We took our Imp to the Jamboree this past weekend and while we were unloading it one of our eagle-eyed colleagues (thanks Dave!) noticed that we had a broken u-bolt on the suspension. An old patch on the tracks was rubbing across the top of the u-bolt and over time the patch wore through the u-bolt. Bert, the guy who let us park in his yard, was kind enough to weld the u-bolt back together and that got us started down the road. Unfortunately, the patch was catching on the now taller u-bolt and making a bit of a thump thump thump sound. I didn't want to tear up the tracks, so we abandoned the Imp on the side of the road and caught a ride on the other rigs. A bit of a disappointment, but on the up side we got to cruise around in the back of the brand new Piston Bully Scout. My wife was very impressed with the smooth ride and quiet interior, but less so with the fact that we'd just about have to trade our house straight across for the new rig. Now that we have the Imp home I need to do a quick repair to get it ready for next weekend's trip to the cabin with a bunch of friends. On to the photos and questions....
Here's Bert welding the broken u-bolt.
Here's the repaired u-bolt with the double-thickness track patch approaching it. You can see where the patch belt has been frayed by the repeated impact.
With only ~20 minutes of usage you can see how the repaired u-bolt has already started to wear down.
I was able to order new u-bolts from uboltsdirect.com (Plattsburgh Spring in Plattsburg NY). That was one of two places on the web I could find that had square u-bolts with fine threads -- all the others had standard threads and I didn't think that would be as strong. I ordered four custom square u-bolts with washers and thick nuts on Sunday afternoon and they were here on Thursday, all for $25. That's a pretty good deal in my book.
I haven't installed the new u-bolt yet, but you can see how it will all go together.
So here's the $10 question. If I just put it back together like it was then the new u-bolt will eventually wear out just like the old one did. Longer-term I hope to rebuild the tracks and eliminate the patch, but can I do better in the interim? One thought is to cut out the lacing in the original belt and move half of the patch belt (the side approaching the u-bolt) on to the top of the original belt. I'd still have a double-thickness section of belt, but the patch would no longer have that blunt edge banging up against the u-bolt (i.e., the blunt edge of the patch belt would now be on the top side of the original belt). If I go ahead with the funky under & over patch configuration, do I have to do that on both sides of the track or can I be lazy and just do the outside belt? Any other ideas you'd like to offer on how to make a quick repair? I'm traveling this weekend but will start poking at this early next week. I've only got a few hours to spend on it, so I can't get too fancy.
As always, thanks for your help and suggestions.
Ron
Here's Bert welding the broken u-bolt.
Here's the repaired u-bolt with the double-thickness track patch approaching it. You can see where the patch belt has been frayed by the repeated impact.
With only ~20 minutes of usage you can see how the repaired u-bolt has already started to wear down.
I was able to order new u-bolts from uboltsdirect.com (Plattsburgh Spring in Plattsburg NY). That was one of two places on the web I could find that had square u-bolts with fine threads -- all the others had standard threads and I didn't think that would be as strong. I ordered four custom square u-bolts with washers and thick nuts on Sunday afternoon and they were here on Thursday, all for $25. That's a pretty good deal in my book.
I haven't installed the new u-bolt yet, but you can see how it will all go together.
So here's the $10 question. If I just put it back together like it was then the new u-bolt will eventually wear out just like the old one did. Longer-term I hope to rebuild the tracks and eliminate the patch, but can I do better in the interim? One thought is to cut out the lacing in the original belt and move half of the patch belt (the side approaching the u-bolt) on to the top of the original belt. I'd still have a double-thickness section of belt, but the patch would no longer have that blunt edge banging up against the u-bolt (i.e., the blunt edge of the patch belt would now be on the top side of the original belt). If I go ahead with the funky under & over patch configuration, do I have to do that on both sides of the track or can I be lazy and just do the outside belt? Any other ideas you'd like to offer on how to make a quick repair? I'm traveling this weekend but will start poking at this early next week. I've only got a few hours to spend on it, so I can't get too fancy.
As always, thanks for your help and suggestions.
Ron
