Yet another on Facebook

 This one has been hacked to works with a modern magneto.

Spotted another one on facebook

Seen on the B&S Junkies facebook page.
Poster was asking about the engine.
Attempting to contact.
 

Updating the compression roller.

Essicks VR30 Manual is now shared aka public.

There was a change in the front roller aka compression roller.  Units up to and including 72410021 used a "flex mount with bushing", aka rubber donut, on both ends of the roller.  These are omitted on 72410022 and later.  Need to figure out what parts need to be obtained or fabricated to convert to the newer setup.  Or how to make the older units with dead flex mount bushings.

Both use bearing 902095. 

Bearing housing PN differ.

Older unit uses a part called a stub axle with one being open ended and the other closed.   The newer units uses a part called bearing retainer on both sides.

Vibrator shafts PN differ.

Seat

Back to working on the seat.   Ordered the bugle head screws to mount the seat cushions to the frame.  The black paint on the seat brackets has faded and now looks like OE equipment.   Had the plywood seat bases outside and the paint failed.  Sanded them down and repainted.  

Just need to figure out where to drill the holes in the bases so the seat fits on the roller.  Then send it over to be upholstered if the lady is still interested in doing it.

Should clean that carb and get it running again this summer.  Now that I can do some machining I should take a look at the drawings for the units without the rubber suspension and see if I can convert my front roller to that setup.

Restoring the Seat

The seat is supported by two heavy metal L shaped brackets.   The wood on the bottom seat has rotted.  In doing so it held water that rusted the bracket under it.   Fixing the seat will require new plywood foundations.  The top plywood is intact and can be copied.  The bottom is mostly gone so I am going to try copying the shape of the foam.

The first bracket is in the reverse electrolysis bath to remove rust.

Friday, September 16, 2016

One of the seat supports has finished de-rusting.   Moved onto the seat foundations.

The original seat back foundation was used for the pattern.  For the bottom I had to use the cushion.

Lacking suitable 3/4 inch ply I laminated 2 1/2" sheets.

I made the mistake of using the original seat back as a drill guide.  The hole on the right is nearer the edge, just as it was on the original seat.


To be continued

September 2020

Painted the seat and eventually left it outside on the roller and the paint dies.  Its now 4 years later and I have sanded the seat, rounded the edges and repainted it.   Just need ot get the holes drilled and see if the lady still wants to do upholster it.

The carb runs over when I tried to start it.  Have to pull the carb apart and clean the float bowl.  This is the carb where you have to remove the main jet to get the bowl off.  (A reminder to me)

Preparing to put the VR30RE into action.

I have been thinking of some projects where the roller would be useful.  I have had the roller for a few years and it is time to put it to use.

But currently the carrier needs new tires,  the rubber suspension on other side of the drum has died, and the seat is plywood with sheet rock screws protruding from it.

The engine started easily enough.  Just turn on the gas, open the throttle, choke it, and hook up the jumper cables. And make sure the transmission is in neutral.

Drove it off the carrier and parked in on the drive in front of the shop.

I have arranged to get the seat upholstered.  First I need to make new plywood for the seat and backrest.    Thinking 2 layers of Baltic birch.   The trick is that the plywood mounts to 2 angle brackets that bolt to holes on the machine.  To work the spacing needs to be correct.  I have the back but the bottom is mostly gone.   One back and one front corner of the seat are still recognizable so I can get the shape from that.

The angle brackets are counter sunk for the screw heads.  I have 3 of the 4 screws for the back, missing one.  They are bugle head with slots.  Need to source new ones all around if I can.  Maybe Fastenall.    The screws screw into t-nuts on the other side of the plywood.

I think the first step will be to cleanup and paint the brackets.  That way they will not make the new plywood dirty.  Not that anyone but the lady doing the upholstery will see it.  But if it is neat she may do a better job.

When I loaded the roller on the carrier the chain became very loose.  This caused me to think the other rubber suspension part had failed.     Unlike the other one it may not be fully seperated.  So I will do the fix where I sandwiched the rubber between the two plates with bolts.  Sort of cuts out the vibratory part but better than nothing.

Image from when I bodged the other side.



Not sure what was up with the carb.  I don't know if it was still leaking when the motor was running but it did not flood.  Will keep an eye on it.

First Run Video

After bodging the suspension I installed the brake and the drive chain.   The engine would not start because the kill switch was shorting.  A friend helped find that.  It is nice to have a 2nd pair of hands and eyes.

At any rate here is the video.  The neighborhood kids are guest stars in this video in that they were helping their mom trim trees while I was shooting.

What next?  I am planning on having the seat recovered.   Need to get the vibrating mechanism put but together etc.   No rush on any of it.

Replacing the Front Drum

The drum is not as heavy as it looks.  Popped it up into the bucket with no problem.











Used the loader to slide the drum under the body.

Pushed it about 1/3 of the way and it snagged the body pushing it about 6 inches in the front,

Repositioning the drum and tractor once was enough.

Drum all the way in and the flex mount bolted to the body.

