The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

Hello from summer climes...
I am in the process of renovating my front axle, my Dexta has no spacers on the pivot pin. Can anyone provide either a source of these new or dimensions to make, please?

Secondly, the main axle yoke, as a result of years of slop, has a hairline crack either side of the pivot hole. Can I have this welded or am I looking for a replacement!

Kind regards, Derek.

Hello Derek, IF i can remember right there is agood post on the old board about this, the way i done mine was i got 2 big washers , i had to file them to the right size and poped them in . done the job and are still good. Iwould say the weld would do the other job. GERRY

There was indeed a discussion on the other site concerning whether or not spacers should be fitted. There is a reference to them in the manuals and I posted a photo of a pivot pin complete with washers. Others will argue that they are not required, if that is the case, why did the design engineers' specify them in the first place?

If I, as an Engineer, apply engineering logic to this question, then my answer is yes, spacer washers should be fitted in order to disribute the forces which act on the axle. However this is my own view and consequently any axles which I rebuild will be fitted with spacers.

I assume that when you refer to renovating your front axle you are rebushing the carrier in order to remove any play? Bear in mind that any excessive play at the axle will tend to be multiplied at the spherical ends of the radius arms.

Are the cracks to which you refer located in the bracket or the steel bosses/bushes? If they are in the bracket, you should locate and drill a hole at the end of the cracks to prevent them from spreading prior to welding them up.

Gerald

thanks for the replies, I have spent today stripping out the front end to see what I can achieve. The following is the centre yoke of the axle assembly, the centre hole looks better now without the well worn bush but I am worried about the obvious stress fractures, you should be able to see them in the pic as vertical brown lines, one to the right of the hole, two to the left.

Considering this tractor is intended to work, is welding an option for me?

Appreciate your thoughts, regards, Derek.

I misread your earlier thread and didn't realise that the cracks were in the axle. I'm surprised to see cracks in that area at the top of the axle as it would normally be in compression.

Do the cracks extend right through to to the other side of the axle or are they resticted to the area we can see in the photo? Either way they need to be ground out to the root of the cracks to prevent them propagating. If the cracks are not too deep after grinding you may well get away with just leaving them. If the grinding has removed too much metal then an attempt should be made to weld them up.

Welding is rarely 100% successful in these cases and I would start looking for a replacement axle!

Incidentally the photograph reveals that due to the axle twisting on the pin, the pin has worn through the bush and worn the axle. Ideally the axle requires to be bored out and an oversize bush and a new pin fitted. You may well find that the bores in the axle support bracket are also worn and oversize!

Gerald