Rail-Mower Work Session on June 2, 2012

Frank Glatzl came over this morning to get the rail-mower working again.  At our RPI work session on May 19, the belt broke only about a mile into mowing and we were unable to obtain another in Kingsland, leaving us high and dry as far as mowing.  The belt broke because it was riding up too high on the pulleys, causing it to be shaved progressively thinner until the tension snapped it.  Frank identified the ride problem as stemming from the tensioner bolt leaning over.  So he fabricated a triangular base and welded the same sort of bolt to it.  Then we mounted that to the mower deck to provide a solid platform for the tensioner bolt.  Here's some photos:

The triangular support looks like a manufactured part because Frank was able to use a "wire EDM" tool to create and cut the metal, as well as the holes.  Pretty sharp work.  Frank also fabricated a new blade driveshaft, since the middle one had been bent when the rail-mower hit an obstruction on a switch several work session ago.  That was another strain on the belt that is now fixed.  My contribution in all this was to clean up the underside and the top side of the deck, since I don't like dirt and grease on equipment.

Frank installed the triangular base and bolt and then installed the belt and tensioner assembly.  However, he was not impressed with the way the belt was continuing to get pushed out toward the edge of the pulley.  He tried several different approaches to dealing with the problem.  Finally, he removed the assembly and brought over the assembly from an identical deck I bought for the Bolens 1455 garden tractor with front-end loader.  He installed that and the belt did not have the same problem with getting pushed toward the edge.  Then he took a close look at the belt covers for the first time since we planned to put them on to keep debris off.  He realized there is a hole for the tension assembly bolt to go through the cover so the cover can be bolted to the assembly.  That would help hold the assembly in the correct relative position.  However, the triangular support provides a much more secure foundation so we will stay with that.

We did decide to cut off the curved edges of the belt covers since they made it impossible to take the covers off without completely removing the deck from the rail-mower, which we would not want to have to do out in the field.  Got out my Kawasaki angle grinder and began cutting the edges off but as we were getting close to finishing the first one, smoke began coming out of the grinder and it slowly came to a halt.  We had "smoked" the grinder.  We finished the cutting job with a hacksaw.  So now I am in the market for a new angle grinder.  Plus Frank noted my trusty old electric drill has just about had it, which I knew in my heart but had not wanted to acknowledge.  Guess am in the market for one of those as well.

Here's some more photos of our efforts:

These show the tensioner assembly before Frank replaced it with the one off the other mower deck.  He identified the problem with this assembly as the orange metal bar on the bottom being too "weak."  So Frank is going to replace it with a wider bar of new metal.  He will also modify the assembly so the spring hooks onto that bottom bar instead of the top bar, since he thinks the tension at the higher level is causing part of the problem with the belts riding high using this assembly.  There isn't much of a problem at all with the other assembly so the deck should perform fine during the forthcoming June 30 RPI work session from Llano-Kingsland, at least we sure do hope so.

Frank will work on a few other tweaks as well.  He plans to grind off part of the old metal seat so we can mount it on the back of the rail-mower in case someone needs to sit there to adjust the mower operation.  He may also fab another blade driveshaft.  Plus he will be finishing up some mower lift arm supports to use with the rail-mower so we can return the ones we borrowed from the 1455 mower deck.  He also plans to re-mount the knob on the throttle cable so it can be tightened when necessary.

Here's two last shots to close out this post, showing Frank with rail-mower and deck, and the deck ready to be re-mounted onto the rail-mower:

RPI Rail-Mower Restored to Operational Status

As you will recall from my post to the RPI Work Session blog re the March 17 Llano work session, the rail-mower took it in the chin while being towed behind my CBI motorcar when I went over a frog.  Part of the deck was pushed inward, stopping a blade from moving, so that ended the rail-mower's work on the Llano Branch for the day, other than as a tool carrier.

Frank Glatzl came over today and we took the mower deck off.  We placed it upside down on some sawhorses to examine the patient.  Diagnosis:  deck needs to be straightened out; a jackshaft on one of the drive spindles needs to be replaced (but will work for now); one of the lift links was broken and needs to be repaired or replaced; and the inner belt guard needs to come off to provide a higher profile when passing over potentially problematic portions of rail.

