Making Replacement Shaft and Coupling for an Obsolete Skid Steer Loader - Manual Machining 

Job shops are a good way to keep old equipment running. Good work on the parts.

I really like josh's attutude when it comes to perfection

Your customer get a better coupling than before. Nice to see a pro handle that. Greetings from Germany.

Hi just started watching your videos iam a retired engineer of 50yrs nice to see proper skills still being used

Gorgeous coupling. My first thought was, "How is Josh going to split that baby?" Using the band saw didn't come to mind, but since you already had the slit it made sense. Thanks for another scintillating video! 🙂

I just totally enjoy seeing a decent cut peel material away and leave that finish. Never gets old. 👍

This appears to be why the majority of people that do it, get into machining...specifically so they can make new bits for old machinery. Good stuff Josh thanks for sharing

Yes, we can´t save ´em all but we shure can try. I just love it when machinists take some pity and re make something so the old chunk of steel can get a second life. I´m shure the owner WILL take good care of the machine, thanks to You. -Another German

I'm always happy to learn something new about subjects and things that i had pretty much all figured out. There's always more to learn! It's so cool that you can make anything, any part or tool you need in your machine shop.

Love this content. My dream is to build a shop and have a lathe and mill some day.

You mean you haven't yet machined a quick release for your ring? . Always great to see another Topper video. Hint: It's time for another railroad themed article...

What beautiful work of art! Thanks for sharing.

Josh, have you considered a silicone wedding band? Several of the other machinist and mechanic channels that I watch wear them. You always have great contenr. Keep up the great work!

I’ve had to modify slitting arbors to get the extra distance needed too. No one makes good slitting saws any more! You could always try to chill the hand first, apply some olive oil around the ring, then in a boiling water pot heat up a big heavy spoon, then apply that spoon tip to the ring and see if you can get it to expand enough to slip off. Good luck Mr. Topper!

Josh, new skid-steers are $100k+ these days, thankfully there are good machinists, like you around to help. Good non-obsolete ones are damned expensive as well. Best wishes from the far North.

You have a good example, here, of when to be precise and when tight tolerances are not so important. Great job!

Thank you sir! Enjoy this "analog" style work. Thank you

Ouch, the original bodge up looked painful 😢. Great design and Improvement Josh. Thanks for sharing

Great video Josh, I worked in a coal mines for 30 years and got into the machine shop biss so I got my wedding ring tattooed on,lol much safer..

Saw your our warning about finger rings, we can’t wear jewelry at work. Had a coworker partially degloved his ring finger working around the house. The company was going to terminate his employment, half the employees threatened to walkout if they persecuted him in that way. Thanks for sharing.

Love how the part turned out. I seen tons of woodruff keys used to hold hubs on to gear boxes. Worked great but rust was always an issue getting apart. The manufacturer's refused to put a dab of grease on before assembly which super annoyed me.

you're doing a great job showing the versatility of a lathe and bridgeport combo.. good job

Top Darts Josh, I like the re-work on the lugs very neat.

Nice video. Pure machining, direct to the point.

As usual, I learned a lot. Thank you for the great content. As a hobby machinist, I enjoy learning techniques from the experts.

Great job! Its always interesting to see the sequence of how you are going to machine something.

Great job Josh!

Beautiful parts, Josh. They are no doubt the nicest parts on the old Skid Steer!

The safest design for a swarf hook is "foil sword like" fashion - a large wooden handle (like one used for big files) which gives you a good, safe and secure (and comfortable) grip and there's no way you could put a finger "into it", neither unintentionally/ by accident nor on purpose - and when it gets accidentally yanked forcefully from your hand there are no narrow edges to do much harm to your skin and bones. Then there's a "hemispheric" steel hand guard (doesn't have to be a full hemisphere) followed by a not too long "blade" (obviously), ending in a poker-like hook - which allows you to both pull the swarf and push it away if needed.

For a Machine Repair Machinist that apprenticed starting in 1974, watching you work is a pleasure. My question is since the two pieces of the coupling locate on the shaft when installed, how could the bore be egg shaped , physics and all?

Great work as usual. Also can't emphasize enough how dangerous long stringy chips are. Probably 3-4 years ago I cut my middle finger most of the way off with one or those chips on 4140ht. A moment of not thinking was all it took. Got it pieced back together at the hospital and have use of it, but have no feeling at all beyond the cut line.

