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1982 10 hp Craftsman 36" lawn tractor drag link failure

#1

C

Craiger

I've had this machine since new. I've done some major things to keep 'er running like replace transmission, weld up rust holes in the deck, numerous jackshaft replacements, switch to Kevlar belts which are near bulletproof, change over to solid state ignition, rebuild carb, replace seat with one from Northern Tool, weld up cracks in the chassis, complete redesign and rebuild of vibration isolation engine mount bolts using rubber stoppers from Home Depot and Grade 8 bolts, replace leaking crankcase gasket. Today right as I finished mowing, the steering wheel got sloppy and didn't turn the wheels. In an instant I realized the drag link spherical joint at the steering arm had come apart.

I have checked carefully and cannot find the part. P/N from my original owner's manual is 1640J. Google, Amazon, eBay, you name it. Discontinued, part not available.

My question is this. Has anyone managed to repair this type spherical joint? The ball is still fine, from wear it just slipped out of the socket. My first thought is to lube with moly grease and re-insert and then carefully hammer on the rod end with spherical cavity enough to retain the ball. Would have to be careful not to deform the darn thing too much. Delicate touch with heavy hammer not an easy thing.

If that won't work, I'm thinking I could buy another drag link with same size threaded fitting (3/8" x 24 NF), cut it off and weld onto original drag link after cutting the bad end off. .

Has anyone out there run into this problem and what would be your advice?


#2

StarTech

StarTech

917.255272​

Husqvarna 1640J NLA

McMasters-Carr
1688692926116.png
1688692989956.png
My have to lengthen the rod some to offset the removal the ball joint.


#3

B

bertsmobile1

Craiger said:
I've had this machine since new. I've done some major things to keep 'er running like replace transmission, weld up rust holes in the deck, numerous jackshaft replacements, switch to Kevlar belts which are near bulletproof, change over to solid state ignition, rebuild carb, replace seat with one from Northern Tool, weld up cracks in the chassis, complete redesign and rebuild of vibration isolation engine mount bolts using rubber stoppers from Home Depot and Grade 8 bolts, replace leaking crankcase gasket. Today right as I finished mowing, the steering wheel got sloppy and didn't turn the wheels. In an instant I realized the drag link spherical joint at the steering arm had come apart.

I have checked carefully and cannot find the part. P/N from my original owner's manual is 1640J. Google, Amazon, eBay, you name it. Discontinued, part not available.

My question is this. Has anyone managed to repair this type spherical joint? The ball is still fine, from wear it just slipped out of the socket. My first thought is to lube with moly grease and re-insert and then carefully hammer on the rod end with spherical cavity enough to retain the ball. Would have to be careful not to deform the darn thing too much. Delicate touch with heavy hammer not an easy thing.

If that won't work, I'm thinking I could buy another drag link with same size threaded fitting (3/8" x 24 NF), cut it off and weld onto original drag link after cutting the bad end off. .

Has anyone out there run into this problem and what would be your advice?
Click to expand...
IT is a forged and heat treated end so your solution will not happen.
Been there done that

Look your end up from the table Star has posted and buy a replacement
Meaure the threads carefully because some mower tie rod ends are unique combinations of threads .


#4

C

Craiger

Thanks Star Tech. The diameter of my drag link rod is 0.638". If I cut the failed ball joint off, there would be a challenge to mount the linkages you show from McMasters-Carr. I don't have the ability to turn down the link so it could be threaded to fit the new joint. Might have to weld. Also, is that from an old catalog? What I find online their prices are about doubled. I find a drag link for a different Craftsman tractor online for $20 and I'd get two links from that. Sounds like best way out is buy that and cannibalize that link. That is if hammering on my orig. link doesn't tighten it up so it stays together.


#5

C

Craiger

bertsmobile1 said:
IT is a forged and heat treated end so your solution will not happen.
Been there done that

Look your end up from the table Star has posted and buy a replacement
Meaure the threads carefully because some mower tie rod ends are unique combinations of threads .
Click to expand...
I don't think we are talking about the same thing. My original drag link is a solid steel rod 0.638" diameter with an integral ball joint in either end. The ball joints are not removable. That is why in my orig. post I put forth the thought of cutting the old joint off and welding on a replacement. I realize I need to preserve the original length to keep the steering setup the same. I tried to attach a pic of the failed drag link end but the site tells me the file is too large..


#6

StarTech

StarTech

You might be in a different area as those are my here in TN, USA


#7

B

bertsmobile1

Ferret around the web
Down here there is a mob who lists on ebay from time selling drag links with std adjustable tie rod ends .
Those drag links are just short of being criminal .
And you still will no be able to centre punch the socket part to grip the ball again .


#8

C

Craiger

bertsmobile1 said:
Ferret around the web
Down here there is a mob who lists on ebay from time selling drag links with std adjustable tie rod ends .
Those drag links are just short of being criminal .
And you still will no be able to centre punch the socket part to grip the ball again .
Click to expand...
Do you think heating up the socket end of the orig. link w. oxy-acetylene torch and cooling slowly might remove enough temper so I could use center punch to deform the socket to recapture the ball? I'm thinking nothing to lose except the cost of the gas if it didn't work.


#9

B

bertsmobile1

Craiger said:
Do you think heating up the socket end of the orig. link w. oxy-acetylene torch and cooling slowly might remove enough temper so I could use center punch to deform the socket to recapture the ball? I'm thinking nothing to lose except the cost of the gas if it didn't work.
Click to expand...
without over heating the ball and affecting it's heat treatment or causing the socket to warp & go out of shape
You are dreaming .


