# grisly photos welding up broken auger gear teeth Cadet 268



## greatwhitebuffalo (Feb 11, 2014)

talk about brain surgery, 3 teeth busted clean off, 3 other teeth chipped on the auger drive gear. fortunately these old Cadets had cast auger ring gears to mesh to the worm. I had a highly skilled welder (age 72 and still working) TIG up the broken teeth with nickel welding rod. 

then I had to painstakingly and meticulously grind and shape those welded up teeth back to something that resembled gear teeth, and keep trying the worm gear on it until I could turn it in my hand without getting hung up, and checking it for clearance

finally got it to what looked half decent, and installed it back in the gearbox with new bearings and seals, and it had one tiny rough spot in it when turning the augers by hand, but it runs now

so it started looking like this


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## greatwhitebuffalo (Feb 11, 2014)

slow progress grinding the teeth


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## greatwhitebuffalo (Feb 11, 2014)

one more work in progress


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## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

It's too bad there isn't more incentive to fix things rather than throw them away. Most things today aren't built strong enough to be viable after a failure. Everything is so flimsy and designed with just enough to get the job done (till it's out of warranty).

It's nice to see someone (you and the welder) with some skills able to repair something worth fixing.


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## greatwhitebuffalo (Feb 11, 2014)

finished gear- well as good as I could get it, considering how it was welded up, and grinding it on the kitchen table. Good thing the wife wasn't home, I'd be dead. I had all the grinding dust cleaned up before she got home.


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## greatwhitebuffalo (Feb 11, 2014)

bearings, seals, worm gear assembled. I had to do this outside in the cold. All my garage and storage space is filled. Lots of repairs OUTSIDE this year. Changed a hydraulic line and control unit O-rings on the Gilson 16HP tractor plow when it was 6 degrees outside a month ago- laying on a cardboard on the ground. Put a radiator in the F150 in the driveway when it was 12 degrees. Now this. Oh well time to build an additional 2 bays on the garage maybe...

anyway these bearings are PRESSED ON tight. The end one flew off pretty easy, the worm gear is just a slip fit, but that back bearing is a bich and had to be heated with the oxy-ace torch and knocked forward with a drift. Then I had to clean up the shaft with a file later.

wouldn't ya know it, the snap ring on the end bearing broke, I had to drive 20 miles around trip to buy a new 50 cent snap ring, and burn $4 worth of gas and 1/2 hour of time.

these pics of the new bearings after pressing them on using a deep well Craftsman 1/2 drive socket and hammer, to knock them down into place- ever so carefully. The socket chosen matched the inner race diameter so as to not damage the outer cage.

I cleaned the old gaskets with gasoline and put them back on with black permantex, they don't leak.


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## greatwhitebuffalo (Feb 11, 2014)

I posted this before but here it is running. We'll see if it holds up. I think it will and won't pressure it too much.

that stove in the background left is a 1920's vintage Franklin type stove made by Fawcett of Canada. In the gargage behind the blower, is a 1970 Pontiac GTO I've had since age 19 (I'm 52 now) that someday I have to put an engine in and paint. It's a 4 speed car. Back in the 1980's I rebodied the whole thing with new GM body panels from the dealer. new quarters, front fenders, front/rear valances, front/rear Judge spoilers, and rear bumper. I pulled the body off frame in the front yard, and sandblasted everything, and re-assembled it. It was running but later pulled the engine apart.

too man projects, not enough time. Money isn't an object so much, it's TIME anymore, time is precious when you get older.


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## greatwhitebuffalo (Feb 11, 2014)

Kiss4aFrog said:


> It's too bad there isn't more incentive to fix things rather than throw them away. Most things today aren't built strong enough to be viable after a failure. Everything is so flimsy and designed with just enough to get the job done (till it's out of warranty).
> 
> It's nice to see someone (you and the welder) with some skills able to repair something worth fixing.


 
let me share something with you- if it's made in USA it's worth saving, and fixing. Someday in the future finding something made in USA that is complete, will be like finding a complete Roman or Egyptian Chariot is today- priceless. The industrial revolution is finished for the most part in the USA. They've outsourced most of the good manufacturing jobs, and will continue to do so, and automation will take what they don't outsource to cheap Asian labor. 

skilled craftsman in the USA will be "freed" of their occupations much the same way laborers were freed from picking cotton, when machinery was invented that did it cheaper and faster.

hang on to your old USA made stuff. You won't see machines built to that quality at that price again, the current economic and financial distress won't allow it.

my friend is an eletrician, he told me that hot water heaters that are guaranteed 6 years, last exactly 6 years and 3 months, then quit. 

