Fairbanks Morse Model 45- rebuild

[FlJet]

Blew out the oil passage under the front bearing with compressed air. Had a handful of accumulated dirt and grime migrate out the back of the snout and into the case. Nasty stuff. Big channels though which is nice to know. Next step is to toss the case in the back of the truck and head up to the car wash. Then a coat of paint outside and a spritz of oil inside to keep it from rusting. Can't decide on a color. Burnt red or orange, or maybe a deep green. NO idea what color mine was originally. Not that I'm hung up on keeping it original. The tower is already modified, and someone has obviously messed with the guts in this thing. No lettering on the vane either. Might try and get a stencil, might do something custom on it, we'll see. Checked with our fabricator at work this afternoon and he's going to check on Monday to see if he has any 1-1/8" round stock. I have a piece of 1-1/4", I'm just afraid it's some hardened stuff I found 5-6 years ago. Even if it's not, that's a lot of material to remove with my little hobby-size lathe/mill. If I can't put my hands on a free piece of steel I'll call a couple of local welding shops, and if that comes up an empty search I'll buy a 24" piece online. Looks like I can have one delivered for about $35. 3/4" fine thread die is about $8 on Amazon so I've got the ends of it taken care of. Trying to decide if I go back with woodruff keys for the pinions, or cut a regular keyway. Regular keyway seems easier to machine, woodruff keyway seems stronger to me. No hard corners for a crack to propagate from. Once I get the shaft squared away, I'm just lacking my few parts and I can get it reassembled and flown up on the tower. The guy who drilled my well offered to come back out and set it with his boom truck for me for free. Can't turn that down.

[windybob]

I got 2 of the 3. Many thanks! Is it okay if Paul puts them in the library?

[windybob]

Sounds good that you are making great progress. Mine had Hunter Green under a bolt head, and still some on the case. Not sure about Fairbanks color, but Stover was usually black. I painted my Stover Mod M red. I don't care much for black paint except tail lettering.

[pcowley (RIP)]

Not that I am that smart, but I have always had the best luck heating the shaft and the hub from in the middle of the drilled hole. I then cool the shaft by putting water in the drilled hole. (Shrinks the shaft but not the hub)While putting in the water put the shaft under pressure with the press. Press it from the bottom of the hole not the top.(Don't drill the hole deeper than the part that is in the hub because if you get the hole in the shaft to big and long you may split the shaft apart where it comes out of the hub)It may take a dozen times of doing this, but It has always worked for me. You might consider drilling the key completely out because you have allreday drilled it some)and when you put the new shaft in drill a hole that straddles the shaft and hub and thread it and install a bolt instead of a key.( cuts out machinist bill of cutting a a key way in the new shaft)I Leave the shaft sticking out of the hub a little and spot weld the bolt to the end of the shaft. Someone can then grind the weld off an unscrew the bolt with no trouble if or when a new shaft is needed.
You have already drilled the key, but my solution is to put a spot weld on the end of the key so that it becomes bigger than the key way and the key will remain in the hub.(Do not weld the key to the shaft in the process.The reason this works is most of the time the taper key way is cut in the hub)Cut a pipe bigger than the shaft and longer than the recess in the hub so you are pressing the against the solid part of the hub and not the thin outer part.
THAT'S MY STORY AND I AM STICKING TO IT!!

Paul, based on your description, I’m picturing two different ways of drilling the hub/shaft when I put it back together. Any chance you have any pictures of the way you do this? Certainly sounds easier than cutting a key way in the shaft.

I thought I was real clear??? The bolt hole is half in the shaft and half in the hub.I install the shaft even with the end of the hub,drill the bolt hole, push the shaft out a little more, thread the hole,install the bolt.weld the bolt to the shaft( Keeps the bolt from screwing out all on its own.). There is no way even if the shaft is a little loose in the hub that the hub will come off.
The first part of the post is how I drill the shaft to press it out. The latter part of the post is how I drill out for the bolt.
No pictures.
Windybob, One of the Aermotor clone companies (I think) was doing this for a while.

