farmer fixes

[Mitch]

someone tapped and installed two allen key set screws to hold in the bearing cup / race.

[Beauford]

I like it!!

[Mike]

In a pinch I would do it ! Last week I had a bearing/race fail on a Roadster with 32 brake setup, I had to make a sleeve to make the race fit tight.
mike

[Patrick]

When I was a youngster Ford was having issues with loose front bearing cups/races. Their fix was to slightly prick punch 2 rows around the hub. I didn't think much of that fix, but, thats what we were told to do. Well, it works. It centers the bearing very well and never had a problem with it.

I don't know when Ford stopped that, but, in todays society I'm sure they would no longer want that done.

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

It's a wunder he didn't WELD it in---LOL
Dad

[Terry, NJ]

It's called "Staking" I've seen it done in machine shops. But I was surprised to see it on a nose wheel of a Piper. (New wheel $500)

[Mitch]

When I was a youngster Ford was having issues with loose front bearing cups/races. Their fix was to slightly prick punch 2 rows around the hub. I didn't think much of that fix, but, thats what we were told to do. Well, it works. It centers the bearing very well and never had a problem with it.

I don't know when Ford stopped that, but, in todays society I'm sure they would no longer want that done.

i dimple them up with a straight punch and then green loktite the cup in. Never had a problem, but yes from past threads everyone has they're own preference and methods on this.

[Terry, NJ]

Mitch, Bet ya didn't know you could put a fine straight knurl on a "male" shaft with the edge of a coarse file and a lead hammer. (Male shaft, female bearing)!

[Mitch]

What's a lead hammer?? :rolling

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

LOOSE races are usually caused by the "LOOSEY GOOSEY" ways some folks adjust their FRONT WHEEL BEARINGS!!! I've heard some methods that are "almost" DANGEROUS!!!
I'd better shut down & go to BED, before we get that discussion going, AGAIN!!!
Bill Preload

[Mitch]

LOOSE races are usually caused by the "LOOSEY GOOSEY" ways some folks adjust their FRONT WHEEL BEARINGS!!! I've heard some methods that are "almost" DANGEROUS!!!
I'd better shut down & go to BED, before we get that discussion going, AGAIN!!!
Bill Preload

I agree that there should be no endplay after adjusting a front wheel bearing. I was reading the owners manual tonight and it states to tighten the nut till the hub starts to bind, then back it off a notch or two for the cotter. To me that's means no end play

I adjust all the cars i work on vintage or modern to the positive side of 0 end play. Probably a few inch pounds of torque.

Leaving them loose and wobbly would not make any sense from many angles, brakes, alignment, steering etc.

[Greynomad]

No sense at all - unless you have a death wish!

[Terry, NJ]

I have always set mine by tightening with a wrench and the backing off then retightening the nut by hand. It's hard to over tighten using just your fingers.

[JDupuis]

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[JDupuis]

Was on my barn car. Jeff

[Mitch]

Why did you replace it? It should last at least another 100K

[BNCHIEF]

Why replace a balanced pulley?

[JDupuis]

Balance beads didn't work in the pantyhose fanbelt!

[MikeK]

Using point pressure (screws) to secure a bearing race will surely distort it into an eccentric shape. To me this is a very bad idea.

[George Miller]

Me to. Plus it looks like only two. 3 would have made more sense, but still no good.

[H. L. Chauvin]

It is really so difficult to realize today, (may even seem humorous); however, after hearing so many "sad", family survival stories from humble guys born in the late 1800's and early 1900's, farmer fixes tend to make one think.

A: Saw a 1930 photo of grammar school kids with one little girl wearing a pair of about size 12 shoes ...... the mother of another little girl later told me this little girl's father did not want his daughter to be embarrassed as the only child barefooted in a photo, so he loaned his daughter his large, over-sized high top plow shoes to wear.

B. Another guy broke his wagon wheel on a Saturday afternoon, so he loaded his wife and 12 young children in a wood skiff and transported them (13) miles to church the next morning pulling them on dry ground with a mule team.

C. Baked sweet potatoes (3) meals a day, anyone?

D. My Model A coupe in 1958 came with operating metal RC Cola signs for both side windows?

No doubt many could add to similar experiences.