"Parts are not always available". Yup, thats why I have my little machine shop at the bottom of my garden! Good video. I cringed as the slitting saw did its work. I've had bad experiences of them loading up, binding... BANG!

Interesting job, excellent work Josh as always, I'm sure the customer will be delighted with.

Great Work On That Part Josh

That turned out really nice!

beautiful job, Josh! love old school work

Great job. I like making old worn out stuff new again. You know I have never ran a slotting saw that didn't have a loping out of round sound to it when it was cutting. Even using a new arbor. That will probably be the newest best looking part on the machine...

i ran into a similar issue and kept breaking (cheap) slitting saws. i ended up using a cutting disc on a custom mandrel! it worked though and was pretty damned accurate.

Good job 👍

Well done. Re wobble never had any luck running slitting saw perfectly concentric despite the best of set up. Also seen same issue with Keith Fenner and Adam Booth who know a good bit more than me.

I really like you videos Jake. What a great way to justify what it takes to do these repairs!

IT'S ON THE OWNER to fix the "repair" and not use it til failure. How many headaches could have been prevented by the owner being more engaged-BUT-it gives work to Mr. Topper-so thank you poor owner

Looks great Josh, it'll last longer than the skid-steer its going on will lol. Thank you for uploading! 👍👍

Gotta say the chipping characteristics of that material is really interesting. I've always heard that of stainless steel, but never really worked with stainless.

You sir - are one talented fellow.

Комментарий в поддержку канала и ролика, а также труда мастера.

Nice job, Josh! Regarding “touching off”, I can understand that the cutter has to be spinning so that the measuring system can accurately zero the cutter. But wouldn’t the spinning cutter inadvertently cut into the workpiece, resulting in a false zero?

Nicely done. Love your new lathe.

I'm a 37 year Journeyman Tool and Die Maker and these was my favorite jobs. Engineering on the fly is fun. The can you make this work again thing is also a good time.

Great video. Well done on this one! Also it is a bit of a relief to see some machining on stuff that you can actually show and share all the way with us! Cheers and God Bless.

Interesting and complex job. Great camera takes!

Your version of the coupling is neater and better ! Have a great Sunday.

I recognize that part! I have a 70’s OMC Mustang 1000 skid loader that used that setup. That uses a two piece drive shaft that runs to the drive sprockets in the side housings. They used a belt driven variable drive system like a snowmobile with the driven sheave on the two piece shaft. The drive sheave on the engine is opened and closed hydraulically to vary the speed. The shaft is made as two pieces with the coupler so that you can replace the drive belt. Mine was missing the original Wisconsin V4 engine, as well as many of the variable drive parts, including half of that coupler. I ended up repowering with a 24 hp Onan engine, replaced the two piece shaft with a one piece shaft and just used a chain drive single speed system.

Really enjoy your videos, nice work!

Great job buddy thanks for sharing

Always an interesting project. Lots of variety in your work to keep your imagination primed to figure out how to complete a job. So cool. Thanks for the video.

good work, enjoyed....

The coupling you made looks more substantial anyway. Thanks for the video keep on keeping on.

Very nice work Josh. Nice process. The customer should be very happy. Thanks for sharing. 👍👍

Someone really butchered that old coupling. I've never seen anything like that before. It was interesting how you made the new coupling. Having all the right machines made it look easy and no doubt it was easy for you with your experience and having the right machines for the job.

Great video, Josh. Interesting techniques. The spade drill was impressively accurate.

Great video. No cnc just seat of the pants old fashoned maching. Thanks for making the video.

Circular saw blades do a surprisingly good job as slitting saws. Get one with a thicker kerf, and fewer teeth than you would for wood, and you're good to go. There are lots of size options in the 3-5" range now.