Longer view.

This is the 'repaired' flex mount from the driven side.  It will be used on the non driven side because it is easier to get to if it fails again.   Note the red loctite in 3 of the 4 threaded holes holding it together.  The 4th hole has a lock washer and nut.

Greased the axle and slid the flex mount in place.

Bolted the flex mount support in place.  Only the 3 bolts that hold the flex plate to it are left.

Flex Mount Bodge

I am calling this a bodge rather than an repair in that I do not know how long it will last.

Two 3/8" bolts installed from the back and threaded into tapped holes in the top plate

Drilling the 4th hole.

There is a broken off grease zerk at the position indicated by the arrow.  We flipped the rubber disk over so that zerk will not be at the top.  It looks like I will have to remove a 9 bolts to grease it.

I am swapping the left and right flex mount this will allow access to the bodged one without pulling the front drum.

Front Drum Inspection and Removal (part 3)

Yesterday with the help of a friend we removed the front drum.  It would be more accurate to say we removed the rest of the machine from the drum.








After removing the brake band and blocks we used a forklift to raise the machine slightly and slide it sideways off the drum.

The good news is that although the flex mount on the bearing is separated from the backing plate but it may be useable.  Thinking of welding a cage around it to hold it in place

One the left is the good flex mount and the broken one on one right.  The backing plate for the broken on is still on the machine.

Front Drum Inspection and Removal (part 2)

PROGRESS AT LAST

You may recall for part 1 that I was having trouble getting the pulley off.

A friend was over today and asked what state the roller was in.

He got out his tools and scratched in the hole to clean up so he could get is allen key in.   The allen screw came out easy.

Next he drove 3 1/4 inch bolts into the 3 holes in face of 177 which pushed it out of the pulley.

It was not quite that clean as one of the bolts twisted off.  But it is sticking out the other side and may come out with a vice grip.

Pictures of My Roller from 2011

We first saw this roller 2 years earlier at the city auction but did not bid on it.  Luckily no one else did either.  It was still in this exact spot when we bid on it in 2013.    Looking at these pictures reminds me how much work it took to just move it.  The drive chain was rusted solid and buried in the ground.

Front Drum Inspection and Removal (part 1)

I bit the bullet and started on the front drum.

The right side came off without too much problem using my air impact.

The flex mount to the right is bonded to the plat and the bushing it its center.    From what I can see the mount on the other side has let loose of the plate.

The other side did not go nearly so well. The photo to the left shows the bolt I ground down because the head was stripped.

I do not understand how this pulley is supposed to come off.





<missing image from the manual>

I have removed 3 bolts from the face.  There is a hole on the top that could well be for a set screw but so far repeated cleaning with pbBlaster has not revealed anything that an allen will go into.     It turns out that the pulley on this machine is the style used on post 72 machines shown here.  The diagram is rather poor.  It does not show the 3 bolts I removed from the face although it does show that slot in the bushing opposite the keyway.


Jan 12

The slot in the bushing tells me that if collapes a bit when forced into the pulley to make a tight.  If that is the case a few blows with a chisel between the hub and pulley should knock it loose but it did not.  There must be an allen screw locking it down from the top in the picture above.

.

Flex Mounts

In preparation to pulling the front drum off I am doing some research.   According to the manual they used the rubber flex mounts on the front axle from 1966 to 1974

 With Flex Mounts

Without Flex Mounts

Part 104 (EDIT: Think its 105) is the flex mount.  The 2nd image shows the post 1974 version without the flex mount.

My thinking is that I can make laminated wood bushing to replace the rubber if needed.  If that does not work it may be possible to have the welding shop make up parts similar to 150 in the 2nd image to eliminate the flex mounts.  The axle aka the vibrator shaft has different part numbers for the two arrangements so I doubt one could do a bolt on replacement without swapping out the front drum.

Fears have been realized.

I managed to attach the brake rod yesterday.   The rod end goes through a hole in a lever attached to the brake band. This has always been difficult to put in and with everything else in place it became impossible.   The rod had a flat spot where it had been rubbing against a frame member.  I used the hydraulic press to put a bow in the rod which fixed the clearance problem.  The rod has been on and off the brake so often that I have tired of fishing cotter keys into place and bending them.  Removing them is even worse.  Instead I used a hitch pin clip.

The more I work on this the more I am convinced that the brake was not right to start with.

Unfortunately the sprockets on the drum does not line up with the rest.  I towed the roller from the shop across the street hoping that the drum might shift back to its correct position.  It did not.  I may have to remove the drum to sort it all out.

Progress on the Brake and Something New.

The last time I worked on the roller I put the front end on jack stands.  Today I noticed that the belt that drives the eccentric for vibration was tight when it should have not been.   It seems the front drum is set in rubber to help isolate the roller from the vibrations.  The rubber stretched.  I do not know how much damage this did.  The part with the rubber is 105 "Flex Mount with Bushing".  Between this and the snubers I wonder if this unit will ever vibrate again.  Live and learn.  Still looking at the diagram I do not understand how this could happen.  I was too focused on the brake today.  I need to investigate this further.