[Dennis]

Many times when I was working for contractors I made it run no matter what it took.

I knew a Superintendent that always preached fix it right. You shoulda seen some of the cobbled up crap he sent out from his shop.

[2manycars]

In this age of plenty, we often forget that in years past, many people did not have much, and some just barely made it. Cobbling things together to make them work when you cannot afford a proper fix, is no laughing matter. It got them by, and that was more important than looks. When I was a kid, hand me down clothes were normal. Try that today with the spoiled brats and see how far you get. On one farm where I worked, there was a home made rig to unload corn silage from the truck that had a winch arragement on it. The gear reduction unit was an old transmission with no top shifter, and a big hole in the side. We slid the gears to and fro to select speed, and dumped used motor oil on the gears every little while. And remember, all of these repairs were not done by farmers, every kind of person made do with what was available. I remember seeing a model A motor that had a piece of sheet metal screwed over a big hole in the block where a rod had come through. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

[Mitch]

Well said Bill
These A's are like a time capsule from 89 years ago. Most of the old time fixes that we see today actually held up and kept the cars on the road for all this time. That hub i posted with the allen set screws was off of my car. The bearing cup was not wacked out of round and was performing it's job. I bet i could have left it that way

[George Miller]

Well I use to a Farmer, but I would never fix one like that. If I had no other way I would use the punch mark way, tell I could fix it right.

[2manycars]

Well said Bill
These A's are like a time capsule from 89 years ago. Most of the old time fixes that we see today actually held up and kept the cars on the road for all this time. That hub i posted with the allen set screws was off of my car. The bearing cup was not wacked out of round and was performing it's job. I bet i could have left it that way

I restored a model A from Uregruay some years ago, and it may have had several hundred thousand miles on it when I got it. The front end was worn out, and I had to replace the steering balls, the transmission was so worn only the case could be saved, the engine was so used up that the cam had worn to the point that someone welded the ends of the pushrods to take up the clearance. The brakes had been modified with drums I could not identify, and the list went on and on. The car was originally a roadster, but someone down there had cut the back off the body and installed a nicely made wooden truck box. The point was that someone had kept this car in service all the way to the late 1990's by unconventional repairs. I think that was better than junking it, since the new owner could now enjoy it.

[canadian]

Farmers Fix. when i purchased my 29 back a few years ago, during disassembly when removing tires from rims there were no tubes only straw packed tightly inside. tires had string tied to bead and laced to spokes, no whitewalls ..LOL

[JDupuis]

Would love to see a photo. Jeff

[Ed H]

I agree that there should be no endplay after adjusting a front wheel bearing. I was reading the owners manual tonight and it states to tighten the nut till the hub starts to bind, then back it off a notch or two for the cotter. To me that's means no end play

I adjust all the cars i work on vintage or modern to the positive side of 0 end play. Probably a few inch pounds of torque.

Leaving them loose and wobbly would not make any sense from many angles, brakes, alignment, steering etc.

I totally agree. I would snub them up, then back off for first cotter pin hole. Never had any issues.

[Ed H]

When I was a little puppy I worked for a shop run by an old timer. He took a Ford chassis, made a boom out of old steel beams, used a three speed car trans to power the winch. He welded a clutch hub to a gear, then welded the hub to the trans input shaft. It was far from running true believe me. Power came from a pto that was chain driven. If you put that trans in first gear, that old truck would do some hard pulling. The brakes were held with a steel rod that went up against a stop on the floor. No fancy brake locks for him.

I also had the pleasure of working with a 84 yr old doing maintenance work. He grew up in that era, I would take a set of points out because they were pitted really bad, throw them in the trash, he would walk behind me, take them out of the trash, put them in the new box and put them back in stock. I got so angry with him (for maybe 30 seconds) as i would reach for a new set and find old ones. I still feel I wish I knew what that man has forgotten.

[DaWizard]

Ran across something very interesting today, I do hope these pictures do it justice.

[pAAt]

Damn, sure looks like my old truck !!

[Dennis]

Is that piece on the LH driver side that looks like it could have been for the clutch? He probably wasted a 1/4 of a K bottle cutting that piece. Heavy Duty

[DaWizard]

Dennis, if you are referring too the cross bolted piece in the last pic, YES, that is the arm for the clutch!

