road sweep rebuild

[Renze]

Sorry guys, i didnt take pictures from the start

My brother bought a road sweep for 100 euro. The brush rotor was 80% but the machine itself was an old, French built Gustin hay tedder.
It might have been doing hay for 30 years before it was converted to road sweep, i dont know if it was just plain old, or too light for its new job, but it fell apart:

i rebuilt it heavy duty style; OR actually, i built a new road sweep around an existing brush, and just transplanted the angle gearbox, shaft and sprockets from the old one.
I bought 2 new heavy duty caster wheels (600kg capacity each !) to use on the front. At the rear, i used a pneumatic caster wheel from another PZ hay tedder.
The square tubes used as longitudinal members came off the chassis of a Hagedorn self loading hay wagon.
The rear crossbar used to be a support leg of a pig feed silo, and the front crossbar/ 3pt mount used to be a light pole i could get for the taking, from the local boy scouts.
Oh, and i bought the spindle on the rear wheel from a local wrecker of ag machinery.

The only new steel is the 3mm sheet in the dirt catching bucket and rotor cover. The front cross tube including gearbox support, and the drop tubes from the front caster wheels, were also new steel

attached are some pictures, more description will follow when i have time

 

[bob_wood]

Sorry guys, i didnt take pictures from the start

My brother bought a road sweep for 100 euro. The brush rotor was 80% but the machine itself was an old, French built Gustin hay tedder.
It might have been doing hay for 30 years before it was converted to road sweep, i dont know if it was just plain old, or too light for its new job, but it fell apart:

i rebuilt it heavy duty style; OR actually, i built a new road sweep around an existing brush, and just transplanted the angle gearbox, shaft and sprockets from the old one.
I bought 2 new heavy duty caster wheels (600kg capacity each !) to use on the front. At the rear, i used a pneumatic caster wheel from another PZ hay tedder.
The square tubes used as longitudinal members came off the chassis of a Hagedorn self loading hay wagon.
The rear crossbar used to be a support leg of a pig feed silo, and the front crossbar/ 3pt mount used to be a light pole i could get for the taking, from the local boy scouts.
Oh, and i bought the spindle on the rear wheel from a local wrecker of ag machinery.

The only new steel is the 3mm sheet in the dirt catching bucket and rotor cover. The front cross tube including gearbox support, and the drop tubes from the front caster wheels, were also new steel

attached are some pictures, more description will follow when i have time

Great job you are doing on the road sweeper Renze. Thats ALOT of work. Sounds like you get your parts and stock much the way I do . Are you going to paint it when you are done the rebuild ? It would look like a new one. Please keep us posted on the progress !

Bob

 

[Renze]

Sounds like you get your parts and stock much the way I do . Bob

remember the motto is "keep your eyes open, or you'd have to draw your wallet open"
I kept the heavy tubes from the selfloading hay wagon for more than 8 years, i scrapped the rusty wagon but kept the heavy lengths of steel. They will allways come to use, if it isnt this year, it will be in the years to come

Are you going to paint it when you are done the rebuild ? It would look like a new one.

Off course, it would be a waste to leave expensive new iron, unpainted.. I use zinc-phosphate paint, which doesnt need a primer. So when the paint bladders off over years to come, you wont see a different colour of primer underneath.

It will get the same green colour as the bale trailer i built last winter. I decided that this will be my "factory colour"

 

[RedDirt]

Nice rebuild Renze. I like your stout construction. When you've got the power to drive it, nothing beats heft in aiding longevity.

I scrounge,disassemble, and keep parts and scrap for years too. Eventually it all finds a purpose and I'm always gratified to put it to a new use. Contentment is a well supplied bone yard. Happiness is having the time to use it.

 

[SkunkWerX]

Renze,
It looks like a real beast!

So it sweeps toward the front and into the "dust pan"?
I see the height adjustment at the rear. What keeps the "dust pan" from scraping the surface?

 

[bob_wood]

Renze

How does the dust pan get emtied ??

