M29 Posted July 17, 2021 Author Share Posted July 17, 2021 (edited) Latest T15 happenings.... It has been awhile since I last posted....but a new surge of weasel fever has struck so I have started working on the T15 again . I have already repaired most all the drive train but the final drive which I am repairing now. The final drive was really a mess full of rust. All the gears looked good after cleaning except the pinion ring gear. Apparently throughout the years water was able to get into the housing and pool around the lower part of the ring gear. This caused lots of pitting from rust on the ring gear teeth and the steering band drums. The pitting on the drums was really bad. To repair this I put them in my lathe and turned them down about 0.20 which took care of the deep pitting and the remainder of the pits I filled with JB weld. The drums are nice and smooth now and should be OK. I had to remove the final drive spider gears to pull the ring gear to repair the rust damage on the teeth. John Wilson sent me a article written by Gary S from the old weasel site. It is an excellent depiction of the removal teardown process of the weasel final drive. Currently the drive housings are all cleaned of old debris rust and oil. One thing I am doing is zinc plating all the moving parts on the outside of the final drive like the shift levers bushing etc. I will still paint them white but hopefully they wont rust when the paint inevitably chips in those areas from use. With the final drive all apart it made sense to replace the bearings so new bearings are being installed. I am deciding if I will drill a hole for a drain plug for future oil changes without having to open the case. I made a new addition to my shop equipment that I am excited about I bought a spot welder. It is made here in the USA by AIM Manufacturing in Spokane Washington . They carry all the parts for the welder so that is a plus. This welder is very unique however in the fact it gets its welding power from 4 12volt truck batteries. It can spot weld two layers of 12gauge steel so should have plenty of what it takes to handle any spot welding on the weasel body. The machine only needs 120 volt to operate so can plug into any 120 volt outlet. It has numerous tongs both large and small that are with it. It is a very robust and solid machine and as I get it set up I will test it and post the results. I have included a link to a video showing it in operation. Dan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0joJmq2v0A Edited July 17, 2021 by M29 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Tipton Posted July 19, 2021 Share Posted July 19, 2021 On 7/17/2021 at 2:49 PM, M29 said: Latest T15 happenings.... It has been awhile since I last posted....but a new surge of weasel fever has struck so I have started working on the T15 again . Good stuff Dan. As you know, this is a marathon...just keep putting one foot in front of the other. Patrick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OZM29C Posted July 20, 2021 Share Posted July 20, 2021 @M29Dan, Good work on the final drive👍 As I said to Patrick, take your time and follow the instructions in the manual. I have been following your restoration thread with interest. It will be good to see it mobile one day but for now one step at a time. Out of interest, was the T15 designed to float? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M29 Posted July 20, 2021 Author Share Posted July 20, 2021 Thanks for the kind words Pat and John. John the T15 could float in testing but .......are you thinking about the drain plug mod?? Dan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OZM29C Posted July 20, 2021 Share Posted July 20, 2021 50 minutes ago, M29 said: .......are you thinking about the drain plug mod?? @M29No Dan, I was just curious to know if the T15 did indeed float. Your pictures answered all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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