Crazy ideal? Welding bronze bushings

[muddstopper]

This probably sounds strange since bushings are made to be replaced. What i have is a small swinging lift like you would find on the back of some service body trucks. Capacity is around 1000lbs. It has an electric winch for the actual lifting. Anyways, it was given to me after laying around in the mud for years. I managed to get the winch to working, added new cable and now have a working lift for my wood splitter. Problem is where the post fits down in the support base. I had to machine a new hub for the bottom to set in, but the base is pretty well eat up with rust. Its 2 1/2in schedule 40 pipe just slid down into a larger pipe. What I am considering is machining a couple of collars to weld around the top of the base and the bottom of the riser pipe to tighten up the rust pitted fit. I am thinking about just brazing up one side of the collars and machining them down to a flat fit just to reduce wear and friction from the swinging boom. The heaviest weight I will be picking up is a piece of firewood, couple hundred lbs at most and I just want to eliminate the slop that is already rusted into the boom. My question is what kind of brazing material would be best to use. I could mig it up and machine it down, but this things gets used out in the weather and any steel material would just rust and bind. I figure brass or bronze, gas welded and machined to fit will be my best bet, and most likely wouldnt be rusted stuck next time I decide to use the splitter. What do you all think.

 

[BukitCase]

Maybe clean up and weld a coupler on the outer pipe, then get a chunk of UHMW and (since you mentioned machining) thread the outer for the pipe coupler, bore the inner hole in the UHMW for the inner pipe O.D. 1" thick should do.

Won't rust, is replaceable, DEFINITELY won't stick :=)

Might be able to do the same at the bottom of the pipe in a similar way... Steve

Enco - Guaranteed Lowest Prices on Machinery, Tools and Shop Supplies

Cut a chunk off the end of round stock, couple of lathe operations, done.

 

[muddstopper]

Machinist i aint. I have a old lathe, but not the skillset to get the best out of it. Never tried threading and aint sure how to start.

What I am thinking is I have some leftover 3/4 plate. Take two pieces, bore it to fit over the two pipe pieces. Turn the outside to round instead of square so it look like a donut. Then just built up the mateing surfaces with brass and machine flat leaving about a 1/4in layer of brass on the surface. This wont provide any structual support, but should prevent the steel on steel contact so that the lift will swing more easily. The lift works fine in the condition it is in, for what I am using it for anyways. I just want the lift to swing easier. The rusted surfaces dont exactly mesh together well and its hard to swing under load. Just a cheap fix, for a freebie lift, thats handy to have, but really wont be used all that much.

 

[Shield Arc]

Wonder if silicon bronze will work in this case?

Using Silicon Bronze Filler Rod on Steel

 

[ThomasH]

I guess I am a bit confused, as tractors, etc., use steel on steel pivot points all over on front end loaders, backhoes, etc. The thing that is normally done is to get DOM tubing that is at least 1/8" wall, and put a steel pin or rod through the middle.

(MetalsDepotｮ - DOM Round Steel Tube, Race Car & Motorcycle Frame Tubing)

Drill and tap the outer tubing for a zerk fitting, and the clearance should be 8-12 thousandths between the pin and tubing. As long as you grease it periodically it will be a low friction joint that can support large amounts of weight and not have much wear. I would think that a 1" pin through a section of 1" x 1 1/2" 1/4" wall tubing would be overly sufficient to build a shock load factor into the lift without bending anything. 4140 steel is a good steel for the pin portion.

The ones I have made up, I put a 'head' on the pin by putting a shaft collar at one end, and welded it in place to the pin. The other end can be secured by putting a shaft collar on it and using the set screws.

Hope this helps..

 

[muddstopper]

Thomas, Yes, I might have confused you. The lift I have is a factory made unit. It is made out of 2 1/2in id schedule 40, (1/4in thick) pipe. This pipe is then inserted inside a even bigger pipe that has a flat plate on the bottom for a bolt ton mount. The boom is 2x4 sq tubeing which has a winch mounted on one end and a roller on the other. The lift works perfectly the way it is except for the fact that it laid in a barn somewhere for years and is pretty rusted and pitted. The rust and pitting makes it hard to turn and sloppy. I am just wanting to tighten the swing up some without completely redoing the pipe supports. While the boom lift capacity is 1000lbs, I will be using it just to load large rounds of firewood onto my wood splitter so it will never see its max weight limit. I could cut out and replace the pipe supports, and would if I planned on mounting the lift on something that might require it maximum lift capacity. As it is mounted now on my splitter and a 24inch long stick of firewood is way under the maximum weight limit, I just need something to take out the slop, cheap and easy.

Sheildarc, The silicon bronze I think should be adequate and what I think I will use instead of the brass. Need to practice my tiging anyways so this should give me good practice. At least if I make ugly welds, I can hide it when machinging it flat.

 

[Shield Arc]

At one time I ran quite a bit of silicon bronze welding galvanized sheet metal. We used 98% argon & 2% oxygen for gas. Really fast, and makes a nice looking vertical down hill weld. I think back then smallest wire we could get was.030".

 

[yomax4]

Silicon Bronze will work well even with straight Argon. There are stick electrodes available too.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Why not take the easy way out? Replace the two pieces of pipe and be done with it. Fast, easy, cheap. If you want to get fancy weld a slip-on flange to each piece at the joint plane and keep it well greased. Use a reducing flange on the 2 1/2" pipe to match the 3" pipe flange and you have a way to drop a bolt in a hole and keep it from turning when you don't want it to.

Ron

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

If you machine them, it probably won't matter, but, a lot of bushings have oil impregnation, and I would assume some bronze stock might be too for special applications. Heat it up and watch the oil run out. It's sintered bronze that "sucks" and holds a lot of oil until it gets hot or starts to wear. If you have it, it's probably the best material you can use, but won't be weldable.