Further to the previous
gearbox post, I now need to remove the input shaft sleeve. However this is a monster 53mm socket which needs to be ~250mm deep. Unheard of. A special Ford Workshop Tool "LDV 125" is needed. However I don't have the connections or money to play games with proprietary stuff that flies in the face of "right to repair". (Many, but not all tools cannot be obtained without becoming a certified repairer/distributor etc)
...so off to the workshop I go to make my own...again...
I don't have an LDV 125 tool, and neither does anyone else on planet Gizmologist.
While there are a variety of tools which could grip this piece, the bell-housing prevents clearance for most of these. (chain-grip vice grips etc...)
Couldn't find my dividers, so I cut the end off of an old plastic vernier caliper to get the required measurement. Naturally the dividers were located later...
R.I.P cheap tool.
A 52.5 mm Hex (12 side) plan was drawn with sketchup, and cut out on paper to test the fitting.
It's actually only a 46mm socket, but the geometry of a hexagon
can be defined by its radius/diameter, which in this case was 52.5mm.
It was a wee-tad snug, so I switched to 53mm instead.
I hogged out most of the material from my DIY socket with a holesaw. Aluminium is pretty easy to work with, though I did have a piece of steel on hand ready to make this part if required.
I'm going to use a piece of scrap 80x80mm profile from work to use as the "depth" of this monster socket.
I hogged out as much as I could of the teeth from the socket with a 4-flute-end-mill...in the mill.
And then it's time to finish the job with needle files. This part actually took me TWO FULL HOURS to complete...infinite test fittings and tiny tweaks required for so many contacting edges. It would have been much easier had it been a goofy
french curve .
Eventually I got a primo' fit.
The 80x80mm profile I'm going to use doesn't actually fit over this final collar diameter, so I'm going to have to make some spacers and adapters to get this all to work.
Three plates go to together like "this" to transition from the profile to my socket head.
...there's still some work remaining to get them all bolted together...
One plate.
Two plates.
Three plates.
Add a breaker bar made with some more scrap profile.
Viola. Work complete. Cya round LDV 125...
