Rhino lining for battery area?

[dcyrilc]

The cowl is painted and as I have need of the tractor tomorrow, I had to temporarily reinstall it back into the tractor today.

For those of you following from the steering rebuild. I drained and flushed the hydraulic fluid, changed the filter, and cleaned the sump screen today. The sump screen was nasty!! I'll post pix of it on Tuesday when I can download the pix from my phone. I fired up the tractor and checked the steering. I had not adjusted the steering adjustor, but only had slight play in the steering. I snugged down the adjustor after turning off the tractor and will play with the adjustment tomorrow, but I think that problem has been solved.

 

[dcyrilc]

OK, too much to catch up on...

I used the tractor on Monday and had 4-5" of play in the steering. I tried to watch the pitman arm where it comes out of the housing, but can't really see it from above. At this point, I'm thinking that the bushing on that side of the steering arm is probably shot and allowing a lot of play.

On my tractor, the left side of the transmission housing has a double wall about two inches apart. the bottom between the double wall is open and the pitman arm comes down out of this slot. Per the parts breakdown, the pitman arm bolts onto the splined end of the steering arm which comes out of the inner wall with a bushing and seal located there. There are two round plug/covers, about 3" in diameter, near the top of the transmission housing on this side.

I didn't realize that one of the two round plugs was associated with the steering. I thought you had to reach up into the slot the pitman arm comes out of to access the bolt, seal, and bushing. I had a friend help me to observe the movement in there while he turned the steering wheel. I was laying on the creeper looking up the slot and trying to figure out how you remove or tighten the bolt when you can't even see it around the curve of the housing. I got up looking at the tractor and saying "This is nuts", when it dawned on me that it was behind the plug. I grabbed a screwdriver, popped the plug off, and voa-la... there was the bolt. I had him turn the wheel again and realized that the bolt was loose. After tightening the bolt, I have less than 1/4" of play in the steering!! Fixed!! Yea!! Just call me "HAPPY CAMPER"!!

The bushing does have quite a bit of play in it and I will eventually replace it and the seal, but that can wait for another day.

 

[dcyrilc]

Oops, here are the pix of the sump screen.

 

[sixdogs]

Wow, that is nasty...

 

[dcyrilc]

Wow, that is nasty...

Took a long time to get it clean too.

 

[dcyrilc]

Wow, that is nasty...

Hey sixdogs,

I just put together your user name and signature. How many pups did your wife get attached to?

 

[sixdogs]

Hey sixdogs,

I just put together your user name and signature. How many pups did your wife get attached to?

Well, we had the mom and her sister. Wife was in charge of breeding only one but wasn't paying attention so we had two dogs bred and 11 or 13 puppies. I wanted to keep one and I did. That made three.
She fell in love with one and kept that. Now four. Plus, the first-born pup (Weezie) had a hard tme breathing and my wife says she "saved" her so she had to keep that one. That's now five and toss in my daughter's dog we are "temporarily" keeping for her and that's six.

They are Springer Spaniels so they won't run away--ever--and a couple can hunt birds. We had six once before so we know the drill and wife gets to be a "mother" to six dogs. They adore her so it all works. Check the photo and you'll see why she loves them.

 

[dcyrilc]

Well, we had the mom and her sister. Wife was in charge of breeding only one but wasn't paying attention so we had two dogs bred and 11 or 13 puppies. I wanted to keep one and I did. That made three.
She fell in love with one and kept that. Now four. Plus, the first-born pup (Weezie) had a hard tme breathing and my wife says she "saved" her so she had to keep that one. That's now five and toss in my daughter's dog we are "temporarily" keeping for her and that's six.

They are Springer Spaniels so they won't run away--ever--and a couple can hunt birds. We had six once before so we know the drill and wife gets to be a "mother" to six dogs. They adore her so it all works. Check the photo and you'll see why she loves them.

Yea, they are cute. At least they're not Great Danes or St Bernards! LOL

 

[jlrsn]

Another option is to replace the battery caps with aviation battery caps. They vent gas but absolutely wont leak fluid even if upside down.

I hate to say this but Aviation Battery Caps can and do leak electrolyte if the battery is overfilled and overcharged and that is why you'll find sump jars on larger batteries as a place to dump and neutralize electrolyte if necessary. If a battery is properly filled and charged they are far superior to normal automotive type batteries.
Jim

 

[dcyrilc]

I think I may have found one of the issues causing battery leakage. I'll try to remember to grab a picture while I'm at the ranch feeding tonight.

The right side battery only clears the hand throttle rod/linkage by about 1/4" and if it shifts to the rear at all will rub. This could potentually rub a hole in the end of the battery allowing leakage.

I'll make a retaining brace to ensure that the battery can't shift at all. The origional factory bottom on the cowl had threaded holes where the end of the battery would be, but JD Parts doesn't show any kind of retaining bracket. When we refabed the cowl, we duplicated the threaded holes. I should just have to make some sort of retainer which can bolt into the holes. Then after I replace the second battery and they are both the same height, between the retainer and the battery clamp across the tops of the batteries, it shouldn't be an issue.