#10

C

Craiger

bertsmobile1 said:
without over heating the ball and affecting it's heat treatment or causing the socket to warp & go out of shape
You are dreaming .
Click to expand...
bertsmobile1 said:
without over heating the ball and affecting it's heat treatment or causing the socket to warp & go out of shape
You are dreaming .
Click to expand...
The ball fell out of the socket. How would heating the drag link rod affect the heat treatment of the ball when it sits on the workbench on other side of garage? My idea was to heat the rod. let it cool, then grease and reinsert the ball in socket and use a punch to hammer in on the edges of socket to keep the ball captured.


#11

O

OldDiyer

Heres how I did this repair on my Craftsman I did get a new shaft but now have this for a spare. I also on the new shaft drilled the ends and put in grease fittings so they can now be greased as needed.IMG_0010 (800x450) (2).jpgIMG_0011 (800x450).jpgIMG_0010 (800x450) (2).jpgIMG_0011 (800x450).jpg


#12

StarTech

StarTech

You could always use a version with a grease fitting and weld it on the squarely cut rod. That way you it is lubed. Just got make the you have clearance for the grease fitting.
1688729814178.png
I have welded these on but usually still had them threaded on too. Now of course I limit the amount of heat from welding as much as I can. Stitch welding. I even weld on some that had the Teflon plastic internally


#13

C

Craiger

OldDiyer said:
Heres how I did this repair on my Craftsman I did get a new shaft but now have this for a spare. I also on the new shaft drilled the ends and put in grease fittings so they can now be greased as needed.View attachment 65688View attachment 65689View attachment 65688View attachment 65689
Click to expand...
That is a different design from my drag link. Is that a Heim joint? Mine is a simple ball and socket. The socket is in the end of the rod, in the side of the rod end which is ground flat. Why can others attach multiple photos as you have, I just tried once more to attach a single photo and I get the msg "the uploaded file is too large"?


#14

O

OldDiyer

This was and is a socket in the end and the shaft is flat where the ball goes in, the ball pulled out of the socket as yours did, so I made that collar to go over the shaft to hold the ball into the shaft. The collar has to be tight on the shaft to hold it and the ball in the socket. If you look good at the 65689 picture you can see the flat on the shaft.
To get your pictures to download you may have to resize them to a smaller size for posting on line I use 600x600


#15

F

Forest#2

You say you have a welder.
What I do when that happens and not have to spend a arm and a leg for new stuff or a new drag link, especially when one end goes bad like yours and the the rod is a solid piece. If possible when I'm looking for parts to weld up I try to look for adjustable type and keep major heat when welding away from the swivel joint.
I go my mower salvage and find one that has a good end/ends or maybe even one that has replaceable ends threaded.

I measure the bad one end to end then cut off the bad end/ends and cut the replacements and weld them onto the old drag link bar. You can overlap the bars for a easy lap/scab weld of the bars.
Easy fix and can save several $$'s and maybe even come up with adjustable toe-in links instead of the fixed type. It's not a machine designed for breaking land speed records or for running at 70 mph. Just go for it.

Heating and hammering around on the existing ball and socket is a waste of time and effort as bertsmobile indicates. Been their, tried that.


#16

C

Craiger

Forest#2 said:
You say you have a welder.
What I do when that happens and not have to spend a arm and a leg for new stuff or a new drag link, especially when one end goes bad like yours and the the rod is a solid piece. If possible when I'm looking for parts to weld up I try to look for adjustable type and keep major heat when welding away from the swivel joint.
I go my mower salvage and find one that has a good end/ends or maybe even one that has replaceable ends threaded.

I measure the bad one end to end then cut off the bad end/ends and cut the replacements and weld them onto the old drag link bar. You can overlap the bars for a easy lap/scab weld of the bars.
Easy fix and can save several $$'s and maybe even come up with adjustable toe-in links instead of the fixed type. It's not a machine designed for breaking land speed records or for running at 70 mph. Just go for it.

Heating and hammering around on the existing ball and socket is a waste of time and effort as bertsmobile indicates. Been their, tried that.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tips. I have a commercial Miller MM35 MIG welder and might use that to weld a new ball joint on as posted from McMaster-Carr. They sell one with same size threaded shaft 3/8" x 24 NF for under ten bucks. Looks like one with female threads on the mount would work ok. What I did today for Plan A is looking like it might work. The rod is NOT hardened steel, it files like mild steel. I cleaned the socket and the ball with BrakeKleen solvent and then applied some Moly-Kote GN paste
(good for about 500,000 psi lubing) and was able to push the ball back into the socket holding it with Vise-Grip pliers just using my hands. Then I supported the rod on an anvil and used a center punch hitting with a one pound hammer briskly going all around the circumference of the socket about 12 spots. Struck right near the edge of the hole. The sharp center punch left a nice deep dimple indicating it moved some metal. It seems to have peened over enough to retain the ball in the socket.
It would not pull out as easily as it went in. Time will tell next week when I mow again.

If it pulls apart again, I'll have to go to Plan B and weld a new ball joint on the end after measuring and cutting end of original rod off. I will post down the road to report how things work out. I don't know how to reduce the size of a jpg file, are there simple instructions to be found on the web? My photo was 1.4 Mb and it was rejected as too large. Picture worth 1000 words.


#17

Fish

Fish

To put up a pic, pull the image up on your computer, then go search "snipping tool". Put that snip up here instead.


#18

C

Craiger

Fish, that was helpful info – TX muchly. Here's a shot of my ball joint which separated. Now back together after center punching around the socket hole as close as possible to the ball. The rod is 5/8" diam, the threaded stud is 3/8" x 24 NF.
1688789523616.png


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