Bamfords Muck Spreader

Hi,

We recently purchased a vintage Bamfords Muck Spreader, whereby we have a little issue on one of the hubs - Possibly due to previous owners overtightening the bolts, or fatigue:



Does anyone know if these can be purchased in case I am not able to repair it - as I believe it may be cast iron?

Exfarmer said:

it could be braised . This only keeps the grease in the bearing and it may have been over enthusiastic use of a grease gun that caused the problem.
A bigger issue will be getting this studs out, but again heat will help

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Fortunately the studs seem loose as if fed from behind, so I believe once I get the wheel off it should prove (hopefully) easy. Would you happen to know the name of the said cover - were they called Hub Caps / Bearing Covers - in case I need to source a new one?

spin cycle said:

only the cover...take it off...keep it greased while working....stick a bag on it while storing....i'm a Farmer

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There - corrected that for you

powerfarmer said:

How many studs keeping it on ?

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At the minute 1, but will be minimum 2 if it cannot be repaired.
May be a bit if fettling to be done if cannot be sourced / repaired.

spin cycle said:

presumably the wheel isn't cast...so you could make two 'U' shaped brackets with wings and bolt these on to the wheels to hold the hub tight
or
remove the hub...fashion a new cover from plastic and secure with big jubilee clip....be better if assembly were round really though

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Not sure about the wheel at the minute until I get the bearing off to be able to remove the wheel.
Ran out of time doing other things today, so will have to wait until next weekend now.

Exfarmer said:

Its a hub cap, I would think the chance of sourcing is slightly less than winning the Euromillions.

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So there is a chance then

OK, so finally got my arse in gear to get to work on trying to repair this:




So as I have got no workshop / shed etc that I can work in currently, I had to knock up something to help me keep the part from moving etc, so this is how it all went today - until that is it started to rain:

Searched local shops for Cast Rods, whereby could only get these rods as everywhere that specialise in Welding etc was closed locally:



So cleaned up the parts to be repaired:



As you can see above - the part is quite porus, and I couldn't take anymore meat out of it or the broken piece would never fit...

Now I had a bit of a head scratch thinking how best to handle this in my predicament prevent movement whilst opefully managing to weld the pieces back together

So this is the bodge that I came up with....



Good eh - recycling an old piece of worktop that was the cut out from the stables sink worktop

Now, I know the rods stated for cold welding as can be seen in the above pic - but I was not 100% certain about the structural integrity of the cast pieces and the potential for distortion post welding, so I opted to play it safe and heat the components:



So: Gas Mark 6 in the uncleaned Barbie (reminds me, best have a word with the misses for lacking in the cleaning dept )

So, this is what happened next post cooking the items up:




A bit of MMA electricery - with a bit of peening over to hopefully try and relieve heat stress as the weld / pieces cooled..



Once cooled, I then ground the weld down as I could not continue to weld as it was starting to rain, whereby I noticed that there is a bit of inclusion, so I may go back and gouge out the cavities, then go back over the piece again once the weather settles, but the jury is still out on that, as I do not want to break the piece..




So that's where I am for now - it's back in one piece, it is still remarkably flat considering the lack of proper workshop facilities. I'm fairly happy with the result after not having welded cast for decades, and not being a coded trained fabricator, so me bodge is OK for now