First we took off the inner belt guard, then Frank wielded a 2-lb hammer against the deck edge (with a sledge hammer head behind the edge) to straighten it out.  We took off the spindle and shaft to straighten out the main deck surface as well.  We put the spindle back on but noticed that it was not turning as freely as the other two so Frank took a close look and determined the jack shaft is bent.  It will work for now but I found three on the internet for $ 22.60 each so probably will get them as backups for both the rail-mower and my Bolens 1455 garden tractor with the same model mower deck.

I also found two NOS lift links online, one for $ 199.99 and the other for $ 17.99.  Not a tough choice as to which to get.  Don't know whether it will have a threaded stud or not, my 1455 (from which we borrowed a lift link to work for now) does not have the threaded stud, which Frank says makes the link stronger.

While working on the mower deck, Frank also fixed the rail-mower choke, which had been moving outward due to the engine vibrations.  It now stays in place so that's one less problem.

One of our last jobs was for Frank to apply anti-seize to the mower driveshaft and then grease the zerks on both ends of the driveshaft.  Here's a shot of him finishing up the latter job:

We put the mower deck back on the rail-mower and Frank connected all the links up.  Then we took a time out while I looked for the key to start the engine to test the choke job and the deck.  The time out ended when I fished into a pocket and found the keys there after having searched the house, garage and my Explorer.  Here's a photo of Frank looking on as the mower deck test session ends successfully:

Frank is taking on some extra work.  He is going to fabricate a triangular reinforcing plate that will have a 3" x 3/8" bolt welded to the plate at the bolt's head to hold the tensioner assembly tighter than it is now.  The current bolt wobbles and allows the tensioner assembly to vibrate back and forth.  We think that is contributing to the ease with which the belt jumps off the pulleys while operating, although my taking a few bumps and crossings a little too fast is also contributing to the problem.

Frank is also going to bring some springs to tighten up the positioning of the deflector shield that is supposed to stay in position some six inches out from the end of the mower deck chute.

Finally, he is thinking about building a framework to hold the turntable in place on the side of the motorcar when we are carrying it.  I am also thinking about replacing the side mats with removable boxes that could hold more tools and supplies, but will wait on that until we see what we come up with for the turntable supports.  The same framework might also be able to hold various implements, such as shovels, picks, and other tools, if extended to 30 or 36 inches high on one end of the motorcar.  Whatever we come up with, it will take several months to develop.  

 The next work session at Llano is Saturday, April 21, to get the line ready for the April 28 Bluebonnet Run.  We will bring the rail-mower and try again.  And I will also grease the axles of both the rail-mower and CBI so they are both ready for some more rail-polishing.

RPI Work Session to be Held Saturday, March 17

Tomorrow is the March 17 work session starting at Llano and proceeding through Kingsland to the other end of our leased line at Scobey Spur, and return.  We probably will go all the way to Scobey Spur in the morning and turn around, then stop at Spyke's BBQ in Kingsland for lunch.  I've got both my Woodings CBI motorcar and the rail-mower saddled up on my 16-foot trailer.  I tested the CBI yesterday and found and fixed a fuel line problem.  Then I tested the rail-mower today and it seems to be working fine.  Fueled them up so we don't have any lack of fuel issues during the trip.

Yesterday I created an extension for the shield on the rail-mower discharge chute, so clippings, etc. can be blown away from the mower blades but yet any rocks that get chucked out would likely hit the rubber shield.  Here's a photo of the new addition to the rail-mower:

The extension uses stop nuts on both ends.  The idea is that if it hits anything, it will pivot and push the shield out of the way of whatever was hit.  I used 1/8" thick aluminum for the bracket and extension, so they should be strong enough to handle the bouncing around on the rails.

And here's a photo of the rail-mower as it currently looks (before I put the mats on later this evening, which will hold tools and equipment tomorrow).

Weather outlook looks good for tomorrow, chance of showers after noon about 10 percent, so don't think rain will be an issue, unlike the last work session.

No Work Session for Rail-Mower in February

Had to leave the rail-mower at home for the February 18 work session, unfortunately, due to forecasts of heavy and continued rain.  Full details on my work session blog.  Discovered during a pre-work session inspection of the engine that the choke knob is vibrating its way out, causing the engine to run richer than the optimum mixture when it has been leaned out.  According to Frank Glatzl, the way the choke cable was run seems to be causing the problem.  We will have to re-align the choke cable so it is a straight shot to the tab on the carburetor that it controls.  At least it sounds fixable.

