Re: Wes's Maroon 1947 Custom Super Clipper

Posted by HH56 On 2020/8/8 16:29:30

A couple of things to check closely. On my idler assy I found the round rod part with the nut on the end located at the bottom of the vertical piece that is the actual idler support they rotate around well worn where it enters the socket part of the bracket piece that bolts to the engine -- enough that you could grab the top of the idler assy and move it front to back rather than have the round socket and rod only allow side to side. That extra front/back motion is enough to mess up the shifts. The socket has a grease fitting but I don't think mine saw very much grease over the years.

Another thing to look for in addition to more frozen bushings is the pins at the ends of the rods. Several have reported the pin like protrusions at the rod ends being worn severely enough fill metal had to be welded on and then ground or filed round again. Enough wear in those pins and bushings also affects the shifts.

NOS bushings are hard to come by and full sets are probably non existent. There is three or four different numbers and when I did mine each vendor might have one or two but not all. I finally wound up making a bushing on my lathe for one I could not find. They are specially shaped bushings. Round straight hole in the middle for the rod ends but the outer circumference of the bushings are slightly rounded. The center of the bushing outer diameter fits the hole in the levers but the rounded edges allow the entire rod and bushing to tilt or twist slightly in the various idler or lever holes as the engine rocks with torque and moves the idler levers.