Older Craftsman Edger Shaft Broke

[Blaine B.]

Here are some measurements that I took as well.

 

[witkop]

Drill out the old shaft and tap thread for 1/2" bolt with same thread as broken off piece and sufficient length.Drill and tap just 1/2 " past bearing.Screw new high strength bolt into shaft and secure with JB weld on thread.Cut off bolt head and Bob's your uncle.

 

[Mark99]

Do you know anyone with a lathe? they can drill the shaft, Thread it,Locktite a 1/2x20 or whatever the bolt size is and then cut the bolt head off.Easy fix

 

[Blaine B.]

Do you know anyone with a lathe? they can drill the shaft, Thread it,Locktite a 1/2x20 or whatever the bolt size is and then cut the bolt head off.Easy fix

Interesting solution. I had not thought of that. Grind it flat, drill it out, tap it. But no, I do not know anyone with a lathe at home or at work unfortunately. I suppose I could drill it myself but there's no way it would be perfectly centered in the bore of the shaft.

 

[Blaine B.]

Drill out the old shaft and tap thread for 1/2" bolt with same thread as broken off piece and sufficient length.Drill and tap just 1/2 " past bearing.Screw new high strength bolt into shaft and secure with JB weld on thread.Cut off bolt head and Bob's your uncle.

Would there be any negative to NOT loc-titing the stud and leaving the bolt as-is with the hex head attached? Rather than a threaded stud and a nut?

 

[Blaine B.]

Back in business. Found a local machine shop (actually going out of business within the next month) willing take on a small job like this for only $30. I got another quote from a larger production shop for $60. And many, many shops don't deal with small jobs anymore, they all say that they charge $97 an hour or that they only work with steel mills or heavy machinery.

They did exactly that, drilled it out, tapped, installed a new stud. This time I did sandwich the blade between 2 washers to hopefully make sure it can slip in the future rather than bog down. I'll also REFRAIN from pulling backwards on this edger which allows dirt to cake itself in the blade guard and bog the blade down, which is what occured when the shaft failed last week.