I have an old 1986 electric hot water heater in my house, that just started to leak now, after 28 years. It's been here since the house was built in 1986. So when I get a "new" one, it will last a lousy 6 years. 

the guy I bought the bearings/races from on Ebay, sold me CHINESE bearings. I gave him a piece of my mind. I told him I wanted USA made bearings, and there were many available on Ebay NOS for the same price or only $1 more per bearing set. His ad didn't say they were made in China. He refunded my money, and said he would change his ad to specify made in China. 

I told him the pathetic condition of this economy, is because we are selling inferior crap made in China, here in the USA. I would not sell that junk to anyone.


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## Big Ed (Feb 10, 2013)

Some manufacturers that had China take over their production are now back looking to start back here in the states. They are tired of all the complaints they have been getting from the cheap way things are being put together.
Also Chinese workers are waking up and want to see more money for their work. 

Have faith, maybe one day we will be back on top.
That is if our "fearless" leader doesn't give us away first.

Now when the warmer weather comes you have to give her a coat of paint, to protect all the American get it done technology that you labored into her.

Nice having a welder just hanging around. 

USA all the way!>>>>>BuyAmericanMart - your online source for all American-made products

>> Made in the USA | Be American. Buy American. <<


>> How Americans Can Buy American <<


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## greatwhitebuffalo (Feb 11, 2014)

yes that and the fact that if we end up in a WAR with China, the corporations realize all their factories there will be seized and nationalized by the Chicoms. That seemed like a fairy tale 10 years ago, but lately things are heating up and it's a real possibility.

my other fix it problem is a laptop computer sold under a historic American brand name, that is now made in China- the charging socket broke on it, after only 2 years. What a joke.

they sell off American brand names like cheap paper badges, and stick them on this crap over in China, then peddle them back to us like the real deal- they are counterfeits

I probably won't paint the Cadet 268, I've done my share of paint jobs on cars, trucks, power equipment, etc. 30 years ago an old body/paint man told me, when I was restoring a car, "all the niceness doesn't last if you drive it" and he was right. This machine is going to be used every year so I'll probably just let it as is. It lasted 42 years and will outlive me most likely after this fixing.

that's another trait of USA made goods, they are "generational" meaning you can pass them down to your kids, grandkids, great grandkids and there's still enough framework there to continue to rebuild and use them

let's face it, China is making their "new" stuff from our old ground up refrigerators, stoves, cars, tin cans, washing machines, and vacuum cleaners everyone scraps at the boneyard.


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## greatwhitebuffalo (Feb 11, 2014)

here's a few still pics

oh, that wooden thing in the back, inside the garage, just to the right of the chute on the snowblower- that's a working RCA console stereo made in USA, 1970's, AM-FM-phono-8track recorder, it's solid state.

to the LEFT of the chute, is a vintage 1950-60's (have to research it) tube audio amped, RCA phonograph, early stereo. that's another hobby, collecting and re-capping, repairing those. man do they sound good when done up.


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## greatwhitebuffalo (Feb 11, 2014)

Big Ed said:


> Nice having a welder just hanging around.
> QUOTE]
> 
> 
> ...


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## Mr Fixit (Nov 19, 2013)

Great bunch of work on that gear to save the machine. As that rebuilt gear adjusts or wears itself in to its new surfaces, a lot of fine filings will come in your gear box. I would try to find a plug with a magnet in it to remove the metal drifting around in your oil. You can drill out the existing plug 3/8" deep and insert a 1/4" by 1/2" long earth magnet. Secure it with crazy glue. Every 10 hours of operation, inspect your plug. Gives you a free report on what's happening in there. Again great effort!


