Hornetb
29th Jan 2016, 10:00 AM
Might as well post a few pictures of the latest project I just finished.
My parents have used the old Ajax piston pumps, particularly the smallest A1.5 for nearly 30 years on their farm pumping water from the spring fed creek up to the house for the garden and cattle troughs and when there is insufficient rainfall, then to their water tanks as well. They really are a great little pump that a lot of people will recognise from farms all across Australia.
The same pump has been branded as Ajax, Billabong, Southern Cross and many others over the years. For my parents purpose they are ideal. The are very, very efficient and cheap to run, pump with a reasonable flow to a good head and the maintenance is very low. A set of leather piston cups every now and then and a check of the oil is generally it.
Luckily for them the spring that feeds the creek has never dried up in the 30 years they have been there which as most can understand is a pretty handy especially given the drought conditions we've been facing this summer. FWIW they just got a good dump of rain today up there which should aid in slowing at least some of the fires burning across NW Tasmania.
Anyway, the old man has worn out a few of these pump over those years and asked if I could have a look at them and see if I could rebuild one or two out of a pump graveyard he's created. He has bought them in various states over the years as they popped up as a source of parts and he has pretty much got what he can out of them.
They wear out in several ways.
1. Typically the bronze bore liners wear out. They become over size or thin out in the wall and collapse. Then the leather cups end up not sealing and invert themselves and collapse also.
2. The output shaft wallows the cast iron bearing housing on the sides of the crank case, either through wear and tear use and side tension from the belt, or due to low oil level in the crank caused by the leaking oil from the worn housing. If neglected of oil long enough the conrod to crank plain CI bearing wears also.
3. Not major, but the brass rod that connects the leather piston cups in the bore to the piston in the crank wears at the gland and leaks badly. The rest is mainly gaskets and leather cup washers.
Out of the three pumps in various states of disrepair only one had a satisfactory conrod/crank bearing. All needed new liners and all had badly worn output shaft CI bearings. I chose the best parts I could for the rebuild and mixed and matched. The hardest part to rebuild would be the piston conrod/crank bearing with my small equipment, not impossible but more difficult. I will have a go at doing some in the future but I had a good one here so used that.
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h215/HornetB/Ajax%20Pump/20160126_124054_zpsawvql0s3.jpg (http://s65.photobucket.com/user/HornetB/media/Ajax%20Pump/20160126_124054_zpsawvql0s3.jpg.html)
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h215/HornetB/Ajax%20Pump/20160126_124134_zpsgubakvim.jpg (http://s65.photobucket.com/user/HornetB/media/Ajax%20Pump/20160126_124134_zpsgubakvim.jpg.html)
Used a bit of electolysis to clean up some of the rust and get some bolts out.
I turned a liner on the Hercus from a phosphor bronze 38mm (1.5") ID bush to be a snug sliding fit in the pump head. I cut the original liner out of the pump head with a hacksaw and collapsed it to get it out. Slid the new bad boy in and loctited in place.
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h215/HornetB/Ajax%20Pump/20160109_192825_zps2qsbxfuz.jpg (http://s65.photobucket.com/user/HornetB/media/Ajax%20Pump/20160109_192825_zps2qsbxfuz.jpg.html)
I bored out the crank housing side plate to accept a PB bush and slid that in place also. Same on the opposite side.
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h215/HornetB/Ajax%20Pump/20160109_213205_zps9inzlwoe.jpg (http://s65.photobucket.com/user/HornetB/media/Ajax%20Pump/20160109_213205_zps9inzlwoe.jpg.html)
Part of the head on this one suffered a bit of rusting out under the gasket which meant that there was very little metal supporting the gasket in some places and it may have tried to blow out. So I skimmed it on the mill back to clean, solid CI so the gasket could take a good seat.
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h215/HornetB/Ajax%20Pump/20160114_220828_zpsclu7pd12.jpg (http://s65.photobucket.com/user/HornetB/media/Ajax%20Pump/20160114_220828_zpsclu7pd12.jpg.html)
I also replaced the brass rod with a stainless one, added a few modifications such as milling six flats on the shaft so you can get some purchase on it with an open end spanner for unscrewing without having to resort to the vice grips. I also milled a matching hex head on the end of the shaft so you can use a socket as well if need be. No pics sorry.
Replaced some fasteners and missing parts, made some new leather cups, plenty of anti-sieze, gave it a fresh lick of paint and hopefully, fingers crossed they get a few more years out of the refresh.
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h215/HornetB/Ajax%20Pump/20160126_120208_zpstmrpleth.jpg (http://s65.photobucket.com/user/HornetB/media/Ajax%20Pump/20160126_120208_zpstmrpleth.jpg.html)
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h215/HornetB/Ajax%20Pump/20160126_120137_zpsv9msasaq.jpg (http://s65.photobucket.com/user/HornetB/media/Ajax%20Pump/20160126_120137_zpsv9msasaq.jpg.html)
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h215/HornetB/Ajax%20Pump/20160126_120043_zpszcyziz1r.jpg (http://s65.photobucket.com/user/HornetB/media/Ajax%20Pump/20160126_120043_zpszcyziz1r.jpg.html)
My parents have used the old Ajax piston pumps, particularly the smallest A1.5 for nearly 30 years on their farm pumping water from the spring fed creek up to the house for the garden and cattle troughs and when there is insufficient rainfall, then to their water tanks as well. They really are a great little pump that a lot of people will recognise from farms all across Australia.
