D-180 slow ground speed

[Sarge 3,470]

Ok , got Big Ugly back together and no leaks on the pump , not a single drop .

 

However , it seems like the ground speed is quite slow compared to how it operated before - did I miss something here ? Going to re-inspect the linkage parts today - possibly not moving the direction control arm on the swash plate far enough or something , not sure at this point as I've been into this thing far too many times . Everything mic'd out fine and the piston faces/plate and such were finely resurfaced and polished . Pump does have a very faint whine , but most of these do and it feels exceptionally strong . Lift cylinders work as they should and have more than enough power . Sort of scratching my head here ...

 

Sarge

[Sarge 3,470]

Tore into the control linkage parts yesterday on the '74 - lot of places that are worn so some will get either bushings or making new parts . All that slop adds up and I hope that helps with the ground speed . Someone has been into it before as some bushing washers and such were missing or out of order on the handle - I'll find out if that makes any difference later today . One thing that I noticed was odd yesterday is the forward distance the direction handle travels to where it stops - it's over 1" to the end of the slot in the dash and I wonder if somehow the swash plate is not moving fully through it's range . Maybe one of the roll pins was put in too deep ? I do remember setting them to the 1/4" depth from the top of the shafts when I rebuilt the trunion bearings/seals and the spiral pins were good and tight in the shaft bores .

 

At this point , I can't think of anything internal to the pump that would cause the slow ground speed - it's a head scratcher for sure ...

 

Sarge

[Sarge 3,470]

Spent the whole day yesterday making a new rod from the handle mechanism down to the pump control plate and putting the handle end together as it's shown in the drawing since it wasn't correct - had to make a run and get some SS rod and a few bushings . I hate cutting threads onto 304SS but finally got them done and the lower turnbuckle is from 303SS - it was all I had in stock . That took a lot of slop out of the linkage and also added a bronze bushing at the handle end - sorry , no pics as I was in a hurry to beat the colder weather coming .

 

It does run a bit faster , but still not getting the ground speed it had before all the pump work . It just acts like the swash plate is not moving far enough to fully move the pistons in the block or something . For now I'll probably run it through the winter as-is and wait for warm weather to dig into it deeper , something is just not right . I do need to get a new pressure gauge for testing as my original finally bit the dust from loaning it out - a friend put it into a very high pressure port and blew the internals up....ugh . He gets to pay for a new one too..lol .

 

Temperature gauge is back to being possessed again - need to get a new one as well as a good volt meter and oil pressure gauge installed .

 

Sarge