TERRA TIGER Restoration thread

[simpleton7016]

Tips for replacing the bearings for the steering clutches on the primary drive shaft.

I think the the replacement of the steering clutch bearings is a critical maintenance task on Terra Tigers. I have torn down 4 drive shafts and removing the bearing housing from the male portion of the steering clutch was a difficult task. Keep in mind, that all of mine were all rusty basket cases, so this is a "worst-case scenario".

Before I begin, let me explain that for the life of me, I can not find any purpose for the second bearing in the housing (the one closest to the driven clutch) except as a spacer. I didn't realize this until after I bought all new bearings, but there is no reason that you couldn't use one of your old bearings to fill the space that this bearing does. Even when fully engaged / disengaged, the shaft on the male portion of the steering clutch (#7) does not slide in and out of this bearing. Nevertheless, you still need SOMETHING in that space because that is what the springs press up against. So save yourself a few dollars and use your old bearing (even if it is shot) in place of that inside bearing. The outside bearing slides over the shaft on the male portion of the steering clutch and gets sandwiched between two snap rings - this bearing is critical.

The task of removing the bearing housing from the male portion of the steering clutch assembly (#7) was a difficult task on all 8 that I replaced. Once removed from the shaft itself, the #7 and #16 are essentially one assembly, but they must be seperated in order to replace the bearing.

The first step is to get out your snap ring pliers and remove the snap ring that is between the bearings inside the housing. Once it is out of its' slot, use a needle nose pliers and pull it out. This will require some effort and will almost certainly result in the sacrifice of the snap ring itself. But it is nearly impossible to take these apart with that snap ring in the picture. So get rid of it.

Next, find a socket that is roughly the same diameter as the round edge of the male portion of the steering clutch (#7). Your socket will also need to be skinny enough to fit loosely between the inner races of the bearings that are currently sandwhiched in the housing (#16). For me, it was an 11/16" deep socket.

Then, hold the whole assembly between your fingers like the Mork and Mindy handshake. Rememver "nanu-nanu"? The housing (#16) will be facing up and above your fingers. The male portion of the steering clutch (#7) will be facing down and under your hand. With the socket resting on the surface of the steering clutch shaft, between the bearings and sticking above the top of outside (now top) bearing....start beating the snot out of the socket. The male portion of the steering clutch (#7) will eventually break free from the bearing housing and fall to the floor. You can then press out the bearings and bearing spacer.

Before reassembling, use a dremel tool and clean up the edge of the shaft on the steering clutch shaft (the one that just took a beating). Then press in your new bearing. Before you press the bearing spacer and second spacer in, you need to reassemble the housing and the male portion of the steering clutch. You will now need to find a socket that is big enough to slide OVER the lip edge of the steering clutch shaft yet still rest on the inner race of your bearing. Pounf the bearing and housing down over the shaft until it butts up to the snap ring. You will now be able to replace the second snap ring (the one you sacrificed). Then press on the bearing spacer and the second (inside and useless) bearing.

Voila, you are done. You might check to make sure that the brass/bronze bushings inside the steering clutch half are still good, but other than that, just slip the whole assembly over the drive shaft and make sure it spins very freely.

[simpleton7016]

Here are pics of the snap ring that needs to be extracted and the "Mork and Mindy" grip with the socket in place and ready for a beating..

[thebuggyman1]

"Before I begin, let me explain that for the life of me, I can not find any purpose for the second bearing in the housing (the one closest to the driven clutch) except as a spacer"
The 2nd bearing,(inner on each side) rides on the spring that holds tension on the steering clutches. The spring rotates with the shaft. The bearing housing does not. FYI, if you ever need a relacement spring, try a race car valve spring 2" relaxed ht. compressed to 1.25" is 200# of pressure.

[simpleton7016]

Good tip buggyman. Thanks! I put a washer on either side of the spring, but it seems to me that a thrust washer might be a good upgrade. I will chew on it for a while. Thanks for the spring tip. I noticed in you profile that you describe your Terra Tiger as a "money pit". Do you have any lessons that we could learn from? I am gonna do 3 of these at the same time, so I'd love to learn from others mistakes!

[thebuggyman1]

Sorry, money pit was the wrong thing to say. Let's rename it a time pit. I bought a basket case, the guy's ad said he had a 5 gal bucket of parts to go with it. I should have just parted it out. It was missing way too much stuff. The body had bad repair done to it also, someone used bondo to fill a hole in the fiberglass. I had to cut out about a 6" square to make sure I got it all. Now I have, all new chain, custom main shaft, driven clutch out of a 71 motoski, custom steering shaft/handlebars, sachs motor(thanks LarryW), custom seats, custom fuel tank.........the list goes on. I need to order brake and throttle cables and one good weekend and it will be done. I will post pictures in detail when its done.
As far as tips, Just make sure you reinforce the axle center bearings, very weak design.

[simpleton7016]

re: the axle center bearings, I assume you mean the tubes with the brass/bronze bushings in them? Do you have the TT 10 or TT 18 model? The latter came with the angle iron reinforcements which I thought was supposed to resolve the weak original design. Even so, I am upgrading those to beef it up more....my machinist is engineering the upgrade and should have them complete in a few weeks.

