We took the Turtle for a ride

[Rusty-Gunn]

The wife and I took our Avenger out for our first ride of this season. I call it The Turtle.
It still tends to turn to the left, so I ended up taking most of the air out of the right side just to make it 80/90 percent better, but still needs adjusting. I'll work it out, you'll see (I learned quite a bit this past winter from this site.)

[Rusty-Gunn]

We went out again this evening and took our daughter and three of her friends.
The stering still bugs me. I took a lot of the air out of the right side tires and had the heaviest teens sit on the right side too, but it still tends to turn to the left. It does seem better wwhen we go faster, buts because the "banana turns" are spaced out farther apart, I think.
I'm convinced the issue isn't the tire size, but perhaps the chains and/or the berrings. I'll be lifting up The Turtle to check them next. Any suggestions?

[rodp]

Swap the tyres from side to side just to try it. If it then pulls to the other side you know it's tyres. Should then be a case of swapping just some around until it's nice and straight then turning them on the rims to get rotation correct.

[Rusty-Gunn]

I do thank you for this suggestion. It did cross my mind but I'm not entirely convinced its the tires due to the amount of air taken out from the right side, to the point they all are obviously lower pressure by sight (flatter appearance).
Anyhoo, it won't hurt to try just about anything to get it tracking straight.

[Rusty-Gunn]

I figure I know what the problem is. In a different thread late last fall I spoke about the right front axle being pushed in about two inches... well, its also slightly turned to the left as well, which I never noticed before. I'll fix that tomorrow. I do have the bearings for it already.
,

[Rusty-Gunn]

Due to limited time I was only able to set the Argo up on stacks of 2x4s and thicker timber. This is to get the wheels off the ground so they can free-wheel to get the master-link to the top for easy removal.
I did notice the inner bearing might actually be missing! I was not told this by the previous owner. Anyhoo, I was aware it was an issue at the time I bought it though, so I'm not mad about it.
I do have extra bearings, so it can be fixed.

[Rusty-Gunn]

I can't get the bolt off the axle tip. I need to have a friend come over and help I think.
I think the inner bearing flange might be toast, but I'll know once I get it off.
While doing this I discovered the idler shaft bearing on the outside is shot.
Anyhoo, more work to do but the Argo will be fun to use when it gets done.

[Rusty-Gunn]

I had my nephew come over (he took yet another nephew with him) and we managed to take axle off the machine. The inner bearings are completely destroyed. The outer was good, but I'm going to replace both (I have extra bearings for half the machine).
Adam took the output shaft (not idler as I wrote above) chain off, because we need to replace the outer bearing for it as well. This is the shaft between the front and second axles.
I'll do a complete check of all other bearings while its up on blocks.

[spookum]

Keep up the good work. If your going to use it for bush operations, I would get on ebay (flat rate box) enough chains to do at least the trans and front to a axles. Then do ALL the bearing.... U can get them from big bearing supply... Cheaply in a flat rate box.... Having an inner bearing that wasted tells me that you should dig a little deeper. If it is down for a little while, you should just take the time to make it bomb proof. I'm looking forward to pics if it in the bush with it piled high with meats!!!

[Rusty-Gunn]

Thank you for the comments. I did try to shake a few random wheels yesterday, with none with any shaking. I intend to check them all though. I have eight inner bearings and four outer bearings in my parts collection, if I remember correctly. I don't have any more spare money so I'll have to repair what I can up to this point.

I might catch a caribou or two fall time but my main use for The Turtle is to search for mammoth tusks, teeth and bones. I'm an ivory carver part-time by trade (besides being a retired substance abuse counselor.)

[Rusty-Gunn]

The short shaft between the front and second shafts are called idler shafts? I'm having trouble understanding the instructions on how to remove the right side shaft.
I got the four bolts off the bearing flange, but don't understand how the other end, closest to engine/trans, comes off.

Also, does the inner bearing flanges on the eight axles use a gasket? I didn't see one when removing them, but the assembly instructions say to "Place regular flange to the top of the gasket." Photo 42

I don't see a gasket in the pic, nor in the parts book. I'm confused.
Also, do these flanges sandwich the inner bearing, then both get bolted to the frame (inner side)? I didn't take out the flanges, a by-stander did when he asked if he could help (sure, sure, bust a gut, knock yourself out, take your time, enjoy it while you're up in that tiny space.)
The right side second axle outer bearing seems to have a small amount of up/down movement, and I might change it out. The others are tight, except the other dang front axle (tiny movement).

[Rusty-Gunn]

We got the idler shaft off. The flanges were a bit worn where the shqft rubbed on it due to the outer bearing having had fallen apart.
I installed a new outer bearing, the inner being in good condidtion.
My friend Rocky, who is an Argo owner, had a few sets of flanges he let me use.
Once we get the front shaft installed we'll install the idler shaft then work on the second shaft.
A bit of hard work but we'll get it done.

[Rock Doctor]

Sounds like your well on your way.
If you can pump a bit of grease into the bearings that only have a tiny bit of movement, and that takes the play out of them, they are probably ok for a while.

RD

[Rusty-Gunn]

Thank you Rock Doctor. I'll pump grease into all the zerks when I'm done.

BTW your vids are very helpful, and others care very entertaining. I've enjoyed a lot of them.

[Rusty-Gunn]

I think there is a typo in the service manual, which says the brake caliper bolts are "socket head" which I take to mean it uses a socket wrench is needed to remove it. Instead, it uses an Allen wrench. This caused me a lot of frustration, to say the least. Once I figured it out we (my wife and I. I call her my Panic Mechanic, as she gets the work done, not being afraid to get her skirt dirty) were able to get the caliper and brake disc off. This allowed the idler shaft to be installed easier.
Another hang-up we ran into was the brake disc cooler hose nozzle, which gave a bit of trouble when we re-installed the disc. The disc bumped up to it, and wouldn't allow the disc to rotate. We needed to put the disc within the oblong nozzle, so cool air can blow on both sides of the disc. We did get it done right in the end.
We still have the front shaft to install tomorrow. Moving right along.