Back at it.

1959 - 1962, Mighty Mite, M422, Wanted, USED PARTS FOR SALE, and Knowledge Base
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lj nettles
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Back at it.

Post by lj nettles » Sun Dec 27, 2015 8:28 am

It has been awhile that I have been on the 422 site and worked on my M422 so I decided that I would spend a few weeks at my cabin in New Mexico and spend a bit of time on the M422. I wanted to address the miss alignment of the arm assembly that will not allow the upper pin to drop into the knuckle. I decided to remove the casting that holds the upper pin and re align it. This was quite a process and I documented it on my imageevent.com/leonardnettles site starting at photo 645. I was surprised to see that my site has almost 4,000 hits so it must be helping some out with their restorations. Once I got the upper casting out I installed the knuckle along with the lower pin and keeper which put the knuckle in alignment then I re installed the upper casting hoping to use the upper pin to pull it into alignment before welding it back in place. The problem I ran into is that the new old stock upper pin will not screw into the casting. I have a second new old stock upper pin so I tried it and the same problem. To confirm the threads were good and match the casting I flipped the pin and it screws right in so the threads are good and match the casting. I guess I will have to a machine shop and see if they can figure it out. To me it looks like the starter thread is not cut properly. These pins are hard to get so I don't want to mess it up so I will let the big boys solve the problem. Has anyone run in to this problem? The picture link is http://imageevent.com/leonardnettles/m4 ... =4&s=0&z=2

Leonard


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rob w
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Re: Back at it.

Post by rob w » Sun Dec 27, 2015 5:54 pm

Leonard,

Glad to see you're back at it... :P

I had that problem on a mite with a knuckle pin....not sure if it was NOS or not. I think on mine, someone had once started it wrong a turn or two..... seemed like mine had two helixes on the first thread or so....one that was shallow couple turns and got tight quick.....and ..... the other was the correct original groove. take a close look/feel. These fine threads are easily damaged. If I recall I ran it backwards slowly CCW and felt another step...and another entry,,,,, that time it screwed in no problem, and all the way down.... I could not see it with my eye, but "felt" the second groove. Maybe it was just my machine...but I'm guessing some of these got forced in by sloppy maintenance.... clean the threads really well......they are probably gunked up as well.

keep us posted. a few new western MM's will be finished this year.....hopefully we'll see you at tower or nationals...

Rgds,

Rob

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mspeters
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Re: Back at it.

Post by mspeters » Sun Dec 27, 2015 7:07 pm

Leonard,

Same problems with my mites. 1/2 of the new steering pins didn't want to thread in.
Ended up buying the UNEF tap from McMaster. It cleaned up the swing arm threads and the new ones then threaded in cleanly. I used antisieze the thread portions.

FWIW, if the steering pin lock nuts are mangled, they are same as one of the mid-generation of Harley crank nuts. Easy to find on eBay.

Mark

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lj nettles
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Re: Back at it.

Post by lj nettles » Wed Dec 30, 2015 12:29 pm

Thanks Rob and Mark for the advise. It is good sound advise so I will take the approach to resolve the problem. This knuckle has been a bear right down to the end which is not quite there yet. I bet the motor pool guys hated AMC for such poor quality control. I was going to chase the threads with a die but at my shop in New Mexico all I had was a cheap set of dies that would probably not cut the hardened pin. I will order a high end die and chase the threads. I guess I have to apologize for dragging my feet on the Mite restoration but the Might I have, has just been beat up. Bubba destroyed much of the dash so that has been a process to repair. There are many incorrect holes cut in the body that I had to buy a second body to make patch panels. I am trying to get the running gear all done before I bring the repaired body back to new Mexico from my California shop. Since just about everything needed to be repaired or cleaned up I decided to document as much as possible with photos so other project out there have a reference. Books are great but pictures are better. I try to develop the repair procedures around every day items found in a home garage so it makes a bit easy on the wallet. I am back in California so while I am here I want to finish the reproduction windshield hardware I am fabricating before I go back to New Mexico. Keep checking the www.imageevent.com/leonardnettles site as I will post photos and descriptions as I move along.

Leonard

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Re: Back at it.

Post by Dhdeason » Thu Mar 23, 2017 5:32 pm

lj nettles wrote:It has been awhile that I have been on the 422 site and worked on my M422 so I decided that I would spend a few weeks at my cabin in New Mexico and spend a bit of time on the M422. I wanted to address the miss alignment of the arm assembly that will not allow the upper pin to drop into the knuckle. I decided to remove the casting that holds the upper pin and re align it. This was quite a process and I documented it on my imageevent.com/leonardnettles site starting at photo 645. I was surprised to see that my site has almost 4,000 hits so it must be helping some out with their restorations. Once I got the upper casting out I installed the knuckle along with the lower pin and keeper which put the knuckle in alignment then I re installed the upper casting hoping to use the upper pin to pull it into alignment before welding it back in place. The problem I ran into is that the new old stock upper pin will not screw into the casting. I have a second new old stock upper pin so I tried it and the same problem. To confirm the threads were good and match the casting I flipped the pin and it screws right in so the threads are good and match the casting. I guess I will have to a machine shop and see if they can figure it out. To me it looks like the starter thread is not cut properly. These pins are hard to get so I don't want to mess it up so I will let the big boys solve the problem. Has anyone run in to this problem? The picture link is http://imageevent.com/leonardnettles/m4 ... =4&s=0&z=2

Leonard


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