Gamma Goat Springs..

[Joe Gamma]

Anyone familiar with the part number for gammagoat front springs. Powers far smarter than I'll ever claim to be say I have a bad spring..are they common surplus...

Thanks..

Joe

 

[Gamagoat1]

Anyone familiar with the part number for gammagoat front springs. Powers far smarter than I'll ever claim to be say I have a bad spring..are they common surplus...

Thanks..

Joe

Joe,
How do you know your springs are at fault??

(One M in Gamagoat Joe)

 

[Joe Gamma]

I have cleaned and greased the tourus bearings in the goat a while back and still have a lean to the right as I am looking at it of the same four inches...Ripped the coil springs out today which were pretty easy, actually somebody had tried to take a hammer to the shock asorber before me to knock it off the stud with the 1 1/8 nuts. I see some pretty good wacks. I am going to carefully examine/ measure components on both sides of the suspension to hopefully get some idea of the culprit and grease and paint where I can. I have a wierd feeling someone, after the goat left the service, dissasembled the left front suspension to some extent and when reassembled it leaned ever since. I'll post some pics tommorrow...

Joe..

 

[Gamagoat1]

I have cleaned and greased the tourus bearings in the goat a while back and still have a lean to the right as I am looking at it of the same four inches...Ripped the coil springs out today which were pretty easy, actually somebody had tried to take a hammer to the shock asorber before me to knock it off the stud with the 1 1/8 nuts. I see some pretty good wacks. I am going to carefully examine/ measure components on both sides of the suspension to hopefully get some idea of the culprit and grease and paint where I can. I have a wierd feeling someone, after the goat left the service, dissasembled the left front suspension to some extent and when reassembled it leaned ever since. I'll post some pics tommorrow...

Joe..

The BIG question, after greasing the tourus bearings were you able to role the diff in either direction. Just because they are greased doesn't mean it will move. They were often reassembled with out the proper shims which locked movement when the tourus housings were tightened.

 

[Joe Gamma]

When we seperated the trailor awhile back and they were disassembled ( tourus bearings) and greased my buddy says once assembled they were checked again for movement..He said that today but he is pretty old and it was hot as heck the day he finnished it. After I removed both springs I measured all the front suspension from various angles and both matched perfectly. Today I went back to pry the springs back in and swapped them..( no weak spring) and with the right side I did just that before I reattached the shock and Tire... On the left side the bottom assembly had dropped another inch that I was able to put the spring in with out prying, but my buddy didn't think that much of an issue and I buttoned that up as well. He asked if there was any way to adjust the center suspension on the left side and though I am bringing some diagrams from the T.O's tommorrow I don't think you can.

Is there a way to test the tourus Bearings by jacking up the rear of the tractor before disconnecting the trailor...??

Joe.

 

[Gamagoat1]

When we seperated the trailor awhile back and they were disassembled ( tourus bearings) and greased my buddy says once assembled they were checked again for movement..He said that today but he is pretty old and it was hot as heck the day he finnished it. After I removed both springs I measured all the front suspension from various angles and both matched perfectly. Today I went back to pry the springs back in and swapped them..( no weak spring) and with the right side I did just that before I reattached the shock and Tire... On the left side the bottom assembly had dropped another inch that I was able to put the spring in with out prying, but my buddy didn't think that much of an issue and I buttoned that up as well. He asked if there was any way to adjust the center suspension on the left side and though I am bringing some diagrams from the T.O's tommorrow I don't think you can.

Is there a way to test the tourus Bearings by jacking up the rear of the tractor before disconnecting the trailor...??

Joe.

Yes, Jack it up till the rear tractor wheels clear the ground. Make sure the jack is not on the diff or anything touching the diff. You should be able to rock the diff, if not, disassemble the shocks and try it. There should be movement with out removing the shocks but it is a tough move. If no move then the bearings are seized.
There is no adjustment, if they do not move then it will sit at an angel.
Did you ever get books.????

 

[Joe Gamma]

Yes I got the T.O a while back on line. This has allowed me to tackle numerous things I do not post. I used the T.O to swap the springs but to someone with no real mechanical back ground you can have questions even with them. I have a good friend who has restored numerous military vehicles over the years and when I bring my gammagoat over for the more indepth problems..well..His bay and his tools and since he dosn't charge me .. his way.. which is quite often the right way. I have already printed out the proper T.O pages to show him tommorrow. He never worked on a GamaGoat before mine and they are just unique in many ways. At seventy he dosn't use a cell phone or computer so I just work around it.

Joe

 

[Gamagoat1]

Here are a couple of pictures of the torus housings and the bearing surface on the diff. As you can see, there is nothing but steel on steel. If they are rusted there will be no movement. ( Greased or not)

One of the pictures shows were the missing shim goes. Many of the Goats that had replacement Difs were never put in with shims or proper replacement shims. Everything will assemble, but when you tighten it the bearing locks up. This is useable but will break off the torus bearing on the diff if you go off road or over a curb.
The picture shows a 1/8 in gap that had to be filled with a shim.

 

[Joe Gamma]

Thanks Mike,

I went over there today and jacked the rear of the tractor without putting anything of the diff. It is amazing how much the rear wheels of the tractor creep in when you get it off the ground. I certainly did not think I'd get any movement out of it but after both wheels were several inches off the ground I lifted one wheel with a prybar and the other wheel went down..we did this about four or five times reminding me oddly of a seesaw. My friend wanted to see its range by jacking the Goat even father but we had run out of time.


Joe

 

[Gamagoat1]

Thanks Mike,

I went over there today and jacked the rear of the tractor without putting anything of the diff. It is amazing how much the rear wheels of the tractor creep in when you get it off the ground. I certainly did not think I'd get any movement out of it but after both wheels were several inches off the ground I lifted one wheel with a prybar and the other wheel went down..we did this about four or five times reminding me oddly of a seesaw. My friend wanted to see its range by jacking the Goat even father but we had run out of time.


Joe

It should roll freely, (No prybar) especially if the shocks are unhooked.

 

[Joe Gamma]

The shocks were attached but after the pry bar I did it by hand. I will have to shim them..

Joe