My new road roller

3V0,

Couple of thoughts:
1) I would consider drilling out and threading to 6-32, particularly if the hole in the butterfly arm has worn a little larger.
2) Believe it or not, I have a model that uses 5-40 control rods! I ended up ordering what I needed from McMaster-Carr. The plane was worth it to me. I had already built it, so switching to 4-40 or 6-32 was not an option. If you need a couple of 5-40 nuts to cut down slop, let me know
3) A pair of "wheel retainers" on an unthreaded rod would probably work too.

John

Thanks for the offer. I found the torches today. Lets see how it goes.

John I think I will take you up on the offer for a 5-40 nut.

Using oxy-propane and a small torch I got the bit with the rusted rod dull red and the rod turned out with a pliers. I sure made a creaking noise and it took a few heats. Slightly wondering about temper but I don't think it matters with this.

3v0 said:

John I think I will take you up on the offer for a 5-40 nut.

Using oxy-propane and a small torch I got the bit with the rusted rod dull red and the rod turned out with a pliers. I sure made a creaking noise and it took a few heats. Slightly wondering about temper but I don't think it matters with this.

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Well done!!

Time for the WD40 now, then. Apply liberally, let it soak in for a few hours, works wonders. Heat the part up to bright red (old books call it cherry red, but there are so many kinds of cherry!) (or even orange) when it's out and quench it in water should give reasonable temper if you think it's gone soft.

Throbscottle. Thanks that is about what I did. I soaked it in penetrating oil for about a week. Then heated to dull red with oxy-propane. It made a groaning creaking noise as I turned it out with a small pliers. I will try WD-40 prior to heating next time I need to do this sort of thing.

Yesterday I reinstalled the gas tank after rinsing it with acetone along with the sediment bowl. The shutoff on the sediment bowl was not working but a few rounds in the ultrasonic cleaner fixed it and another shutoff that someone had added just prior to the bowl. I have a new gasket for the bowl on order. I would cut one but I am not sure about how the gasket material I have would work in that application and a new one is not that expensive but still 3x what it should be.

The cleaned carb is sitting next to me on my desk. I have a tap on order to chase the threads on the bit I heated and a die to thread a new rod. John (thanks) is sending locknuts for the shaft. If all goes well in 10 days or two weeks I should have the motor running. I should get to work on the stiff drive chain and the stuff I removed attempting to get the chain off so I could move it.

I have not looked at the ignition and may need to touch up the points on the magneto. The engine has a starter/generator combo. Looks like an old style generator but has windings for both in one package. Need to look into getting the starter portion of that working too. The generator can wait.

It will be a hoot if and when this thing is working.

I fail to see the excitement in owning or operating a road roller- seems quite mundane to me. Now something like a backhoe, dozer, or excavator that can wreak havoc seems quite appealing!

You do have a point! Playing with those toys, particularly my mini-excavator, is a lot more fun than pushing a pencil and dealing with administrators. Now, if you could combine dealing with administrators and digging holes, life would be perfect...

I have a problem with the coolant temp gauge on the tractor, but will start a new thread for that.

John

Roller Update:

Turns out I have two good delco starter/generator combo units.

Finished putting the carb and the DIY governor to carb linkage in place. Cleaned the gas tank and sediment bowl. Soon after this I landed a 2nd copy of the engine! This one has a gear reduction and clutch. The guy I got it from said, the guy he got it from was told by the original owner, that it ran!

Neither engine would fire with a bit or starting fluid or gas in the intake. A neon bulb in series with a 20K resistor shows that there is some juice there just not enough to make a spark. I picked up emery boards today and plan to touch up the points on the second engine to see if I can get it to fire. Once that works I will give the points on the roller a go but the magneto cover is located next to the transmission and I do not know that I can get the screws out. I may have to remove the magneto and then one has to be sure to preserve the ignition timing when reinstalling it.

Rather then mess with the old drive chain any further I am going to spring for a new chain which still needs to be ordered.

HiTech said:

I fail to see the excitement in owning or operating a road roller- seems quite mundane to me. Now something like a backhoe, dozer, or excavator that can wreak havoc seems quite appealing!

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A small dozer would be fun and if I find one for the right price I might buy it but I really want to work my through the backlog of non working stuff I already own. As it stands I can move the dirt I need to with the equipment I have.

I have a 22HP tractor with a loader and a 3pt box blade. I also have a toeable backhoe. I enjoy both but I get more out of saving and fixing old, discarded, equipment. A huge amount of good nonworking equipment is out there. Stuff like this engine powered post hole digger rescued from the dump. It uses a 'Clinton' two cycle engine. To get it going I cleaned the carb, put an end on the spark plug wire, and fixed the hand throttle. It is still missing the correct recoil starter but I found one off a briggs lawn mower engine that works.



