New to me "sad" 782, so I will need lots of help here

[John Wyrick]

The one that I have came from my father in law's tools. I purchased one for school in the early 80's when I taught a power mechanics class The class they took before Auto Mechanics. My guess is that it was the same from the 50's to the 90's.

 

[jkoenig]

That sounds about right. I think I'll check the instructions copyright wen I get bored.

 

[mgonitzke]

I got my vintage Stewart Warner contact tachometer today. I can’t wait to check the 782 rpms with it!

Plus, it came in a nice tin.

I have one of those too, but the rubber tip is worn away. Can you post of pic of what that looks like on yours so I can figure out how to fix mine?

 

[jkoenig]

Here ya go Matt.

Looks like mine has a serious taper too. This one came with a ”flat” tip for laying flat on a belt, pulley, etc, and a tapered tip for inserting in a dimple at the end of a shaft. Removal/switching requires a surprising amount of effort to pull the installed tip off.

 

[mgonitzke]

Thanks!

To my surprise, the tips still appear to be available new.

 

[jkoenig]

wow! That is a surprise. I had better pick up a couple too. Thanks for the “tip”.

And the tip that I thought was supposed to be flat, comes already tapered. Huh. Summit Racimg “has more than 10” in stock of each style. My sons seem to order from them regularly, but now that I have something to add to their order, so they can pay my shipping, they probably won’t order anything for months.

 

[bwstevens]

They are still being made .so the instructions can be found at Stewart warner. There are several accessories for spinning the gauge. I would hope the direct reading the speed of an open shaft is a easy to accomplish task .

 

[gary noblit]

I appreciate the "old tech" but there is a battery powered,hand held rpm reader.Pretty simple cut off a small piece of reflector tape ,put on item to be read.Point laser beam at tape when running and poof ,you're now high tech. Less than $30. Amazon ??

 

[jkoenig]

Gary, Yes. Thanks.

I was shopping for one of those when I ran across this one. I think I like the can better than I like the contact tach part. They also have electronic contact/non-contact combo units at very affordable prices, but not by Stewart Warner. I like the brand name not having tech, or something to try to convince me about their company in the name, just the founders names.

 

[danderson]

I have this one for a contact tach

And this laser one that also has a contact attachment

 

[gary noblit]

Doug, great,I didn't know I was preaching to the choir

 

[mgonitzke]

I appreciate the "old tech" but there is a battery powered,hand held rpm reader.Pretty simple cut off a small piece of reflector tape ,put on item to be read.Point laser beam at tape when running and poof ,you're now high tech. Less than $30. Amazon ??

I have one of those too. Only works well under very specific circumstances. Ambient lighting needs to be low, and usually I've had to paint the part on which the reflective tape goes flat black. Sometimes it reads double the actual speed. IMO, the mechanical one works a lot better in situations where there is an exposed shaft end that allows its use.

 

[jkoenig]

Matt, If painting is not a good option, you might try a wrap of electrical tape bfore applying the reflective tape. We use that technique on some tooling in our presses to improve pickup on sensors using the same technology.

 

[danderson]

That laser one I have you test it by pointing it a fluorescent light

 

[jkoenig]

What is the RPM of fluorescent lighting?
Will the test mode become obsolete, with the push to replace fluorescents with more efficient styles?

 

[jkoenig]

I ran some fuel through the 782 today. With the corrected linkage (thanks wh cc guy), it does not hunt anymore. It also didn’t do any of that angry snapping and popping. I guess that was something in the fuel-which was exactly why I decided to run more through it today.

In the morning, I plan to borrow the neighbor’s plug aerator (Neil and Robert, it’s storebought-Agri-Fab, I think), and spend some time tending my lawn. I may even do a bit of grading in the back yard if I want more seat time.

 

[jkoenig]

The more I run this tractor (which is now approaching an entire hour), the more "sad" items I find that the P.O. may have meant when he described it that way. Today I found out that the fuel outlet was (at least part of) the reason for it running unpredictably. The screen was twisted, crushed, and clogged. I pulled the screen off, and found a PCV grommet to hold it back in place temporarily, and went to work aerating. I need a bigger yard.

Time to visit CCS. If I manage to only spend a few times what I need to spend to replace that fuel outlet and grommet, I will consider that a major accomplishment.

 

[jkoenig]

My aerator-owning neighbor came over this morning asking if I had any white spray paint he could use. Well, I searched all of my spray paint hiding places, and found some Lawn Boy deck green, and some Cub Cadet “white”. I finally found some actual white, and he went on his way. Hmm, I thought, Cub Cadet white. That would just about cover the rear wheels. So I cleaned them up a bit, and painted them, then put tubes inside the rapid-leak tires, and now they look better, and hold air. They will do fine until I get into the refurboration for real. The only problem is, now the fronts look really bad. They were worse than the rears to begin with, but they didn’t need tubes.

 

[John Wyrick]

You know that's how it starts... Next thing you know it will be in many pieces!

 

[jkoenig]

I’m trying to hold off on the exploded-view tractor until at least one son moves his stuff outta my garage. And paying for stuff like paint interferes with my ground-engaging equipment acquisition funds.