[windybob]

Good idea Paul. No way a hub can come off like that. Thanks.

[pcowley (RIP)]

Thanks windybob, Try it . It saves a lot of sweat. I have heated, cooled. put the shaft under pressure , walked off for as high as 30 minutes and then heard a loud pop like a 12 gauge went off and went back to the press to see that the shaft had moved in the hub.

[FlJet]

Not that I am that smart, but I have always had the best luck heating the shaft and the hub from in the middle of the drilled hole. I then cool the shaft by putting water in the drilled hole. (Shrinks the shaft but not the hub)While putting in the water put the shaft under pressure with the press. Press it from the bottom of the hole not the top.(Don't drill the hole deeper than the part that is in the hub because if you get the hole in the shaft to big and long you may split the shaft apart where it comes out of the hub)It may take a dozen times of doing this, but It has always worked for me. You might consider drilling the key completely out because you have allreday drilled it some)and when you put the new shaft in drill a hole that straddles the shaft and hub and thread it and install a bolt instead of a key.( cuts out machinist bill of cutting a a key way in the new shaft)I Leave the shaft sticking out of the hub a little and spot weld the bolt to the end of the shaft. Someone can then grind the weld off an unscrew the bolt with no trouble if or when a new shaft is needed.
You have already drilled the key, but my solution is to put a spot weld on the end of the key so that it becomes bigger than the key way and the key will remain in the hub.(Do not weld the key to the shaft in the process.The reason this works is most of the time the taper key way is cut in the hub)Cut a pipe bigger than the shaft and longer than the recess in the hub so you are pressing the against the solid part of the hub and not the thin outer part.
THAT'S MY STORY AND I AM STICKING TO IT!!

Paul, based on your description, I’m picturing two different ways of drilling the hub/shaft when I put it back together. Any chance you have any pictures of the way you do this? Certainly sounds easier than cutting a key way in the shaft.

I thought I was real clear??? The bolt hole is half in the shaft and half in the hub.I install the shaft even with the end of the hub,drill the bolt hole, push the shaft out a little more, thread the hole,install the bolt.weld the bolt to the shaft( Keeps the bolt from screwing out all on its own.). There is no way even if the shaft is a little loose in the hub that the hub will come off.
The first part of the post is how I drill the shaft to press it out. The latter part of the post is how I drill out for the bolt.
No pictures.
Windybob, One of the Aermotor clone companies (I think) was doing this for a while.

I read and re-read your post and I think I’ve got it. I was picturing cross-drilling the hub and shaft (perpendicular to the shaft) and then through-bolting it. That’s not what you described at all. Install the hub on the shaft, drill between the hub and shaft (parallel with the shaft) tap it and install a bolt, weld the bolt head to the end of the shaft. I’ve worked on big dough-mixers that had paddles installed on the shafts like that. And no, it’s not going anywhere locked on like that.

[FlJet]

Quick trip to the car wash today. I know they turn their pressure down, but I was really surprised how much stuff I still was able to scrape off when I got home. But it’s cleaner and I can see things finally.

Found out the bearing for the bull gears is actually two bearings with a gap between them. I have to study it, but it got me thinking about drilling a hole through from the oil channel above to let some of the oil drain down to the space between the bearings and work it’s way out instead of dripping off the sides To the shaft and having to work it’s way back in.

I also found out that although the bull gear bearing and the pinion bearings are both brass, the nose bearing is not. Not sure what material it is, or how hard it is, but it’s silver in color, not brass. It’s pressed in with a little strip of brass shim stock between the bearing and the case so it should be easy to remove if I decide to.

[windybob]

So far so good.
Around the snout is the opening worn bad on the bottom? If the lip is too low, the oil will run out the front instead of back in the case. On Monitor windmills, this is very common. The bearing wears down, the oil slinger wears out, and the case lip goes bye-bye. I've welded a ton of them back.

[FlJet]

A little out of round. Would have missed that.