boring bar through a hole in the plate and into the worn-out casting and drills it out until it's round, cranking the handles on the tool as necessary to slowly feed the bar into the casting. Then he drives a steel bushing into the hole to bring it back to its original size and reinserts the front axle. "It takes only about two hours to install the tool and bore out the casting," says Gamble. "Otherwise, replacing the castings is a 20-hour job which can tie up your tractor for days. You have to remove the tractor's weights, fuel tank, hydraulic pump, oil reservoirs and, on some tractors, the side frames. The casting weighs about 1,000 lbs. so it's hard to handle and you can break bolts, hydraulic lines, etc." Gamble sells the tool for $2,000 plus S&H. Custom made bushings - depending on the size of the hole you have to drill - sell for $50 apiece plus S&H. Gamble also makes a specialty tool for repairing the hole in the wheel casting where the tie rod fits on Deere 2955 tractors. The problem is that the outside end of the tie rod works loose causing it to wear on the hole in the axle casting. The tie rod cannot then be tightened up because the hole is wallowed out. The only solution is to replace the axle casting at a cost of about $850 per side plus seals and labor. The tool consists of a 1-in. thick steel plate that bolts onto the casting using the fender mounting holes. The plate has a bushing that fits over the hole and serves as a guide for a drill bit. Gamble removes the tie rod and bolts the tool in place, then uses a 1/2-in. drill with a 1 1/4-in. bit to drill through the bushing and into the hole. Once it's drilled out, he presses a tapered bushing into the hole and reinserts the tie rod. "It takes only about 20 minutes to re-pair the hole on each side of the axle," he says. The tool sells for $400 plus S&H. Bushings sell for $30 apiece plus S&H. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Bruce Gamble, Rt. 1, Box 173, La Feria, Texas 78559 (ph 210 797-2169)

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