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## greatwhitebuffalo (Feb 11, 2014)

that's an excellent idea. I do plan on changing that gear oil often. Realistically I don't expect this to be a lifetime fix, but who knows. Sometimes fixes like this last forever. In the meantime my eyes are peeled for a parts machine or NOS replacement gear, or used gear.

the Cadet blower is based on the Ariens 10000 design but some components were changed. If it used the Ariens bronze gear, I'd have bought it and put it in. But the Cadet gear has a larger tooth o.d. and a larger auger shaft hole i.d. so this was the only way to go.


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## HCBPH (Mar 8, 2011)

*Gear*

I have to agree on saving what you can because most of the good stuff is being scrapped out. Not to say that everything is saveable.
I'm surprised on the steel gear, I had though most if not all were bronze. Well done on the save. I don't know I would have tried that, more likely try to find another one to use in it's place.



greatwhitebuffalo said:


> one other thing, if you look behind that Franklin stove in the still pictures, you'll see a stack of (4) cast iron cylinder heads
> they are from (2) 1950's early Chrysler hemi 331 CID engines, that I rescued from a local junkyard. They would have been crushed. I got the complete engines for $200 each.


I happened to have at one time one of those 331 Firedome Hemi's from a Desoto in a 55 Dodge Pickup. Didn't get alot of time with it, fixed it up and shortly afterwards had to sell it along with some of the other toys for a down payment on a house. I do miss it, that was my first hemi.



greatwhitebuffalo said:


> In the gargage behind the blower, is a 1970 Pontiac GTO I've had since age 19 (I'm 52 now) that someday I have to put an engine in and paint. It's a 4 speed car. Back in the 1980's I rebodied the whole thing with new GM body panels from the dealer. new quarters, front fenders, front/rear valances, front/rear Judge spoilers, and rear bumper. I pulled the body off frame in the front yard, and sandblasted everything, and re-assembled it. It was running but later pulled the engine apart.
> too man projects, not enough time. Money isn't an object so much, it's TIME anymore, time is precious when you get older.


 
Hear you on the GTO. I had a 67 Malibu that my ex-brother-in-law wrecked. Broke my heart to see it all crumpled.
I did do something though this last year, I picked up one from my bucket list: 86 Vette Convertible 5 speed. Minimum amount of computers in it so I can still work on it (I'm old school: carbs and distributors plus manual shift) though this one has TPI etc on it but not alot of computer controlled stuff. I'm hoping to do some cruising in it this year once the weather breaks and I get a little time to do a TLC to it and take care of a few little things that need to be touched. It's a runner at least, drove it 1300 miles home when I bought it last summer.

Paul


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## greatwhitebuffalo (Feb 11, 2014)

good story, I knew the hemi heads would bring the hot rodders out....

my 1970 Firebird has had at least 5 engines in it, been painted 5 times, had interior done once, and now it needs paint and interior AGAIN. the car never saw a garage, stored outside for the past 30 years. 

it's had 1/4 panels put on it TWICE

it runs and drives but appearance wise it's rough, it was like a show car when we got it painted the first time in 1985

here's a cruise down local country roads








here is a burn out hole shot








here is the engine, 455 bored .060" with Ram Air V tunnel port heads, custom welded steel intake, headers I made myself, TH350 w/9" converter 4000 rpm flash, with posi 10 bolt rear, idling in my driveway after I washed the engine one day 







the car is just to the right of the snowblower in the other Cadet 268 pics and videos but you can't see it, it has a cover on it, and out of the picture view

here it is in driveway idling, still didn't put the mirrors on since primering it last time, and the body seam bondo on the quarter panels is not fully filled and filed sanded yet- I just have no time !!





 
if that engine sounds a little noisy i.e. ticky, that's because it has a Howards solid flat tappet cam in it, not a hydraulic cam, not a roller cam. The old style noisy flat tappet solid cam. Old school.


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## greatwhitebuffalo (Feb 11, 2014)

I guess old hot rodders never die, they just end up on the snowblower forums...???

we can't feed 8 cylinders daily anymore with today's gas prices, but we can feed a one lunger Briggs...and they are easier to rebuild...

I'd like to bolt together a Hemi someday, I have the 555 triple nickel heads, blocks, cams, etc. to build a stocker...maybe when I retire ?


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