<missing image. see manual>

The key to reassembling the brake band setup with everything removed but the band (264) and rotate it so the ends of the band are at the bottom of the drum where they are exposed.  The add all the parts but the actuator rod from the pedal (274).   Then the band can be rotated into position and the rear (276), then front (282) supporting blocks attached.  Note that supporting block (276) goes between springs (277) and (278).  The end of the band goes below the bottom spring (277).  I put one shim each on the front and back support blocks.   The original shims are shown to be .062 inches in the manual.  These seem much thicker.

<missing image. see manual>

I still need to attach (273) and (272) and find a stronger spring to replace or supplement the spring return on the brake.  The locking lever (266) needs a spring too.   The existing brake return spring maybe strong enough to work on the locking lever.   

When the brake is finished  I can start putting the chain and its tensioners back on unless there is real damage to the front from jacking.  

The new chain has arrived from Amazon.  It was one of their scratch and dent items which they marked down to about 1/3 of the original price.  Like that :)  But the chain will not do much good until we order a chain breaker and some master links.

Tooled around in the VR30RE for 15 minutes

The ANLED serial number is 5509995.  A search of the wisconsin engine database returns

Serial Number Found!
Produced Year: 1975
Produced Month: April
Engine Model: N/A

The first digit of the serial number for the roller is simply not legible.   It is ?2092610,   That tells us the roller was made in a year ending with 0.  The first ones were produced in 62 so that would leave 70.  However this does not agree with the motor but it could have been replace somewhere along the line.

A few days ago I put the drive chain on and drove the roller for about 20 minutes.  It was working well till something failed on the drive side of the main roller and stopped the drum from turning.  This happened in front of the shop behind the dumpster.

In the process it broke the chain, messed up the band brake, and ruined at least one of the rubber snubbing roller.  I removed the snubbing rollers by grinding off what remained of the two attachment bolts.

Two bolts holding the brake band in place were missing.   I do not know if I had inadvertently removed these when I rescued the roller from the city lot or if they were already gone.   The holes were blown full of dirt but there is a chance that could have blown in since then.   There seems to be no permant damage to the brake setup.   When I get done it should be fully functional for the first time.  The real loss is the ruined rubber snubber roller or rollers.  But asphalt had been allowed to build up on the rim of the drum where they rid and they may have already been useless.  Replacements are going to be hard to find.  Maybe hard rubber rollers used on boat trailers could be repurposed.

The brake mounting like the drum flange had a buildup of asphalt forcing the band to the outside.  In an effort to remedy this some mechanic had moved a shim from the rear brake mount to the front which may have caused it to bind even more.  Putting the brake together has been a bit difficult.  The right choice may be to hook everything up then put in the 4 band mounting bolts.

That was all a few days ago when the weather nice with 60s and 70s.  The last few days it has hardly been above freezing.

Today while working on the spare motor I found a starter rope so I hoofed it over to the other shop to see if the roller would pull start.  It took about 4 pulls but it was cold outside and I expect the motor was even colder.

I also opened up the carb for the 2nd ANELD.    It has been through the ultrasonic cleaner a few times but has a ways to go.

Found the manual!

I have a reply from a nice fellow on Smokestack letting me know the gearbox is made by a company called Twin Disc which is still around.  He indicated that setting the clutches without instructions would be hard.  He has offered to send images of what he has although it is not the exact gearbox.

Multiquip sells Essick mortar mixers.  They must have purchased Essick or at least the brand name.  I have sent them email asking for information.  I called them up and sent them a email.  The both resulted in a manual the email one is a subset of the other.  I spoke with a technical support coordinator Nate who was very helpful.

Today I unloaded the roller from its trailer and opened the clutch.  It needs an oil change which may be part of its problem.  I will hold off adjusting it till that has happened.  As I run it the neutral position is getting easier to find holding the handle.   It takes too much pressure to put it into forward and it runs forward when it should be in neutral which leads me to think the forward plates need to be loosened.

The chain has been cleaned alternating between the ultrasonic cleaner and a soak in diesel fuel.  It is quite clean now but has a few links that need to be tightened with a punch.

VR30RE manual

Dry compression and it ran better today.

Today I did a dry compression test and got about 50 lbs.

The spark plug was all carboned up.  After running full throttle for a while the plug looked like this.  The insulator cleaned up and maybe the rest of it would too if it ran enough or started with a clean plug.  I will hit this one with the harbor freight sand blaster prior to running it again.

The engine ran for a few minutes without hunting at several throttle settings.  video Then I shut off the gas and let the carb run dry.  When I restarted it the hunting was back.

The generator is making about 10V on the generator itself.  No idea what that means.  Do not trust the regulator and there was no battery connected.

The clutch runs forwards and back but is hard to keep it still.   It says.

Release adjusting lockand turn adjusting ringuntil operating lever requires a dinstictpressure to engagelock adjusting  lock