Bolts ?

[BIGNASTY]

Rebuilding some farm implements and have a BOLT PROBLEM There is a guy at the community farmers market that said good luck finding the bolt and nut that the arrow is pointing to. Before I toss this into my rust removal tank (that works great) I want to make sure I could at least find one of the nut and bolt. Its square head and its square under the head and the chain bridle has a square hole in it the other side has just a washer and nut no big deal. The safety chain bridle and bolt move as one. After a 100 years of rust I didn't want to chance just twisting it off. Im going to rust tank it and try it again one of the other like this came off by hand after the tank treatment. What are these bolts called? Anyone know? So I can call around and ask without sounding like someone that knows nothing about it. Well I dont but dont want to.

 

[mwilson]

We always called them "Farmer Bolts" and "Farmer Nuts"... Also known as a "square headed bolt and nut"...



Try the farm implement dealers, they were still used on some of the farm equipment that I operated in the '70s.



Mike.

 

[seafish]

McMaster-Carr has ALL sorts of hardware and excellent customer service, tough their website can be slow to load, it has a pretty good interface for finding what you don't know the name of. lol.

McMaster-Carr

 

[BIGNASTY]

Mike



I thank you for the info but I THINK IM GOING TO careful how I ask for FARMER NUTS????:-laf



Seafish



Thanks for the site ill look it up in a bit wife has going to town up her skirt and well

 

[mwilson]

Have a look at this site, I used "square headed bolt" as the search term.



"Farmer Nuts" doesn't get the same result on the internet... ... .



Square Head Bolts on National Bolt & Nut Corp.



Mike.

 

[BIGNASTY]

Thanks Mike looks like I have a source. Ill tank it and try if not ill order some ,should anyway most of the old equipment I have to be restored use the same bolts. Some of these things are so funny to take apart I took the wheel bushing lubber off and the seal is kerosene lantern lamp wick. gasket for other side is rosin paper Dual use product I guess. The little cups on the wheel hub fill them up and it soaks the wick and in turn lubes the bushing. Said to use STP or something thick. And soak the wick for a few days before install.



BIG

 

[GHarman]

BIG, I believe it is an Old Style Machine Bolt. What size? Did you say there was a square boss under the head? What size is it? Is there a nut or is it directly threaded (Square shank requires a nut) into the part?

IMHO, Soak it with kerosene or Kroil before you get real aggressive with it. At least a week. If the rust between the male and female parts of the bolt is porous, capillary action will cause the fluid to creep through.

Try to tighten the bolt first and then loosen it. A little heat with a torch helps also. Depending on the condition, of course.

Then try your rust removal process.

GregH

 

[RCorbeil]

That is a square head carrage bolt. I havent seen a new one in more than 50 years.



Ron

 

[BIGNASTY]

Greg I went to town and got a industrial size bag of washing soda, im going after the rebuilds of my farm machinery the bolt is in the rust tank now and hopefully it will come off I would like to keep everything as original as possible its just a quirk of mine and most that do this kind of thing from talking to them. Mike has gave me a website to get a replacement on above post if I should have to. Thanks Pard



RCobli

That's what I called them also (carriage bolt) but was informed by a man in town that tells me he was around when these were new:-laf (he's just pullin some short hairs) that they are not carriage bolts he's old and slipping in memory but cant remember what they are called he's JUST A BLAST to sit and talk to if one wants to step back and kind of live in the past as I do he's a wealth of information. His wife says that it puts a spark in his eye that he can help someone with his knowledge. He's been out to the house when I plow in the winter snow and he drives the team and feels good about things. I think we kind of owe the old folks some respect for the life they have led.



BIG

 

[Matt42]

Finding replacement bolts for many mechanical items made prior to about 1920 can be problematical. The situation is worse for things made before 1899. There was no standardization of bolt diameters, thread pitches, thread angles, thread depths, bolt head sizes, or darn near anything until the situation got out of hand. In the early Harding administration, Commerce Secretary Hoover put together a voluntary commission to study the standardization of such mundane things as bolts, nuts, wood screws and things we can buy by the pound now. But back then, such things were made in batches. And the 3/8 inch bolts made by Company A for, say, Buick, would not interchange with the 3/8 inch bolts made by Company B for McCormick.



It was a mess. :{

 

[Grizzly]

Thanks Mike looks like I have a source. Ill tank it and try if not ill order some ,should anyway most of the old equipment I have to be restored use the same bolts. Some of these things are so funny to take apart I took the wheel bushing lubber off and the seal is kerosene lantern lamp wick. gasket for other side is rosin paper Dual use product I guess. The little cups on the wheel hub fill them up and it soaks the wick and in turn lubes the bushing. Said to use STP or something thick. And soak the wick for a few days before install.



BIG

Big, what do you call that farm implement? I have a machine that looks much like it. Mine is called a Lister, which was used to plant corn.



george

 

[NIsaacs]

I don't think it is a stand alone piece of equipment. Looks like the front half of something. I think it is a pre-historic fifth wheel dolly:-laf



Nick

 

[BIGNASTY]

Matt



Your rite about the bolt and nut sizing thing I have found that some of the nuts and bolts taken off the same pice of equipment are not the same (thread pitch) so when I take them apart I put the nut that came off a bolt back together so I know what came with what.



NICK/Grizz



On the picture you can see the guy driving, his feet are on the so called steering wheel of the disc. You can see the wheel by his feet that is the part im rebuilding now and then its connected to the evener. Its just to help the mules turn it easier. If they had to drag the disc around a corner it would be a VERY LARGE corner or break the equipment. This is not mine its off another forum that I scribe to. Mine is a Oliver they only made one year of this type before John Deere bought out the design. least thats the story I was told. Stories are getting as hard as finding parts but its fun to listen and work on this stuff before WE ALL forget they were around.

 

[BIGNASTY]

GRIZZ



I think this is what your thinking about



Think of it as an old time corn planter.



In arid regions across the plains, the ground was ridged ahead of the planter units, seed then was placed down in the "trench" as this was where any rainwater would collect and thus aid the growth of the corn.



That "ridge" also would keep the soil from blowing and would protect the small plant from the wind.



When the corn was about 8" to a foot tall, a double-winged middle buster or "corn plow" was used to then throw that ridge both directions back out against the corn rows as the first cultivation or "lay by".

 

[BIGNASTY]

Found a better pic of the wheels up front Wheels hook up to an evener and the steering is done automatically and Ford said that they came up with the self steering idea. Just dont FOR ANY REASON drive up to an object and expect to back up. The team will turn and look at you with a WHAT NOW!!!! A HOLE!!!! LOOK ON THEIR FACE :-laf

 

[Grizzly]

BIG. This is what my corn planter, aka, "Lister" looks like, which I purchased from an old farmer in Great Bend, Kansas in the 70's. The corn planter was half buried in the Walnut Creek since 1935. That's when Mr. Esmiller, the farmer, decided that the tractor has to be better than this. The old farmer helped me pull it out of the creek and load it on my truck. It's missing the canister that holds the corn. It also has square bolts and nuts.



george