[simpleton7016]

I picked up another early TT10 this week for parts, It was pretty rough with a horrible camofluage paint job, but it had the original flat yellow hood (which I needed) and five pretty darn good balloon tires. Even so, I still almost passed on it b/c of a wife that is unhappy with the shells that are laying around the yard waiting for fiberglass work.

Anyway, the point of this post is that after a year and a half of tearing apart these things, I finally got one that probably spent its entire life indoors and under shelter. Man, it was sooooo easy pulling the shafts off when the sprockets aren't rusted to the axles. I wish they all were like this one! I think my others all spent a decade or more outdoors at some point in their lives!

[thebuggyman1]

I took my newly restored, highly customized terra tiger for its maiden test drive tonight. I have 2 sprockets spinning on the axles. Aren't they keyed to the shafts? Do the keys shear often?

[simpleton7016]

Your machine looks great....is that the original Allis Chalmers orange color? The seats sream "leisure" but it sounds like you are getting anything but!

From what I have read (not from experience, yet), the answer is yes. If the holes are warbled out (in either the shaft or the hub on the sprockets, then the constant torquing will snap sheer pins often. Some of the newer models (I think serial 5,000 and up) went to keyed shafts, but yours looks like one of the older yellow models.

I have scoured the archives and there are several options for you. First is to try installing bolts in place of sheer pins. It is critical that you purchase bolts long enough that the shoulder makes its way all the way throughthe entire assembly. You do not want any of the thread inside the sprocket. Also, it is hard for me to tell which grade of steel to use. Opinions seem split between grade 5 and grade 8. On the one hand, you do not want a bolt that keeps snapping, but on the other, you would rather have the bolt snap than the shaft.

Next, if the standard hardware store bolts are still sloppy in the holes, you can try to order slightly larger bolts from McMaster Carr or elsewhere. The key is that the bolts have to fit TIGHT in the holes...NO SLOP.

If however, your holes are beyond the point of no return, you will need to pull the axles and weld all the holes shut and redrill.. Trust me, if your axels are already spinning in the sprockets, those are the ones that will come out easy. For your sake, I hope it is the fronts! I have had to cut off too many axels and it breaks my heart each time I do.

With all the problems I have read with these axels, I opted to hire a machinist to simply make new axels, sprockets and 5 bolt hubs. It is expensive, but I think it will be worth it in the end.

Good luck.

[thebuggyman1]

This is what it looked like when I got it, well, other than all the junk I had to clean out of it.
I could not read the model/serial# label.
I originally painted it Allis orange but wasn't happy with how it looked, so I opted for a brighter color.
The seats are from the rear of a 1990 chevy tracker and are very comfy.
As far as machining, I've done way too much of that already. The main driven shaft is custom built....way too many parts were missing. Sooooo, I wish I could say I enjoyed restoring it but it was just way too time consuming. My intention now is to sell it once it is 100%. On the up side it was fun to drive, cool having handle bars instead of sticks. On the down side, I've got to get the reverse adjusted and working. I'm too old to enjoy pushing it back into the garage.

It's fixed:

[Mike]

You are having way too much fun to just be in your yard.

Nice job!

[LarryW]

Hey buggyman,
Thats awesome!!! That motor once pushed an attex around, glad to see its still pushing an amphib.

Awesome reverse!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!lol

[simpleton7016]

well, I decided that I would farm out my fiberglass work. As a full-time employed father of two small boys, I just don't have the time or experience to do a good job...much less paint. Enter the "barter" section on craigslist. I have an old allis chalmers garden tractor with a loader on it....roughly $2,500 value. It was taking up way too much space for the very limited use it gets. Add to that the fact that my wife is constantly nagging me about my tractors and the space they take up. So I placed an add to trade the loader for fiberglass work and paint on three Terra Tigers. Several guys expressed interest, but one guy stopped by and immediately gained my trust. It's weird how you can just sense someone is a straight shooter from the start.

Anyway, he kind of balked at the trade, but he saw my other Terra Tiger (the runner from earlier in this thread) that I had for sale for $1,500. He said he would do the fiberglass work and paint on all three Terra Tigers in trade for the running Terra Tiger and $750. Seemed like a good deal to me, so with a handshake, we are moving forward. I am really impressed with his work. He started with this camoflage tiger I picked up for parts a month ago. It was originally a TT10 serial # 1438 - one of the old yellow models. I am having him restore this to original. I already have the decals made. He filled holes, shored up the floor and exhaust area and fixed some other hidden repairs. I am very pleased with his craftsmanship so far. We found an "off the shelf" yellow marine paint that is a damn close match. I sould have this one back at my house in paint and ready for assembly next week. My machininst should have the axels ready in three weels....then I get to start reassembly with nice new and clean parts.

[simpleton7016]

more pics

[jpswift1]

Looking good so far! I have a early 1970's Simplicity 3416H that had a recent engine rebuild, and I just rebuilt the bevel gear box. It has a snow plow, a very wide rear rototiller, and mowing deck and I must say that tractor is built like a tank, and just about as heavy as one too. I hardly ever use it, so it'll be going up for sale too.