[dataway]

I've got a Woods 7.5' ag backhoe on my tractor ... the pivot pins holes are all sloppy and are going to have to be bushed.

Anyone done this kind of thing?

It's disassembled now, plan is to get the boom and dipper into the milling machine (no easy task) and bore the holes out to 1 1/4" and bush them back down to 1" to fit the pins. Some of the pins will be replaced or I'll turn new ones.

Question are ... what bushing material ... can I get away with high load bronze, or should I used hardened steel like a "drill bushing". Upside to the hardened steel is wear resistances, load capacity and the ability to weld them to the hole if necessary. Down side is I can't turn the OD of the bushing to achieve a great fit in the hole so I'd have probably have to using a boring head rather than a drill bit to enlarge the boom holes.

Upside to Bronze .... it won't rust in place, self lube to some degree, easier to fit them in place.

I was thinking if I used hardened steel and made some pins from 1040, the pins would wear out first and I wouldn't have this problem in the future ... not that I will probably ever use the hoe enough to wear them out anyway.

Any thoughts, advice, ideas, tips, or hints ?

Thanks,
JohnnyB

[Sirrotica]

Rear steer axle kingpin on a Gradall 534 B reach boom forklift had a similar issue. The pin would wear through the bushing (bronze) and the start wearing into the steer axle making an elongated hole that you couldn't replace the standard bushing in.

The repair was an oversized steel sleeve that used the same diameter bushing in it as original.

The axle was cut out with a torch roughly and then using an air grinder with a burr fit into the steer axle assembled and then tacked the oversize sleeve in place. Then disassembled and final welded into place. We had a bunch of rental machines that we did this repair to because of course they were never greased by the contractors daily.

The replacement part did use a longer pin and bushing so it had more bearing surface to slow the wear. If the machine was greased at the beginning of each shift there was no wear problem. Going weeks without grease made a huge repair problem for us road service mechanics. The repair took 2 guys about a day and a half/12 hours, total.

[dataway]

Yep .... this unit was a rental before I bought it.

So typically the bushing/sleeve should be welded into place? I assume that is to prevent it from freezing to the shaft and turning inside the boom?