Don't tell Betsy

Betsy and Jack came to dinner last night.  We had Moose Steaks.  Very tasty.  They brought the rusty treadle stand with them.  Jack is glad to get it out of his garage. (Steven has kept mum)

Someone brought the treadle stand, without the "timber" to Betsy.  I have a treadle stand that is missing the pedal, the wheel, cone bearings and pitman rod.  I don't care about the dress guard.  This stand is just like mine, but it has those parts.  Mine is not rusty.  This one is.  Very Rusty

When we put it into the shop last night I squirted PB Blaster on all of the fasteners.  I squirted some more today before I left to look at another treadle (I didn't buy it) and left it in the sun.  I thought that I would just "try" to get the screws and cone bearings loose.  I spent the afternoon on this mess.

It had a wooden pitman rod.  Pitman rods are attached to  the foot pedal and the wheel.  I wanted to get the pitman rod off.  But the little adjusting screw in each end of the rod was so terribly rusted.  In trying to loosen it, I broke the end of the pitman rod off.  DON'T TELL BETSY. She advised me to be very careful of the pitman rod.  Actually she said "Don't break it"

The sucker fell apart in my hands, really.  The good news?  I can make a replacement.  It will not be OEM but it will work.  As far as I am concerned, that is key.  Looking at this rust bucket, I will be lucky to get these parts cleaned up and installed on the other irons. 

I did manage to get the cone bearings loosened and the pedal off.

cone bearing nut

one cone bearing loosened

the other cone bearing loosened

 I am soaking the cone bearings and their nuts in some ATFAcetone mixture.  DON'T TELL BETSY.  Oh, all right.  You can tell her.  I mixed it up outside and have the container outside.  She won't yell at me for that.

I think I will try gluing the pitman rod with epoxy.  If all else fails I can make a new one.