Custom made "SpeediSleeve"

[kkroger]

A friend had an issue with a fork truck older Alice Chalmers no parts available, so he initially asked if I could weld it up and then turn it to size for the seal, he was losing 5Gal of Hydraulic fluid pretty quick it was like a fountain around the steering valve... the seal surface was rusted away... I suggested just making a sleeve... So here it is in pictures from beginning to end result, the sleeve was pressed on, with CAT Sleeve retainer...

I know it is not anything new or earth shattering but people don't tend to think of such things... for the record this is on Sunday Afternoon at 3PM... about 2 hours of "sneaking" up on the dims...

 

[metlmunchr]

Nice work. I've repaired several things over the years by sleeving rather than welding. One of the biggest advantages is that you don't have to worry about what alloy the original part may be made of, or if you might mess up some other critical heat treated surface from the heat of welding.

 

[Slackerzinc]

Very nice! It is nice to have the tools!

 

[Ign]

CAT makes a sleeve retainer? I never knew!

 

[kkroger]

CAT makes a sleeve retainer? I never knew!

Private Label Loctite 609 even the same number... has a primer spray and a semi Gel adhesive Methacrylate...

 

[rsanter]

Good deal, that original part was trashed

 

[zmotorsports]

Nice job on the external sleeve machining.

How about the internal splines? Did they still engage enough to work or will you have to replace them as well as they look pretty bad?

 

[kkroger]

They are horrible but the steering shaft still engages them fine, there is a retaining nut for that on the outside of the assembly...

 

[kkroger]

To add was working fine aside from leaking Hydraulic Fluid like a fountain...

 

[ndnchf]

Great work! I'm often surprised how many people don't know what a speedi-sleeve is. I just put one on my jeep's drive shaft yoke a couple days ago.

 

[zmotorsports]

Great work! I'm often surprised how many people don't know what a speedi-sleeve is. I just put one on my jeep's drive shaft yoke a couple days ago.

Agreed. There not to prevalent anymore but years ago they were very well used across multiple industries. Could be that these days there are more parts swappers than mechanics.

 

[Ign]

Some designs have changed, too...like ScotSeals that spin within themselves rather than spinning a rubber seal on a fixed spindle.

But you haven't lived 'til you've ordered a typical thin wall SpeediSleeve overnight from NAPA, paying way too much, then built a mandrel to hold it in the lathe so you could shorten it, then find a creative way to drive it on without crumpling it like craft paper. Yeah, they provide those driver tools but they have significant limitations.

 

[ndnchf]

This just reminded me of a project I did about 5 or 6 years ago. I restored a die filing machine. The hole in the bronze block that the crank pin runs in was worn oval shape. So I bored it slightly oversize to get it round. Then machined a speedi-sleeve of sorts for the crank pin to fit with .0015 clearance. It worked out good, the die filer works great now.

 

[steel 35]

I found it so interesting to spin my banjo rear end pieces to install prefabbed ones years ago I almost remember doing it

 

[Jlarson]

Agreed. There not to prevalent anymore but years ago they were very well used across multiple industries. Could be that these days there are more parts swappers than mechanics.

I have a couple places that got away from using them after some bad experiences during sleeve removal in the past.

I told one guy don't blame the sleeve cause you let joe bob out there with a grinder and he hacked it all up

 

[larry4406]

ndnchf - good save!

 

[joe49]

Speedy off with a little heat and peening. Same with pressed on bearing races, even damaged and stuck on shafts. Heating and peening increases ID.