Yesterday, while trying to replace my drive belt, I broke one of the ends off my tension turnbuckle because the thread were probably rusty.
I just received a new turnbuckle from WM.
I will be putting this in within the next few days, maybe even tomorrow.
So my question is, as this belt tension turnbuckle is new and clean, would you put "never seize" on the threads?
I don't want to break it again.
Jim Rogers
Yes Jim, turnbuckles think its ice cream,it will sure make adjustments easy later. frank C.
You broke it yesterday and received a new one today. Wow. I would put something on the threads and your idea sounds very good to me.
I called WM in ME yesterday and they can ship UPS regular ground and I get it the next day. If I call in time to meet the UPS driver's pickup schedule.
Also, you can get parts from home office in Indy with next day air when you need it.
I don't know about "never seize" but I'd put RustReaper on it if it were mine and I was worried about it resting up. I use it on the blade guide bolts and on the big cover thumb nuts.
Anytime I remove a nut or bolt from my mill, I always put antiseize grease on the threads.
One of these days I'd like to try RustReaper, never heard anything bad about it!
The old and new side by side:
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10095/2617/DSCF4776-2.JPG)
The new one is somewhat shorter then the old one.
On the old one; this is as far as I could turn the ends in. I wasn't enough to be able to lock the clutch lever into high idle mode at this length with a new belt. It had to be shorter.
These replacement ends are now frozen into the new one. I have them soaking now with Rust Reaper. Hopefully they will be able to be safely removed and saved for spare ends.
I will let you know how I make out.
I got these ends years ago as I was sawing one day and pulled down on the clutch lever and it came back but the engine did not lift up. What happened was the ball was worn in the loop and it fell out of the loop and disconnected from the engine plate.
I called into WM and they said, put it all back together with a large 7/16 diameter washer on the outside and it will hold the ball in the loop until the new loop ends arrive. Well it worked so well I left it until now.
I did manage to get through the day today, without having to put the new one in. I'm running with a spare one I got at a local hardware store. The hardware store one doesn't have the nice swivel ball ends like these. It just had two straight loops. I know, or at least I thought that these straight loops would wear on the bolts that hold the turnbuckle to the lever and the engine plate, so I stopped by home depot on the way to the job to get some "back up" bolts in case these were damaged too much to use with the new turnbuckle.
Before I left my desk, I made up a list of bolts, nuts and washers that I needed for this and a couple of other things that needed fixing.
When I got to the home depot store on the way to job, not my regular store, I found the hardware isle and wouldn't you know it, the bolt/nut company stock man was there stocking the shelves with stuff. He asked me right away what I needed. I quoted him from my list and he didn't have the 7/16- 20 x1 1/2 bolt I needed. But he did have 7/16-24x 1 1/2 instead. I said that I could use them as long as they came with nylon lock nuts. They didn't have nylon lock nuts in that size with that fine thread. So he suggested I use regular nuts and just back them up with lock washers. So he handed me a package of 7/16s lock washers and two loose nuts from the drawer.
I knew when I got to the self checkout lane that the watcher would have to look them up for me to pay for them. So, instead I went to the regular lane and had a check out clerk help me.
Big mistake.
So I tell her what size, type, thread and length they are and she finds the bolts no problem and rings them up with the other packaged stuff real fast.
Next I tell her I have two regular nuts to go with these bolts. 7/16"x 24-thread, regular zinc. She says to me that they don't sell them, they are not in the computer and if they aren't in the computer then we don't sell them. I told her that they do sell them as "she had one in her hand......!" So, I ended up paying for a 3/4" nut as that was the only thing she could find on the list.
After checking out, I walked back to the bolt shelf stock man and told him that he'd better "straighten them out" about what's in their computer and what's not as "they don't sell these here nuts I have in my hand......" according to the check out clerk.
My advice to you is if you pick out some loose nuts or bolts from the bins write done the stock number or sku number for the check out clerk to use when you get up there. I should have done that myself........
What an adventure in buying two nuts.
Jim Rogers
When I worked in the factory we used silver antiseize on them. I'm sure over the years it becomes ineffective. Its a good idea when your doing your yearly service to take it apart and reapply some every year.
Applying never seize, means never have to curse when you go to loosen
Ok, so yesterday while sawing in front of my customer, I pulled down on the clutch handle to make one of the last two cuts to finish the entire order, and SNAP.
He asked what happened.
I told him that a bolt has broken.
So I had to open her up and see which bolt has broke.
You see the clutch handle was down into the high speed position and the engine didn't lift up and run at high speed.
I knew my turnbuckle had a problem.
I have had this problem before.
The date on this old thread was 9/14/11
Since then I've been using the hardware store turnbuckle on my clutch linkage. The best $1.79 I ever spent.
It worked great until the mounting bolt wore through the end of the turnbuckle:
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10095/20140117_074615.jpg)
Below it is the original turnbuckle middle with two new ends that I got stuck and couldn't turn in all the way in order to properly adjust by belt tension.
To install the totally new turnbuckle, I opened it up until the ends matched as close as I could the ends of the hardware store turnbuckle.
I made the two cuts I needed to make to finish the job and sent the customer on his way.
As I made these two cuts, I could tell by the force needed to engage the lever that the belt tension was way too high. So having the guards still off, I turned the turnbuckle back two turns. And sawed out another log I needed for tomorrow's timber framing workshop class. I could tell that the tension was not right. If anything a little too loose.
Today's job is to proper make the adjustment to the turnbuckle and get the belt tension set right.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10095/New_turnbuckle_in_place.JPG)
Then I can put all the guards back on and saw some frozen oak.
Jim Rogers
Its always good to get a new part. Makes me feel better. :)
we used copper coat for years, never cease I am thinking is a copper base product. Even grease would be better than nothing. Copper base has always been a good go to for threads. Dissimilar metals reduce the bonding action. david
Last time I had that same turnbuckle on my mill out, I removed the two end rods and shot some PB Blaster down into the barrel and did a rinse job with it, then put the silver antisieze grease down into the barrel at both ends then I put some on the end rods and around the swivel ends!
I got the turnbuckle adjusted properly Friday, but didn't have a chance to take a picture.
I think my belt tension is right now.
It felt right pulling down the clutch lever.
Jim Rogers