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felt washer

  • Thread starter Thread starter Zagg
  • Start date Start date
While working on one end the metal cupped washer fell out so you can see the brass bushing inside better....
 
Not seen them before on any ive had. Just grease the shaft and it will be lubed where it passes thu the eyelets on the plate. Not a critical thing in my opinion.
 
I bought two different squares of felt from a local craft store to attempt to cut out new one. Not happy about attempting this half assed repair, but a couple were torn and blew out while cleaning so I was stuck either way, but I would rather have just replaced with an exact match rather than cutting one.

Oh yeah, the scratches on the brass are from me digging around. One of the rings came apart and the rest was stuck so I had to dig it out. It was before I figured out the cupped washers just popped out.

You guys have any experience with these things?
 
chuck hahn said:
Not seen them before on any ive had. Just grease the shaft and it will be lubed where it passes thu the eyelets on the plate. Not a critical thing in my opinion.
Click to expand...

That's helpful, thank you. I don't think I would have noticed them if one hadn't blown out in pieces (it seemed like it just came outta nowhere). They are easy to miss because they are black on the inside from grease, grime, etc. I should have taken a pic while they were in. They did not stick out at all. They look like a shadow until you dig in there.
 
Never dipped or had any thoughts about taking a rack plate apart myself. I ungang them and dip the carbs and use a little spray and a brush to get the old crusty crap off and leave it at that. Grease the shaft as the manual states and reassemble them. Maybe thats why i havent ever seen the washers......Duh!!!!
 
chuck hahn said:
Never dipped or had any thoughts about taking a rack plate apart myself. I ungang them and dip the carbs and use a little spray and a brush to get the old crusty crap off and leave it at that. Grease the shaft as the manual states and reassemble them. Maybe thats why i havent ever seen the washers......Duh!!!!
Click to expand...

:D Yeah, well, I am a half-asser by nature so my attempt at being thorough was to clean the plate with a brush and some degreaser... That's what I get for being thorough. I'm also trying to cultivate a "one thing at a time" process so I don't end up with different components from different areas of the bike all dismantled with limited funds to rebuild or replace.

I need to stop watching frame up restos and sit back down on my bucket for a chair in my storage unit shop with no heat and no money for parts and just get it back together. Unfortunately my passion for getting the bike together and running and riding far exceeds the funds necessary to do so and I end up working with what I have that I don't have to buy.... I have a couple wire brushes and some marine clean sitting around so I went to work just to feel like I was accomplishing something without dismantling another part that I couldn't afford to rebuild.
 
Congrats Zagg. You may have actually come up with an original topic not yet covered multiple times in this forum. Felt washers; whod'a thunk. :) Good work in being thorough. Cheers!
 
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I'll be tearing my carbs down over the winter and will take a look in there, maybe I do have them!
 
This felt pad is nothing more than an oil store for the section of shaft that goes through the bush adjacent to it. It's not a seal, just a lube aid. Felt oil pads were (and still are) commonly used in industry in various applications. Kind of amusing that a tech that's many centuries old (think watermills) is still being used.
 
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Grimly said:
This felt pad is nothing more than an oil store for the section of shaft that goes through the bush adjacent to it. It's not a seal, just a lube aid. Felt oil pads were (and still are) commonly used in industry in various applications. Kind of amusing that a tech that's many centuries old (think watermills) is still being used.
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Thanks for clarifying this. Yeah, it was pretty obvious it wasn't "sealing" anything, but I wanted to bring it up to be sure it didn't have a function I hadn't thought of.
 
This washer doesn't show up on the parts fiche's either so I was curious about it. I went ahead and made new ones out of felt and replaced them. I do want to make a note that the material is more like a gasket... more firm than a craft type felt which is what I used because it was cheap. If I would do this again I would probably buy a couple automotive gaskets cheap that I could cut up. Anyway, this thread wasn't meant to be instructional on my end but I want to show anyone who hasn't been in here what it looks like....

I bought 2 pieces of felt at a nearby craft store that most closely resembled the thickness and feel of the original. Cost me $3.00 but I could make 100 of the damn things... Oh well, project felt for the kids. Money well spent either way.

Recreating a circle can be done with a bunch of different jigs... a socket would be great because you can get the exact size for the inner and outer. I didn't have my tools with me so I made a jig with a compass and one of my business cards...






Use the exacto knife or razor knife or whatever you got on a piece of cardboard or wood to cut it out. Somebody here suggested a punch which would have been awesome. The only trick here is to cut out the inside before the outside or it is a monumental pain in the ass.


I used a scissors to cut around the outside and trim the inside to fit.
 
Here is a really good shot of the original washer in there... Anyone that has missed these in the past should understand why now...


Without the felt or the "cup washer" all you have is the brass bushing...



Homemade washer in place...



Cup washer (feel free to insert the correct term)





I used a wrench on top and then tapped it with mallet to get it in. Once you have one side in you can use a flat screwdriver or the open end of the wrench to tap in the rest of the way, then I used a flat screwdriver on the existing punch mark and tapped each one again to keep it in there. The metal is very, very soft and required little more than a light tap to flare it into the opening.



Done and done. I had 3 of the originals that I put back in and doubled up my new ones to create the proper thickness.

Removal of the cup wash can be done bay running a screwdriver, pick, etc. through from the other side and tapping it out. Or, just get a screwdriver under the lip of it. You have the thickness of the felt washer to work with so you don't have to worry about gouging the brass.

If I was going to be more thorough on this I would dremel the original punches smooth so they didnt distort the metal washer going back in... FYI
 
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Just thinking about my assertion the felt washer isn't a seal, but a lube aid.
In this application it's really a dirt seal, against road dust and dirt. The bronze or brass bushing in there will be oil impregnated and when dust gets in, it will act as a grinding paste, hence the felt washer.
The felt may, or may not, have been oiled. Perhaps it would work better dry.
I'd re-oil the bushes before re-assembly, fit the felts and forget about them for another 30 years.
 
Frank Z. said:
Congrats Zagg. You may have actually come up with an original topic not yet covered multiple times in this forum. Felt washers; whod'a thunk. :) Good work in being thorough. Cheers!
Click to expand...
But what KIND of OIL should he use on them?
Synthetic, Standard, Rotella????
;)
 
Grimly said:
Just thinking about my assertion the felt washer isn't a seal, but a lube aid.
In this application it's really a dirt seal, against road dust and dirt. The bronze or brass bushing in there will be oil impregnated and when dust gets in, it will act as a grinding paste, hence the felt washer.
The felt may, or may not, have been oiled. Perhaps it would work better dry.
I'd re-oil the bushes before re-assembly, fit the felts and forget about them for another 30 years.
Click to expand...

Yeah, makes sense. Also, the site referenced by jdvorchak has a similar discussion. I greased the throttle rod but did not add oil to the bushings. I'll do that quick before moving on. Hey, I read your thread and watched your videos on the flooding. Sorry to hear about it. I hope things are getting back to normal for you.
 
Zagg said:
Hey, I read your thread and watched your videos on the flooding. Sorry to hear about it. I hope things are getting back to normal for you.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I think I've lost two 850 crankshafts. One of them was a little bit dubious, as had been stored in a slightly damp environment, but doused in oil ever so often. The crankpin bearings on that one felt a little bit notchy yesterday. The other one is in a complete engine that the starter was out of, so the floodwater filled up the entire crankcase. Lovely stuff, altogether. I filled both engines with diesel to hopefully catch them in time before any rusting starts.
I won't know until I get around to stripping the complete one, whether I've got away with it.
Oh, and my Tecumseh Snow King engine went aquatic. Bugger.
 
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