Excellent. 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

You have a nice shop, and your work also looks very nice Josh. Owatonna made skid loaders for John Deere too. I have the model 70 with a 23.5 hp Onan engine, which my dad bought new in 1975 for the farm. It's a neat little loader that will get into places others can't and is surprisingly strong for its size. We used it for cleaning stalls in the dairy barns. I repowered it with a 25 hp Honda engine a few years ago which made a huge difference in reliability and power. It uses a double row chain coupling for the drive with one half being a 13 spline to the pumps, and the other half 1 1/8" keyed to the engine. The splines on the pump side were worn out and I could not source a new shaft, so I pulled the pump and disassembled it, built up the shaft, and cut the new splines on the Bridgeport. Had to make my own 60-degree cutter for the splines and because I didn't have a dividing head at the time, I made a 13-hole plate for my spindexer and used that. Been running now for about 500 hours with no issues at all. I can still get some parts from JD for it, and what I can't, I either make or source/adapt other parts to keep her going. I picked up an extremely nice original Brown & Sharpe 10" universal dividing head at auction a while back with all the manuals and tailstock for 150 bucks. I really use it more than I thought I would and have no regrets about getting it. With money getting tight, I'm starting to see quite a bit of welding and machine work through the door for things nobody used to fool with having done. Parts are getting scarce for a lot of equipment now, so I am reaping the benefits of the situation. I left a full-time job last year to work in my shop like you do. I have a 150 ft commute to work, and it feels wonderful to finally work for myself after 10 years of investing in the shop and equipment to start the business. No more corporate BS to put up with and no boss to blame for screw ups...only myself!

Excellent and very practical work. Thanks for sharing!

Damn fine work Josh!

Nice job. Saved the machine.👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Super job

very nice Sir..

The ones that welded it up and just clamped it obviously thought the machine was heading for scrap or at least I hope that was their excuse!

Very nice work.

hello josh it's is randy and i like yours video is cool thanks josh friends randy

Great video 📹

Very nice, very interesting.

Excellent job I can’t believe the person before you actually welded it and did no machining.

hi there good work , john

Good Stuff JT

master! Well done!!!

Nice job good video enjoyed.

Have some dental floss on hand in the shop to get the ring of, just thread it under the ring and then wrap it around the finger over the knuckle then unravel the inside end of the thread and the ring will creep up of the finger. There are nice demonstrations on youtube 👍

Most excellent.

That slitting blade might work on the wedding ring. Just kidding.

To get your ring off wrapping the finger with dental floss works.

I would call it a gun drill. Used to be night lea dman at Carmet Company, carbide manufacturing preform department.

Very good.

amazing work..

Reach is always a problem for slitting saws. And the arbor is always in the way. Particularly I find the bottom section of the arbor to be a problem when slicing small work off of stock held in the vise. I've considered permanently mounting a few saws on dedicated arbors that have no nut on the bottom. That way I could have the saw run true so each tooth takes a bite and the diameter of the arbor is smaller. BTW, if your ring is stuck, use some soap a lubricant and hold your hand above your head so some fluid can drain.

.045" abrasive disc to finish slot depth. Lots of rags to catch the dust

Really like watching your work. It seems that it can be very hard to find someone who really knows what they are doing who is younger than 40 or maybe 50. The only thing that makes me nervous is the use of adjustable wrenches.

Good Stuff

I'm sure I have something that has a woodruff key, but I can't remember what it is, likely one of my old lawn mowers or chainsaws. Not something you see very often, it's mostly just a regular key-way these days

Silicone wedding rings were designed for situations like working in the shop. You may want to look into getting one.

If the frame is good, and its a good strong durable brand, it is worth fixing. I do it with cars, et a good carcass and go from there.

I have my finger because I had my ring on! (Twice) lol

I dont know anything about this stuff, but why did that first milling pass sound so bad? Or is that normal?

Great one Josh. Two questions - you spoiled us with that great intro last time, can you give us another ? Wedding ring - how best to stash while working ?

VERY NICE WORK MR TOPPLER. LOVE VIDEOS LIKE THIS KEEP THEM COMING. I USED TO LOVE TO WATCH ATOM FROM ABOMS79, BACK WHEN HE USED TO DO THE REAL WORK LIKE THIS. BUT NOW HE'S TOO COMERICALIZED SO I ENJOY SOMEONE PUTTING OUT THE GOOD VIDEOS LIKE THIS.

Good job on that new coupling. I hope that old skid-steer will soon be running. Can’t help but wonder why a larger .125 thick saw wouldn’t have been a better choice for slitting that part?

Sounded like someone shot the previous repairer at 3:20.