Final Rail-mower Engine Tweaks Accomplished

Frank Glatzl brought back over the muffler that he repaired this morning.  He had to weld several holes at various bends but it is all fixed up.  We then proceeded to take the old starter-generator off the rail-mower.  To my chagrin, I found upon removing the replacement from its patently inadequate shipping box that one of the mounting brackets was broken, undoubtedly during shipment.  We decided to try to swap out that end of the replacement s-g with the one on the old s-g.  We were able to get the old s-g apart, but when we took the replacement s-g apart it was designed slightly differently.  Plus a mounting terminal stud was stripped, rendering it less than ideal.  The replacement s-g's internal parts didn't even look to be in as good condition as the original.  We couldn't get the stripped stud off so we decided to put the old s-g back together and back on the rail-mower since at least it would start the rail-mower.  The replacement s-g is probably going to the scrap heap unless there are some parts we want to hold onto.

To our great surprise, when Frank put his 12v circuit-tester on the newly reinstalled original starter-generator after starting up the engine, it showed the generator was generating 12v for the first time since we began testing it.  Evidently the act of taking it apart and putting it back together fixed some internal problem.  We therefore now we have a functioning starter-generator.  The Wisconsin S-12D engine,was purring nicely.  Frank hooked up the breather tube so everything is now the way it should be on the engine.  We did notice a screw on the starter that needs to be tightened so I will tighten it once the ground dries out.

Only other tweaks to be done are to take off the mower deck and install some additional washers under the pivot pulley.  The belt appears to be too high on the pulley, allowing it to jump off easily.  That's a fix we will work on probably before the March 17 work session.  For now I plan to bring the rail-mower to the February 18 work session at Llano.  We will run it down to Kingsland and hopefully cut a bunch of grass between the rails.  I may install a different cover on the discharge chute before then to test it out.  I also still have to sandblast the engine hood and install it so there's still work to be done but the hard part is over.

Redoing Rail-Mower Wiring

I got so pysched up from our Saturday work rail-mower work session, and Sunday was such a nice day to be outdoors, that I moved the rail-mower out into the sun along the track from the carport, brought tools and supplies next to it, and began the long-delayed task of cleaning up the tangle of wires from the engine to and between various other electrical components.  I was going to replace the wires with the right color wire, according to the electrical schematic, so I hauled the schematic out and began to trace the rail-mower wiring.  In the process of heavying up two wires from the voltage regulator to the starter-generator I found that they were apparently crossed.  That must have been a problem caused by a previous owner because neither Frank nor I had ever changed those wires around.  This struck me as a possible explanation for why Frank had noticed that the starter-generator was not generating current while the engine is running.  Frank is not so sure and gave me some directions about how to check the generator myself.  However, I'm the guy who blew out the bulb on his continuity tester trying to test a 12v circuit on the rail-mower.  So I'm going to take advantage of Frank's kind offer to bring the newly-welded muffler back this Saturday to let him do the definitive study.  If the generator part of the S-G is shot, I have another, used, starter-generator we can swap out and see if it works.

Be that as it may, I did shorten a number of wires so the rail-mower no longer looks like a tractor with bad hair.  Plus I took a lot of connections apart and cleaned up the terminals with steel wool and installed new nuts and bolts where possible.  I wanted to replace the nuts on the S-G post terminals but they had some weird thread.  Took an original to American Bolt Co. in Austin today and they said it was an "uncommon" 12-24 thread.  But at least I got some stainless steel nuts for the S-G so they won't rust anymore.  Also had to replace several terminals.  Couple of hours of work, and of course I had to go back and forth from the garage to the carport two dozen times. 

Photos from January 28 Rail-Mower Work Session

Here's some photos of Frank and the rail-mower's Wisconsin S-12D engine during our Jan. 28 work session, when we installed new rings on the piston along with a bunch of new gaskets:

Pay no attention to the dates imprinted on the photos--I had to use a camera that didn't have its date feature set right.

Don't know why the engine innards had a "AAA" in yellow paint on them, guess it must have meant something to somone at some point.

That's the engine exhaust pipe on the upper left, the starter-generator on upper right.