The same pump has been branded as Ajax, Billabong, Southern Cross and many others over the years. For my parents purpose they are ideal. The are very, very efficient and cheap to run, pump with a reasonable flow to a good head and the maintenance is very low. A set of leather piston cups every now and then and a check of the oil is generally it.
Luckily for them the spring that feeds the creek has never dried up in the 30 years they have been there which as most can understand is a pretty handy especially given the drought conditions we've been facing this summer. FWIW they just got a good dump of rain today up there which should aid in slowing at least some of the fires burning across NW Tasmania.
Anyway, the old man has worn out a few of these pump over those years and asked if I could have a look at them and see if I could rebuild one or two out of a pump graveyard he's created. He has bought them in various states over the years as they popped up as a source of parts and he has pretty much got what he can out of them.
They wear out in several ways.
1. Typically the bronze bore liners wear out. They become over size or thin out in the wall and collapse. Then the leather cups end up not sealing and invert themselves and collapse also.
2. The output shaft wallows the cast iron bearing housing on the sides of the crank case, either through wear and tear use and side tension from the belt, or due to low oil level in the crank caused by the leaking oil from the worn housing. If neglected of oil long enough the conrod to crank plain CI bearing wears also.
3. Not major, but the brass rod that connects the leather piston cups in the bore to the piston in the crank wears at the gland and leaks badly. The rest is mainly gaskets and leather cup washers.
Out of the three pumps in various states of disrepair only one had a satisfactory conrod/crank bearing. All needed new liners and all had badly worn output shaft CI bearings. I chose the best parts I could for the rebuild and mixed and matched. The hardest part to rebuild would be the piston conrod/crank bearing with my small equipment, not impossible but more difficult. I will have a go at doing some in the future but I had a good one here so used that.
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h215/HornetB/Ajax%20Pump/20160126_124054_zpsawvql0s3.jpg (http://s65.photobucket.com/user/HornetB/media/Ajax%20Pump/20160126_124054_zpsawvql0s3.jpg.html)
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h215/HornetB/Ajax%20Pump/20160126_124134_zpsgubakvim.jpg (http://s65.photobucket.com/user/HornetB/media/Ajax%20Pump/20160126_124134_zpsgubakvim.jpg.html)
Used a bit of electolysis to clean up some of the rust and get some bolts out.
I turned a liner on the Hercus from a phosphor bronze 38mm (1.5") ID bush to be a snug sliding fit in the pump head. I cut the original liner out of the pump head with a hacksaw and collapsed it to get it out. Slid the new bad boy in and loctited in place.
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h215/HornetB/Ajax%20Pump/20160109_192825_zps2qsbxfuz.jpg (http://s65.photobucket.com/user/HornetB/media/Ajax%20Pump/20160109_192825_zps2qsbxfuz.jpg.html)
I bored out the crank housing side plate to accept a PB bush and slid that in place also. Same on the opposite side.
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h215/HornetB/Ajax%20Pump/20160109_213205_zps9inzlwoe.jpg (http://s65.photobucket.com/user/HornetB/media/Ajax%20Pump/20160109_213205_zps9inzlwoe.jpg.html)
Part of the head on this one suffered a bit of rusting out under the gasket which meant that there was very little metal supporting the gasket in some places and it may have tried to blow out. So I skimmed it on the mill back to clean, solid CI so the gasket could take a good seat.
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h215/HornetB/Ajax%20Pump/20160114_220828_zpsclu7pd12.jpg (http://s65.photobucket.com/user/HornetB/media/Ajax%20Pump/20160114_220828_zpsclu7pd12.jpg.html)
I also replaced the brass rod with a stainless one, added a few modifications such as milling six flats on the shaft so you can get some purchase on it with an open end spanner for unscrewing without having to resort to the vice grips. I also milled a matching hex head on the end of the shaft so you can use a socket as well if need be. No pics sorry.
Replaced some fasteners and missing parts, made some new leather cups, plenty of anti-sieze, gave it a fresh lick of paint and hopefully, fingers crossed they get a few more years out of the refresh.
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h215/HornetB/Ajax%20Pump/20160126_120208_zpstmrpleth.jpg (http://s65.photobucket.com/user/HornetB/media/Ajax%20Pump/20160126_120208_zpstmrpleth.jpg.html)
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h215/HornetB/Ajax%20Pump/20160126_120137_zpsv9msasaq.jpg (http://s65.photobucket.com/user/HornetB/media/Ajax%20Pump/20160126_120137_zpsv9msasaq.jpg.html)
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h215/HornetB/Ajax%20Pump/20160126_120043_zpszcyziz1r.jpg (http://s65.photobucket.com/user/HornetB/media/Ajax%20Pump/20160126_120043_zpszcyziz1r.jpg.html)