I won! (vanity)

[George Willer]

Sometimes these jobs are more difficult than they should be. We all know that removing the front pulley from the crankshaft of a Farmall Cub can be a difficult job… but this one was particularly stubborn.

I finally won, and wanted to share the experience.

Beginning At the beginning… I'm swapping an engine from a 154 Cub to a '48 F-Cub that had a shot engine. This means swapping a lot of stuff, including the flywheel/clutch and front pulley. The front pulley on the '48 had the ears for the hand crank damaged, so I went to Scruffy's old engine for a better donor. That's where the trouble began.

1. The project began normally with rigging my modified puller as I have done many times in the past. I applied the usual force and then some… no joy. Under the heavy load, the 1/2 x 20 x 3 1/2 began to bend to the side.

2. I made a bushing to fit the bore of this pulley and with a 1/2" hole for the bolt so the bolt couldn't bend, and applied more force. Under the additional force, the jaws of the puller began to spread. I was hoping to use a different setup with a bearing splitter, but the timing pointer resisted all efforts to remove it.

3. Fearing breaking the pulley flange, I rigged several wraps of aircraft cable threaded through extra holes in the puller jaws tightly to keep the jaws from spreading. No joy!

4. Now it's time to get serious! I put the impact wrench on the puller and torqued it up to the maximum. Still no joy!

5. It's time for the big guns. Out come the big guns. While the puller is on maximum pull, I begin to heat the pulley. I apply heat with an AO torch until the entire hub is glowing a dull red, and the oil inside the engine is on fire. Still no joy!!!

6. Out comes the heavy air chisel, and while the hub is still red, I hammer on the outside of the hub with a flat tool… a lot, hoping to expand it a bit. Between the hammering and more rattling with the impact wrench, I see a very slight movement. As I later found out, the extreme force was enough to cause the 1/2" bolt to buckle slightly.

7. Bottom line… by using progressively longer bolts, I was able to get the pulley off with the flanges intact.

8. I hope none of my friends find one this difficult to get off. This one will be modified a bit before I put it on the 154 engine.

[Donny M]

Mr. GW,

Glad you got that stubborn thing off


PS
I don't think it's vain to be proud

[johnbron]

George, That sounded like you really had a tough battle with that one. "Whew", I worked up a sweat just reading your _Blow by Blow_ description. Glad to hear you ended up becoming the victor.

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

Glad it was you and not me, I'd probably have given up and bougth another one.

[Bigdog]

Nice goin' Grandpa! I never had any doubt.

[Rudi]

Gawd George:

I really hope I never have to go through that. I think I would echo John and just bought another.....

You have a darn sight more patience than I. Bravo

[Chris Palmer]

George and all,

Although I usually lurk long enough to find my anwser, curiosity is killing me on this one. Is the motivation for this new project to create another member of you unique family of Cubs by means of a higher horsepower standard Farmall Cub? The 154 was rated at about 15 hp vs. the 9 or so for the FCUBs. More power? Faster ground speed? Inquiring minds want to know........

Chris Palmer
2 '48 Cubs, a '77 184, and a couple bigger IH tractors

[George Willer]

George and all,

Although I usually lurk long enough to find my anwser, curiosity is killing me on this one. Is the motivation for this new project to create another member of you unique family of Cubs by means of a higher horsepower standard Farmall Cub? The 154 was rated at about 15 hp vs. the 9 or so for the FCUBs. More power? Faster ground speed? Inquiring minds want to know........

Chris Palmer
2 '48 Cubs, a '77 184, and a couple bigger IH tractors

Good to hear from you again, Chris.

You've nailed it... in part. Another part is "just because". A third part is to make up a Cub that can outpull Scruffy.

[Bill V in Md]

Awesome - George, would you like to come and live with me?

[WJ]

Could you describe or post pics of your puller??

Thanks

[Steve Butram]

Everything works out in the end. If it hasn't worked out, it's not the end.
- Unknown


So George the disclamer is really true . If anyone could Git er Done! I knew it would be You .Steve

[denton]

Mr. Willer
I have pulled three of those, and each time it seemed like something would break or melt before I could get them off. Anyway I dressed the crank just a tiny bit before reassembly and things went much smoother on installation. What do you suggest for cleaning up the pulley/crank prior to installation. ds