Bob

 

[GuglioLS]

Renze,

That thing is huge, looks heavy too. Are you rebuilding it for yourself or your brother? It begs the question, what in the word are you going to use it for? Do you, or your brother have long driveways to sweep off, or are you going to sweep roads for the fun of it. Did you make the top cover? I see lots of metal bending - looks good, Oh and the tubes for the TPH, nice work cutting and welding all those angles. The only concern I have is the caster wheels on the front, do they swivel by means of a cupped plate filled with little ball bearings? Those wheels will not take much punishment (zero tolerance for impact), such as will be encountered rolling over cobble stones or bricks with bumpy joints. They are meant for slow speed over smooth flat surfaces, like a work bench or metal cart to be used on a flat slab. Many here have tried to use that type of caster wheel as gauge wheels only to have them fall apart very quickly. I could be wrong and they are constructed better than the ones I've seen in the past.

Still, overall your project is looking good.


Larry

 

[Renze]

Skunkwerx,

yes, the sweep rotates against the direction of travel, throwing it into the dust pan. The minor amount of dust that goes underneath, is picked up on the go and will end up in the dust bin eventually.

I have a spindle type height adjustment at the rear, and will drill extra holes in the droptubes of the front casters to make them height adjustable as well: The dust bin will be hung in similar style, so i can drop the whole machine in 2 inch steps during the wear life of the sweep rotor.
The dust bin and front casters only have to make the steps, and fine adjustment can be done with the rear spindle.

bob wood:

right at this time, it doesnt
Well that means i havent built the dust bin hinges yet. It will be hinged like the buckets of classic 50's frontloader buckets, with a latch lock, once opened it will dump on gravity, and relock when i drop the 3pt to the ground.
Please wait till i built it and took photos, its hard to explain without pictures.


Larry,

We use the street sweep to sweep just our property: my dad and brother have near 20 horses, and about 10 or 12 from other people that stall them here for a monthly fee. Getting horses in and out of stables, drags a lot of bedding onto the pavement. Its even worse when i have been spreading muck... It slings off the tires and covers every brick.

We use it for 2 years now, and it has been in reconstruction for 2 months now (too busy at work) and the family is getting upset now its not ready to use... They never want to sweep by hand anymore


I share your feeling about using "standard" casters as gauge wheels.
At work, we deal with a company that has a trailer axle division, and a wheel division. We deal with the trailer components division, but get the same 50% rebate on casters.

I called them and said what i wanted: they had a new type of wheel, especially suited to bounce over cobbles and pavers:
These wheels are rated for 600 kg each, and the turntables are ones with BALLS !! rated for 1000kg each.

The sweep will weigh max. 900 kg with full dust bin, so thats 300 kg per wheel , or 50% of their rated capacity.
I think i have overdimensioned the wheels enough to withstand the bounces of the street. They cost me 97.50 Euro per wheel. Not the price you pay for standard casters either


I am paying my hobby hours for it, and my brother pays the materials... It's at 450 Euro so far, so i estimate 500 Euro when 2 or 3 cans of paint are applied....

For a general farm sweep with the cheap 50 cm sweep diameter, you pay about 2800 Euro with dust bin
http://www.hekamp.nl/files/File/Veegmachines_3punt.pdf

Mine will accept 80 cm diameter heavy duty industrial sweep rings (the ones that road contractors use), and is built heavier, with super duty casters.

 

[Renze]

got some work done past days (i'm trying to get some rest out of my vacation, so i'm kinda slow: I am underpayd and overworked, thats why i need rest now, and will start at a new employer per septemer 1st: Both problems already taken care off )

welded a strong wear strip on the tip of the dust bin: its a 70x6mm flatbar. It will take some time before it wears out when touching the pavement on occasion

I also welded the hinge pivots. i want them to stay within the contour of the frame, because i'll use it to sweep alleys inbetween 2 stall walls....
That why i welded an M16 nut into it. Now i can put a bolt in from the inside of the bucket, with a bushing over it so i can screw it tight against the bushing of 21 mm wide, so the hinge of 20mm will still be free to turn.

since i bought a set of taps, M4 to M12, i will add 2x M8 tapped holes for grease zerks.

 

[Renze]

Got some work done today: Not that much work actually, but work that makes it visible where i'm going with this...

I hooked it up to my 3011 to test the hinges of the dust bin, and the latch lock:
I used an M24 bolt to make it adjustable.

Larry,

regarding your concern:

The only concern I have is the caster wheels on the front, do they swivel by means of a cupped plate filled with little ball bearings? Those wheels will not take much punishment (zero tolerance for impact)

In pic number 5 you can see, these are not standard duty Harbor Freight casters !!! The whole caster assembly weighs about 10 kg, and the bolt plate is 3/8" thick !
Are you still concerned ??