Jump to content
I Forge Iron

Stuck clutch on a 50# LG


Recommended Posts

Have you seen this? It may help some. You have to copy & paste in in your browser. If you go to the littlegianthammers web site they may have some info and parts. Forum rules prevent posting a live link to commercial sites.

www.littlegianthammer.com/uploads/docs/2018-Useful-Information.pdf

Have you read this? https://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/67675-25-lb-little-giant-not-stopping/

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome aboard Selim, glad to have you. If you put your general location in the header you'll have a better chance of hooking up with members who live within visiting distance. Also a lot of information is location specific.

Except for color that looks just like my #50 LG.

How long has yours set without running? Was it free before you tried running it or was it frozen when you got it? 

If it was frozen when you got it there's a chance moisture in the wooden clutch shoes caused corrosion in the drum and are rusted together. If so use a good quality penetrating oil that isn't very oily and wet it down. Come back next day and see if it'll nock loose. By knock loose I do NOT suggest you use a hammer, a mallet or short length of 2x4 on end is my suggestion for a thwocker. Wood avoids hard impacts that can crack or bend the iron.

If it was turning free and stuck when you tried running it you forgot to oil the clutch. You want the clutch shoes coated but you do NOT want the clutch slobbering oil. Once it's oiled properly, ONE drop, MAYBE two is all it'll need when it starts slipping or acting sticky. No good reason to oil it every day.

And that about sums up my expertise unsticking LG clutches.

Frosty The Lucky.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks everyone for the replies. The hammer did work before I bought it, but I think loading and travel (had to lay it down) might have caused it to wedge itself on the clutch. Do you have a pic of the backend off your clutch assembly? I am trying to see what part actually gets removed from the shaft. On my I can't tell. I am thinking maybe I need to get some square stock, all thread, nuts and see if I can slowly pull them apart? Again thanks for the help

Ben

 

PXL_20210829_143409182.jpg

Edited by Mod30
Remove @name tag
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Selim: Please do not use the @ tag, the Iforge software doesn't use tags but they do cause problems the moderators have to chase down and correct. Staying off the mod' radar is desirable.

Why did you take it apart? It can be much harder to figure out the cause of the problem looking at a pile of pieces than the whole machine. For example with the clutch in place and connected to the linkage you wouldn't have asked your last question. Just tracing the movement of the treadle, and linkage tells you exactly what moves and in which direction. Also I sure hope you haven't damaged the babbit bearings or you'll HAVE TO pour new ones and that's not a trivial job.

Where are you going to put a home made puller if you can't tell what needs to move which direction?

I know that's what you're asking us but just saying doesn't tell you if we even think it'll work, we can't know. I don't advise people who can't determine what direction linkage and return spring moves a thing on how to apply serious force. What would you connect your puller to, how hard would you pull? What are you going to do if when you break whatever you're trying to force? If you're lucky you'd only strip the bolts out of the holes but what if you snap a trunion off or crush a sleeve? 

Do you have a copy of the book, "The Little Giant Powerhammer," by Richard R. Kern? It'll tell you everything about your hammer in all it's models and many modifications. 

You obviously haven't applied a penetrant, not enough time has passed for it to work if you had. You have to slow down and practice patience. These old machines were designed to be easily repairable and rebuilt but rushing only causes problems. 

I have an adage I repeat often, here and in person I'll pass on to you. "The only thing rushing guarantees is making your mistakes permanent more quickly." 

I'm not picking on you, you have a serious work horse power hammer but you're doing more harm than good because you are doing things to it without a clue. Ignorance is easy to fix, we're all ignorant. Doing damage because a person doesn't know what to do but does it anyway is . . . Un-smart.

Frosty The Lucky.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for responding Frosty. When we got the hammer home last weekend I contacted the previous owner and explained the issue, he gave me a couple of things to try to disengage the clutch. When those didn't work, the previous owner (and many on this board) recommended reaching out to LG.

