Anyone else have a fetish for....

[ras101]

So guys over the years owning Case GT's I really have come to appreciate stainless parts, I guess you could call it a fetish. Also being a retired Engineering manager too brings it's challenges too. When I work on things for me I look beyond the current fix to a complete enduring solution. I feel in love with stainless products way back in the 70's and 80's (I know before a lot of you were even born so you will have to forgive me here). In the last 3-4 years I have been "updating" a lot of my Case/Ingersoll to my fetish too. Any work At all uses stainless parts where possible, my online source was always "teapotlinda" on Ebay and I have talked a few time with him for parts, etc. Unfortunately he is hanging up his spurs and that upsets me no end. Yeah, being a long time fan and user of his products he will do "specials" if I ask him nicely but looking for a new supplier too. Nuts, bolts, washer have never been the issue but Case specific parts will be. Anyone want to assume the role that "Teapotlinda" provided on ebay with the group either on Ebay or here on the site. I mean of course providing fabricated parts in stainless and other material at request?

[Eugen]

Other than bolts and nuts what other Case tractor parts do you use that are made of stainless steel?

[ras101]

I use a lot Eugen. Deck spindles, steering bolt parts, brake parts, etc. I really think that anyone "manufacturing " Case/Ingersoll parts should first look at those parts as stainless! Having lived through a minimum of two decades now owning Case/Ingersoll I know that I want the best available. I know, first hand, that my first thought when buying new parts is how well they work, second is will they fix my current problem, but my third always is how LONG will it last!!! Stainless parts always adds so much to my decision as it should yours. Having struggled over 60 plus years of mechanical work, yeah with motorbikes, cars, etc first. I want easy. Do you really blame me? I want parts that are easy to assemble and take apart...don't get me wrong here guys I use the latest thread locker, unlocker goo, etc. too. Just want the best here and for me right now that's stainless. In the future that could change as new non corrosive materials become available but right now stainless. Yeah I always use anti whatever too. Still go back though to the source... you should too.

[Toolslinger]

I have a bit of a love/hate thing with stainless. In my previous carrear it was something of a rarity, and cost prohibitive, not to mention more or less unneeded. Now, I deal to things going in to research labs, and so stainless is the go to material. As a result, I'm kinda late to really understanding the material.

My biggest issue is the gauling. I mean, it's nice that the fasteners don't rust out, but when you manage (and it ain't that hard)to get stainless to seize, you're almost in a worse position. I really wouldn't want to get in to any kind of press fit with stainless parts. I deal with that at work, and we usually do a heat/shrink on the parts, but at home, I don't have vast supplies of dry ice to do significant cooling, and I also don't run anything hotter than a MAPP torch at home.

The bigger things I've done in stainless at work (for the production depatment, not the research equipment) were steel and or iron to begin with, and they had been in constant service, and neglected for decades. We could have called up the OEM and just bought new, identical parts, and been back online quickly, and if we got half the service life out of them the originals got, that would be just fine. As otrageous as those parts were priced at, the machine they go in would have produced that much profit in 1 day.

Instead, the head engineer decided to go stainless. It took months to take the machine offline, reverse engineer the parts, order the material, make, or have made the parts, and then tweak things as needed to deal with any differences in reassembly. He's retiring this year. I'll be retired in a couple decades, and the machine will still be doing its thing. I kinda feel bad for the next guy down the line that has to pull that thing apart, and finds non-standard parts in it. Yea, the stainless parts will probably be fine forever, as long as the production guys don't cross thread the bolts they have to disassemble weekly, or worse loose one, and replace it with one of the wrong alloy, and seize it. Is stainless really an upgrade at that point? It looks pretty to be sure. Those parts will never provide a cost benifit between the machine down time, and what we had to spend to make them vs just replacing them with stock parts.

There's also the possibility of a galvanic issue between the new stainless, and the old steel around it. The tractors see an awful lot of moisture from either damp grass clotting, or packed mud. Is that enough to get the dissimilar metals going? Hard to say. One would hope to keep the machine clean enough that that isn't an issue, but that's not the reality my tractors see. I guess I'll find out with the big Mott flail I rebuilt for one of the bigger tractors. I used SS bolts, and silicon-bronze nuts to hold all the adjustment points. Those are atleast through bolts, so they can be cut/ground if needed. Nothing blind. I use standard steel or possibly brass, and old school Led Plate antiseize on those applications (brass is easier to drill out of a blind hole in steel I've found).

This is all coming out very anti-stainless... That's not the goal. I do use a tremendous amount in the wood projects I deal with, and there are a lot of them... The whole deck around my house was built with redwood, and aluminum nails 40+ years ago. The nails are fine apart from backing out, and the redrwood is fine where it could dry out. Unfortunatly, I've got rot where my father didn't space things properly, or the wood was against concrete. As I go through that, all the hardware will be stainless. Probably end up with Ipe, or Meranti for the beams, and then be stuck using pressure treated for the deck boards. No question stainless is the superior choice for that application. Same thing as I work on my 250+ year old grist mill. I have some rot in the flooring over the raceway. That's always a high humidity area, so fasteners will be stainless for sure, with white oak planking. It's going to get new vertical grain siding too, and you can bet I'll be using SS nails on that to avoid any rust staining on what should be 50+ years service life. I personally don't need 50 years, but I hope the next owner will appreciate that...

No question it always looks nice. I'll take brushed, or polished stainless over chrome any day.

[Spike188]

@Toolslinger Thanks you for your indepth analysis od stainless and fasteners. The food industry uses stainless shafts. Removal of bearings and sprockets often led to broken pullers and cutting parts for near impossible removal. Another issue is welding stainless. NcL rods and wire is pricey. I shake to much for tig welding and stick the tungsten.

[thebuildist]

Gauling!!!!

I'm not a swearing man. But gauled stainless fasteners take me RIGHT TO THE BRINK.

Great post.

Bob

[Eugen]

Gauling!!!!

I'm not a swearing man. But gauled stainless fasteners take me RIGHT TO THE BRINK.

Great post.

Bob

[ras101]

#Toolslinger thanks for the great post about stainless parts. I for one in at least the last 20+ years have never experienced any of your issues though. I use the correct grade of stainless and have always had great success. When I have used SS, especially nuts and bolts I have never experienced any issues and I am talking about the last 25+ years! For me SS is my go to metal and I will continue to machine with it and buy parts when I can. Unlike you, I have never welded SS so I can't comment on that, but I have had SS welded for me and again no issues EVER!

I have however had major issues with rusted nuts and bolts, shafts, etc. I will stick with my SS fetish!

[Harry]

Welding SS is like any other welding, match the welding rod to the base metal. It can get a bit tricky determining the base SS. Harry

[Jancoe]

Welding SS is like any other welding, match the welding rod to the base metal. It can get a bit tricky determining the base SS. Harry

Ah yes. Reminds me of the days when I worked for a metal fabrication/ machine shop company. We did alot of ss welding with duct work and hoppers. We built alot of custom large scale boilers, rock crushers, conveyors, building structures, etc. Anything imaginable in the working building industry. Was always amazed at the projects we built. So cool. Most of the prints that called for ss was in corrosion prone areas. I sure don't ever want to see the inside of a 20' Dia 40' long stainless steel hopper again. Most of them called for all of the welds to be ground smooth as a baby's bottom. Those few were for a concrete plant. Ugh. I'm with a few others that can't stand the galling. The only way to really prevent it, it seams is to tighten a nut and bolt slowly not to create heat and reduce friction. So no impact and I like impacts. When I rebuilt my sb48 snowcaster a few years ago I did choose to go with all stainless where possible.

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk