820 Build (X2)

Didn't wanna clutter up the talk about anything thread and Mutt's thread is already long enough so I figured I'd make this thread to post my both of these 820 builds.

So short story long I had a good trip to the scrapyard the other day and came back with both of these 820s for $30. They're both 5 speeds and one has the axles and shifter shaft partially cut off. Both 5/8" input shafts, although one is the terrible Murray long kind that I dislike intensely.



First thing I did was get the pulleys off both. The one with cut axles came easy with a little tappy tap, but the Murray one needed some convincing with an angle grinder. I wasn't gonna fight it.


After that I went to getting the wheels off(plus side to the other trans eh?). Same setup that I used with the 2300 from Budgie, although with a lot less fire and a lot more success. Bit of heat and some good wails with a sledge and they broke loose enough to be coaxed the rest of the way with the 6lb hammer.


After this I went to removing excess mounts and brake calipers. Broke off one caliper bolt in the cut axle trans and both in the murray trans. All turned out with vise grips. This mount bolt i broke off was not so easy though, I had to drill it and knock the rest of it out with a center punch. No big deal really.




Just today i realized that I do have material for two live axles. One of these is keyed all the way along the shaft, and the other has these flats in it, so I think I might not use it. The other one is definitely a go though. I think once I get it all put together in the case and figure out where it needs to be I'll weld up the keyways where the bearings are and turn them down at school. I might cut off a chunk of cold rolled steel there for another live axle too.

Tore into the cut axle 820 first. Has the nice grease slop in it rather than bentonite. Stuck the axle through the axle carrier I bored out(like a year ago now). Looks like I'll have about 6-½" of axle on either side, seems good to me.


So it turns out that this 820 is new enough to have the Julian date on the tag and not have bentonite as lube, but still old enough to be the original series with smaller size shafts/shift keys. I put in the shifter from my blown 820 so i don't have to weld up and mill the one that got torched


Now for some sacrilege- i bandsawed off the torched axle so i could slide the bearings off. Not like i was going to use these axles. Turns out the outer axle bearings are the same cheap double shielded ones that were in my 2300, so they're not really of any use to me, as they'll let water in.


Now for some more sacrilege- while centered in the case, i filed marks in the shaft where the bearings ran, and then filled in those spots with weld bead. So yeah, i just mig welded on a both stainless steel and somewhat precision shaft. It's not a big deal though, when I have it in the lathe I'll straighten it out. The shaft was already U shaped and has .040" or .050" runout at either end.


Scooped most of the slop out with cardboard and threw it in the woodstove and put the case halves on some, hopefully the most of it will drain onto it so i can burn it.


I think now I'll tear into the other 820, since I've got the bench space now

Im certainly interested to see how higgldeepiggldee the shaft got from welding.

Me too. I think it was already bent in that direction before i welded it, and those beads probably pulled it in a lot more.