I reached out to LG and explained the issue, they recommended taking it apart as some of the old grease had probably seized up. We careful took the top portion apart and degreased the fly wheel and clutch.

Since none of the above worked I thought applying some equal pressure to two sides using square bar, all thread and some nuts might help pull the two components apart.

If you feel that is a bad idea and penetrating oil is a better approach,I can give that a shot.

Thanks

Ben

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Doing the simplest least hazardous thing is always my first course. It's easy to tell if the grease has locked things up and a little WD-40 almost always frees it up. Did the main shaft lift out of the main bearings or was it stuck down and pop loose when you removed it? If it's the grease in the clutch itself pull the zerk CAREFULLY and hose it out with WD-40. Squirt it till WD runs out of the hole, let it set for a while then go back and see if it moves. 

You may have to apply force but I'd try breaking it loose with minimum force first. Heck, try water before you apply oil. Rust is water soluble and once you have it free you can just spray it out with a hose, let it dry and oil it. Water will penetrate through both rust layer And the wood clutch shoes. It will cause the wood to swell applying considerable force to what's binding it. DIRECTLY to what's binding it.

I'm surprised the guys at LG suggested taking it apart before trying to free the clutch shoes in the cone. Then again, they know a whole lot more about the machines than I do. Or maybe taking them apart is so routine for them they just do it anyway.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There should be a serial number stamped in the casting, the LG pages should show were for which style hammer.  Send the serial number to LG and they can look it up for you---nice folks if you own a LG you should howdy and make friends with them as they have the SPARE PARTS inventory!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just spent a good 20 minutes with a flashlight and rag looking for the serial # on my #50 LG and couldn't find it. I know it's there but it has to be under the 3 coats of hunter green, Krylon I painted her with. Before I walked out I spent time looking through "The Little Giant Powerhammer" book and I didn't see the location. I didn't read it, I skimmed so a location might be hidden.

 I know it's there, I asked Little Giant for it's specs. She was born in 1912, delivered to LA Heavy Hardware on 21 January 1913.  

I made a couple  mods so it suits me better than out of the factory. First thing I did was degrease and strip the paint, then a trip to the car wash cleaned the rest of the stuff off. Less than a week later I drove past on the way to pick Deb up at work and noticed a large sign forbidding cleaning parts or greasy machinery. A coincidence, honest!

Then I painted it in my shop colors, green with gold trim. I have enough Irish in my to count even if it isn't St. Paddy's day.

I'd been hearing enough scare stories about springs shattering and looked at some of the guards guys were mounting and made my own. I used heavy grizzly screen in the angle iron frame. The frame is mounted on the swing arm pivots so always coveres the spring. The screen lets me see the spring. The spring is painted as a failure alert. The paint has enough flex to stay on the spring BUT if there is a fracture it will peal on each side and I'll be able to see it through the screen and change it out without it breaking. If it does break the screen will prevent pieces from flying into the operator's position and the give will cause fragments to fall straight down rather than bounce around.

The second pic shows how I tied the brake into the treadle, the treadle arm is on the right end of the red brake arm, the treadle linkage shares the bolt. I didn't make the brake band quite long enough, I'd like the hammer to stop as soon as I let off the treadle but it's good enough until I need better. This pic also shows where I mounted the motor, up out of the way.

The third pic shows my hammer from the left all dressed up in her new duds but not the new motor mount. I assumed I wouldn't be the only person to use her nor be alone all the time so I painted the dangerous moving parts and pinch points bright red. 

 

Frosty The Lucky.

 

664292463_Newspringguard02.jpg.fdacfceff460db6ae0b2dfce43e7d6bb.jpg    329326100_Brakeleverandpushrod.jpg.d4e9b400eedfeaa7ae539f0d45e03246.jpg   1277236949_LGleftside.thumb.jpg.a800e96688357b115077fed2793baf8f.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...