A post a while back asked about how to reafix a drive gear to the axle of the AF 740 handcar. The splines on the axle, which previously held the gear tight, were stripped smooth due to the ecessive stress caused by the 65 year old rubber men,whose bending arms are driven also by this gear set up. The rubber with which they were made was old and very stiff thus adding extra work for the unit.
I removed one wheel from the axle with two flat bladed screw drivers very easily, and slipped out the axle and gear. I then used a narrow jawed vise grip to squeeze and replace deep parallel splines in the axle only at the point were the gear should be fixed. After pressing this all back together on the unit, and repalcing the two men with softer more pliable versions, the unit runs like a champ.
Initially I wanted to drill a small 1/16 hole between the splines of the gear while it was on the unit and place a small drop of blue locktite with a needle and syringe into the hole to attempt to fix the gear to th axle, but the gear must be made from very hard steel because I broke 3 drill bits in my attempts. So much for that attempt.
Not to bore you, I just thought I would explain how I was able to fix it and to alert others on the dangers of old rubber parts.
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