Regarding the roller. My wife wants to put in some concrete and pavers. My original plan was to buy a plate compactor from Harbor Freight. The 30" road roller will do a better job and with luck the cost to me should be a little over $100.

Next on the list is a concrete mixer.

A fella I work with restores vintage small engines--- like that from Maytag (yup used to power a clothes washer) and a Lauson and a Clinton. Me? I just fart around with the common crap like Tecrumbsehs and Breaks 'n Scrappit brands and some Kohlers.

Would this **broken link removed** help you?

It might but it seems to be one of the wonderchips from a small company that nobody seems to stock. Zero hits with octopart. Perhaps the provide samples.

But you post was very good in that it got me thinking about what other ICs might be out there to make this easier. This part goes between the PC and the ignition coil eliminating the HV board most people are using. Like the part you found it is not one you can get from digikey or mouser.

https://www.st.com/st-web-ui/static/active/en/resource/technical/document/datasheet/CD00286429.pdf

All may not be lost:

Most Keterex products are available through our world-wide distribution channel. Products not available through our distributors or volume orders exceeding the distributor's published price-break quantities, may be ordered directly from Keterex Corporate Sales. Each product's availability status (via distribution and/or factory direct) is indicated on its product details page.

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**broken link removed**

Factory direct only, must by 5 at $4.10 ea. Almost no trouble at all.

http://keterex.com/ordering.php

This is a neat little company. Did you see the USB to (SPI,I2C). Did not look at the price. They have a audio recording playback chip for about $100...

I want to look at the KX1130 Ignition Controller IC a bit further. I can see how they would work with a flywheel mounted magneto. They work with an impulse variety. It is nice that they avoid the points.

I can setup a pulse shaper with the magneto on the bench as per the diagram as it is the major bit of external parts. Maybe figure out what values are needed. Trouble is the required width of the pulse is in the datasheet which I did not find.

After attempting to clean and set the point on the magneto I took the point set out of the magneto and ran them through the ultra sonic cleaner with dawn dish soap and hot water. The points set is 2 parts so I lined them up under a magnifying lamp prior to setting the gap.

That did the trick. I can get a blue 1/2 spark and a heck of a jolt from the thing. For testing purposes I did not use grease, I still need to take the moving point off to lube the pin it rotates on. With luck that will go well and I can swap this fixed unit for the one on the roller. Going to see if I can fix that one as well. But that is going to have to wait for warmer weather.

What I have learned from this is that much of the web methods for testing magnetos do not work well with my digital meters. I qualified that because maybe they will work better for others.

Nice job. Maybe I should try to fix an ultrasonic I have. Brought home in a broken state. Too many other things to do.

BTW, here is a nice site: http://gardentractorpullingtips.com/ignition.htm You don;t need the points anymore.

I bought the Nova 2 or whatever it's called for a lawn mower. I really like it. I've been wanting to convert the really old Tecumseh snowblower.

One of these days, I'll have to figure out how one can make wheels with snow chains that aren't available anymore. Finding data for wheels, in general, has been impossible.
I don't have the size handy, but they are not pneumatic tires. The wheels connect with a split pin, so it's a reamed short axle with a hole in it set a precise distance.

I started looking at DIY electronic ignitions when the magneto was not working. I eventually ran into the modules you pointed to. They are a great solution.

The impulse magneto is better then you average ignition system. It has a spring that winds up as you turn the engine and when it get to TDC it snaps and rapidly spins the magnet. Not unlike the method used to start an old airplane engine by turning the propeller.



I read you text about making wheels and snow chains and am not sure what one has to do with the other.

Ev0 said:

I read you text about making wheels and snow chains and am not sure what one has to do with the other.

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It's an aside, related because your rebuilding something and I spent sometime rebuilding a snowblower. I really liked the ignition module for the 35+ YO lawnmower because it really did improve starting. When I put a universal throttle cable that was too short, I could not turn off the engine. I also had just changed the oil and forgot to put the filler plug back on. What a mess. The throttle cable (from the Oregon company), was not made of spring steel and you could bend the cable in a right angle and it was not "universal". Info like travel was not on the packaging. Really pissed.

A few years ago, I spent a little bit of time rebuilding, the Craftsman snowblower with a Tecumseh engine. I then learned about hypro, nonrok and woodruff keys and how everyone seems to not know what they are and label them wrong. The wheels would be the only item that I, so far, have been unable to source. The hard wheels measure 6.5" x 2" and the stub is about 2" long. I don't know the size of the split-pin off hand, nor the shaft size (probably 1/2" to 5/8"). So if anyone is reading this and has an idea for wheels and chains and has an idea, it would be useful. I probably can get access to a lathe about 40 miles away, but could not do the required welding (no access and little practice).

I didn't intend to hijack the thread. Just hoped to add a few experiences in rebuilding. The ignition module is more relevant to your topic than the wheels. The broad topic is rebuilding of small engine stuff.

As thread owner I welcome what you have to say.