What material are cylinder ram bushings supposed to be made from?

BadDecisions · Jun 15, 2020

New to me Ford 8N, Wagner "jungle gym" loader, first "real" tractor I've owned, using for general activities around the house and 1 acre desert property, zero farming stuff. The hydro cylinder that operates the bucket tilt has a TON of slop at the bucket due to a badly worn bushing. This thing is bouncing all over the place just idling around in 1st gear from the slop. I have a small machine shop in the garage, and it's a trivial thing for me to turn a new bushing...except that I don't know what it's supposed to made from. Regular mild steel? Some kind of heat treated like 4140? Bronze or some form of Oilite? Something else entirely? Living out "in the sticks", I often find it's both cheaper and faster for me to make something like this than it is to go buy it or order it online.

It currently has what looks like an implement pin secured with a bent over 20D nail...so I'm not sure I can count on using what's already there as an indicator of proper parts, lol. I'm FAR from any kind of professional machinist or metallurgist, but I'm thinking a new cylinder pin, and turning a bushing from mild steel tubing with about a 0.005" ID clearance and drilled for a zerk grease fitting?

jthibodeau89 · Jun 15, 2020

If you are talking about the end of the rod/ cylinder that mounts to bucket linkage, then steel on steel as you describe is fine. You could bush it with bronze, but you would need to ensure enough area (width) for the load.

The curl linkage on my JD430 loader is super sloppy as well. I plan to rebuild with 3/8" wall DOM tubing stubs welded into the linkage plates. One plate is just bored for the pin and is worn oval; I plan to add a1/2" wide DOM sleeves to increase the bearing area and lengthen the pin.

shovelmike · Jun 15, 2020

Steel with a zerk ought to be fine.

WranglerX · Jun 15, 2020

shovelmike said:
Steel with a zerk ought to be fine.

Ditto...

Dale

ptsg · Jun 16, 2020

On my homemade loader, I just used something similar to 4140HT for the pins and 1045 for bosses on the loader and cylinder ends. It's plenty good and will last a longer time.

BadDecisions · Jun 16, 2020

jthibodeau89 said:
If you are talking about the end of the rod/ cylinder that mounts to bucket linkage, then steel on steel as you describe is fine. You could bush it with bronze, but you would need to ensure enough area (width) for the load.

The curl linkage on my JD430 loader is super sloppy as well. I plan to rebuild with 3/8" wall DOM tubing stubs welded into the linkage plates. One plate is just bored for the pin and is worn oval; I plan to add a1/2" wide DOM sleeves to increase the bearing area and lengthen the pin.

End of rod, yes. There is no linkage per se on this bucket, the cylinder rod just goes straight to a couple large tabs welded to the bucket, with a pin going through the tabs and the tube welded to the end of the cylinder rod. Similar to whats sold as a hydraulic plow cylinder, but instead of the pin going through the cylinder rod itself, there's another tube welded to the end. I know there's a specific name for this cylinder type, but I can't find it now. Inside that tube, there appears to be another bushing that is very egged out. From what I'm seeing from doing a Google Image search for loader bucket cylinder, it appears to be fairly common/standard. The other end of the cylinder has a pair of tabs welded to the cylinder body, and a single tab on the loader frame that goes between the two on the cylinder.

I haven't done a tear down inspection on it yet, but it does appear as if the bucket tabs are still in good shape, it's just the cylinder bushing that's trashed, though I'm sure the pin will show wear as well by this point.