[Tom Wesenberg]

Ran across something very interesting today, I do hope these pictures do it justice.

I'll bet that master cylinder mounting is sure to pass DOT.
Wonder if he ever got insurance on that thing?

[Terry, NJ]

Although I do it too, restoring a car is the mechanical version of a paint by numbers, who can stay inside the lines better! We're always following someone else's design. Many of us are quite happy replicating old ways, methods, and designs. No shame in that. But many of us want to break new ground. The old ways were fine for then, but this is now, "and I've got this idea I've been meaning to try out." This is where true progress is developed. Having worked in a model shop, I've observed true creativity up close, in fact I was a part of it. We never "knocked" any of it unless it was so crudely made it was dangerous. Workmanship was the key! If you built it nicely, shiny with all the edges broken, it was "Creative", If you made junk, it was "Junk" or it was "Proof of Concept". So workmanship is the key. Make your fixes, alterations, and changes so well that they become acceptable even if they aren't used.
Terry

[Terry, NJ]

For a real lesson in mechanical creativity, do a search on the show "Cuban Chrome". Talk about a shoestring! These guys are desparate! I was watching them marry a 52 Olds to a Russian fishing boat engine. Would have loved to know the details of that pairing!
Terry

[pAAt]

Farmer fixed a farmer fix.

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

Folks did what they HAD to do, MANY even lived down in the sticks, with NO Electricity!
Chief cut off an Essex Sedan, used a Model T engine & trans, with the Essex trans, "somehow"??? coupled behind that, & built a SEMI, to haul cotton from the "bottom" lands, to town. He'd MOCK up stuff & a trip to the town Blacksmith, to fabricate stuff. He didn't remember, for sure, HOW they coupled the 2 transmissions together??? When I asked, "Whut did you build the Fifth Wheel from"? He, matter of factly, said, "Wood"---I was afraid to ask for details!
I remember, at the Wrecking Yards, an area of rear ends, upended, with a Big Coffee can wired over the front of the torque tubes! THEN, sumone comes on here & sez, "Whut's the gear ratio on my JUNKY '29 RPU"?---Who in HELL knows UR knows how to make the SPEEDOMOMETER read "RIGHT"???---LOL
Out in back, the Blacksmith even had a Corn Grinder, to make Corn Meal, powered by a HIT & MISS motor. In later years, Chief & Uncle "Pappy" built us a house, just across a lot, from the Blacksmith, who was VERY instrumental in keepin' Folks' cars WELDED TOGETHER!!!
I culd BORE you to DEATH, with STORIES & STORIES, of crap I recomember!
Dad Rattlin'stuff

[H. L. Chauvin]

Laughing At Farmer Fixes:

Just one (1) opinion from many years of experience, after being raised and living for years in an original over 300 year old former Colonial Totally Rural Community:

Thank God for Rural Farmers, Rural Americans, and the known, experienced, and realized Common-Sense shown to our City Slickers in Combat while in War Zones Areas, by past U.S. Combat Soldiers from Rural Farm Areas.

Common sense rural, country people and farmers have a long history of leadership& survival through difficult hard times throughout the entire World since B.C. times.

If our U.S.A. ever would have to depend solely on our inner city folks today, (without enough common sense to raise chickens and cattle, catch fish, or plant cabbage), our entire U.S.A. would probably all be voting to obtain more multiple EBT cards & food stamps to purchase Smoked Inner City Rodent Manure Burgers, (3) meals a day, hanging out at expensive Casinos, and exposing their butt cracks while throwing rocks & bricks at our brave, loyal inner city policemen.

Thank God for Farmers and Mechanical Farmer Fixes on Model A's, and farmers and rural Americans with Common Sense holding on to our constitutional morality, & profound respect for maintaining our God Given Great American Life in general to be passed on to our posterity

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

When looking back through Family Trees, most occupations were FARMERS!
That's how most were able to EAT to survive.
Dad Beenthere

[Greynomad]

The same thing applies here. I don't think your observations are restricted to the US. It seems things have gone backwards worldwide in this regard. I've made some roadside repairs that got me home and I'm proud of but I can't even tell anyone about them these days because they know nothing

[Bobm90]

AMEN !!!