Yep the 3/8 rod is fatigue cracked.

Trust me Joe I've done enough brasing/welding to know to dodge the fumes,
but thanks for the warning :-) and yes it ain't gonna be grade 5 any more
but thats all I could get in 6 inch 3/8-24..

so... 3 hours and a half pint of hydrulic oil (most of which is on my
hands) and I'm back in business... just in time for dinner...

I'll get to the last wheel (which is still set up) tomorrow.

This varidrive is starting to feel like the M1 I "high ported" around the
grinder... I think I could dissassemble and re-assemble it blindfolded..

--.- Dave

Meaning something cracked and fell off.

Ya know that long 3/8 rod with the nut that the hydraulic system pulls
against to squeeze the bottom cones together?
There is a disk at its far end buried in the cones, the one that's
held in place by the snap ring.

Ah. I've had this part out, when I was fixing the wobbling lower pulley
assembly. The only problem I had was that the 3/8-24 thread was a bit
battered and the cone nut would creep, but replacement of the cone nut
solved that. Happily, the local hardware store carried the right cone
nuts.


Well there is a roll pin that hold the disk on 3/8 rod. The 3/8 rod
crystalized where the roll pin goes through.

The 3/8" rod, not the roll pin. I would not have thought the steel was
fancy enough to do any such thing as crystalize.

I bet what you are seeing is a fatigue crack -- the broken surfaces are
rough and look like crystals.


What "Fell Off" is the hydraulic "box" and outer cone....

I'm about 1/2 way through the fix... 6 inch grade 5 bolt... leave head
on
bolt.. silver braze together...

That should work, although the bolt won't be grade 5 when it cools.

Beware fumes from the plating boiling off during brazing.

Joe Gwinn


Stand by..

--.- Dave


This time the hydraulic ram shaft crystilized where the roll pin holds
it
onto the disk, go figure....

Meaning something just cracked and fell off?

I'm not visualizing what happened.

Joe Gwinn