Hi Paul, I just got caught up on your Letourneau series. I am so glad you saved this machine and I am learning along with you on the restoration. It is so cool to see what the old boys did before hydraulics became commonplace. Such a cool machine. Thanks for taking the time to share this with us!
Thanks for the comment, I will admit the Letourneau does not have the brand power that Caterpillar has. But I have been a fan of R G Letourneau my whole life and to end up with two of his machines is amazing. I will hopefully have the last two bearing come in next week and will be able to assemble the unit. Even if this content isn't that popular i still find the machine super cool. Thanks for reaching out.
Im glad you made it home safe. Your right about the splined sockets. A chisel might have worked on some but usually its just wrecks things. I appreciate the interest in the Letourneau, its not very popular but I am finding it very satisfying to go through it. Thanks again. I think once its boundibg around next spring it will be really fun.
Rust on the rotor and stator doesn't really matter unless it's bad enough for the two to contact each other. The rotor is pretty robust so you can hand sand it with 80 grit sand paper of you need to. You can sand the stator poles as long as you don't touch the wire or insulators. The cracked insulators in the stator slots aren't ideal but I wouldn't worry too much. There are only three common failure modes for the windings. 1) Broken wires which you have already tested for. 2) Leakage between the windings and case. This is best tested with a high voltage insulation tester. Most electricians will have one of these. Your test with an ordinary meter will find shorts but not weak insulation. 3) Shorted windings. This needs specialized equipment to detect. In most cases an ordinary multimeter won't work. To be honest I would just power it up and see what happens. If it runs slow, pulls a lot of power and makes a lot of noise you probably have a shorted winding.
Thanks for the comments. Im pretty sure theres a old saying, That it takes a Community to raise a Letourneau scraper. Lol. But seriously I really appreciate your help and its been fun.
I would clean the rust layer off the iron core of the rotor, you could probably turn it slow in the lathe and use sandpaper I would try and clean the stator core also with care, the insulation looks weak, and electrical motor shop might be able to re dip it, then there is the coils, the electrical portion looks the roughest. Is this DC or AC? I'm just wondering if it's DC the motor reverses for function which it looks to me? The clutch fibres look like old bulldozer dry steering clutches in style, it could be asbestos, would be nice if they crossed over to something available Heavy Equipment Forums has a scraper section, there might be someone there that has knowledge on these?
Good evening, I will sand the stator and rotor. I experimented with some emery cloth folded to the same width as the strips or bars. The motor ac and I believe the magnetic coils are ac as well. I hopefully will have the new bearings and seals soon.
If it's an AC motor does the gearbox have the ability to reverse rotation for the winch or does one direction just free wheel and brake? I'm curious what they are doing with the steering motor if there is only one as it would need to çhange direction or have a reversing method in the gearbox.
Thanks for the tip. Im afraid my budget for additional letourneau's is not there yet. It will take a few turns "Pass Go" to get another. Lol. We will have to live vicariously through each other for now. I want to see that Letourneau model M cable scraper behind the TD9 in action this summer.
@ I think that one is a D111A , not in my budget either. I’d like to get my model D towed scraper operational this summer. Would be exact right size for TD9
![The Secrets of the Sock Machine [Restoration]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/rAFlLEoFilM/mqdefault.jpg)
![The Secrets of the Sock Machine [Restoration]](/img/tr.png)
Hi Paul, I just got caught up on your Letourneau series. I am so glad you saved this machine and I am learning along with you on the restoration. It is so cool to see what the old boys did before hydraulics became commonplace. Such a cool machine. Thanks for taking the time to share this with us!
Thanks for the comment, I will admit the Letourneau does not have the brand power that Caterpillar has. But I have been a fan of R G Letourneau my whole life and to end up with two of his machines is amazing. I will hopefully have the last two bearing come in next week and will be able to assemble the unit. Even if this content isn't that popular i still find the machine super cool. Thanks for reaching out.
I still amazed at how well the disassembly is going. Those splined sockets are priceless for someone working on one.
Im glad you made it home safe. Your right about the splined sockets. A chisel might have worked on some but usually its just wrecks things. I appreciate the interest in the Letourneau, its not very popular but I am finding it very satisfying to go through it. Thanks again. I think once its boundibg around next spring it will be really fun.
Rust on the rotor and stator doesn't really matter unless it's bad enough for the two to contact each other. The rotor is pretty robust so you can hand sand it with 80 grit sand paper of you need to. You can sand the stator poles as long as you don't touch the wire or insulators.
The cracked insulators in the stator slots aren't ideal but I wouldn't worry too much. There are only three common failure modes for the windings.
1) Broken wires which you have already tested for.
2) Leakage between the windings and case. This is best tested with a high voltage insulation tester. Most electricians will have one of these. Your test with an ordinary meter will find shorts but not weak insulation.
3) Shorted windings. This needs specialized equipment to detect. In most cases an ordinary multimeter won't work. To be honest I would just power it up and see what happens. If it runs slow, pulls a lot of power and makes a lot of noise you probably have a shorted winding.
Thanks for the comments. Im pretty sure theres a old saying, That it takes a Community to raise a Letourneau scraper. Lol. But seriously I really appreciate your help and its been fun.
I would clean the rust layer off the iron core of the rotor, you could probably turn it slow in the lathe and use sandpaper
I would try and clean the stator core also with care, the insulation looks weak, and electrical motor shop might be able to re dip it, then there is the coils, the electrical portion looks the roughest. Is this DC or AC? I'm just wondering if it's DC the motor reverses for function which it looks to me?
The clutch fibres look like old bulldozer dry steering clutches in style, it could be asbestos, would be nice if they crossed over to something available
Heavy Equipment Forums has a scraper section, there might be someone there that has knowledge on these?
Good evening, I will sand the stator and rotor. I experimented with some emery cloth folded to the same width as the strips or bars. The motor ac and I believe the magnetic coils are ac as well. I hopefully will have the new bearings and seals soon.
If it's an AC motor does the gearbox have the ability to reverse rotation for the winch or does one direction just free wheel and brake?
I'm curious what they are doing with the steering motor if there is only one as it would need to çhange direction or have a reversing method in the gearbox.
In the main switch box the there is really two switches for each motor with one leg switched for either up or down or left or right.
Just thought I mention that I see a Wabco paddle scraper on marketplace , it’s hydraulic pan up and down but electric drive on paddles and steering.
Thanks for the tip. Im afraid my budget for additional letourneau's is not there yet. It will take a few turns "Pass Go" to get another. Lol. We will have to live vicariously through each other for now. I want to see that Letourneau model M cable scraper behind the TD9 in action this summer.
@ I think that one is a D111A , not in my budget either. I’d like to get my model D towed scraper operational this summer. Would be exact right size for TD9
@@oldamericaniron5767 I ran a 222 and that paddle drive was the pitts. Would dig heavy on that side no matter what the operator did.