One major thing to take into consideration is rail distortion due to the welding process and how to eliminate it.
I must say though that with welding gussets into place introduces another issue and that's corrosion between the two metals that are now together "until death do them part".
Sadly capillary action will draw water and moisture in between the two pieces and the process of rust will do it's magical thing. I know that this will take quite a long time depending on how the mower is maintained over time, eg. keeping water away from it at all costs.
One thing I will say though and that is those rails will be far stronger now than any original twin rail chassis would've ever been originally.
Once again, nice result for a machine that was destined to go to scrap.
BTW where did you manage to score another rear roller and handle bar assembly from ? maybe around the Parafield Gardens area ?
Cheers, BB.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
I've been researching this recently as I'm about to undertake similar repairs on a 17" machine. I have read up about using weld through primer on the faces of the metals that will overlap, and also paintable mastic sealer where there are gaps in the welds. Has anyone tried either of these?
Another thought I had which may eliminate the potential rust issue in overlapping metals, is to weld some flat bar to the bottom of the rails, perhaps leaving the ends open near the side panels and holes below the engine mounting nuts. It would be hard to paint/coat inside the rail nowt that it is effectively box section, but not impossible. Plus, it would tie the front and back sections of the rail together for a bit of extra rigidity. I'm no engineer though, so I'm sure there are drawbacks.
Probably not the most ideal scenario and it still wouldn't eliminate more stress fractures occurring as it's all about tying the existing engine mounting nuts to another stronger piece of metal as when the Jones Gusset repair method is employed one has to tack weld the nuts to the new piece of metal and thus strengthening the actual mounting points themselves and reducing excessive stress.
Cheers, BB.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
BB, I'm not fully aware of what is going on, but if the concern is the 2 layers of metal together rusting internally, my fix would be to drill a few holes in the underside metal so the hole only goes through the bottom layer of steel and with the mower upside down fill the holes with fish oil and this will allow the fish oil to travel along between the 2 sheets of steel. It won't rust again.
For years this has been my only argument against the Jones Gusset repair method. But in saying this these mowers have had a 50 year lifespan so far and no one would expect them to be here for another 20. Heaven knows SB would've never in their wildest dreams thought that these mowers would be still in service 70 years down the track.
Anyway I see total merit in what you are saying Norm and what you suggest could be easily done without drilling any extra holes but just plugging the bolt holes and using those openings to allow the entry of the fish oil, alternatively extra holes could be added as you suggest prior to the welding process taking place, this would be beneficial especially if the gussets are of a longer length.
Cheers, BB.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
Has anyone tried the gusset method using rivets along the front and back edges of the rail, and welds on the engine mounting nuts? Then maybe a mastic sealant between the rail and gusset? All the talk of distorting the frame has got me thinking of alternatives.
