Vintage Windmill and Wind Generator Forum

Here's the tail from the parts list I have.

Is that what yours looks like? There are differences between years sometimes. Give me a length X height dim. I will look .

No evidence of anything on the tail. Someone painted this thing with a bright silver paint. I’ve looked, but I can’t see anything showing through. It’s the right shape, but I don’t even know if it’s the original tin.

Front height is roughly 23-1/2”. Rear height is about 38”. And length from front point to rear is 42”.

And Windybob, your parts fit perfectly. The longer arm on the spring seems to be longer than it needs to be, but I need to compare it to some photos. Maybe they are all long like that?

The oil trough is perfect as well. If I had started from scratch that would have taken me a while. And I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t have worked as well. I’m sure you saved me some heartache down the road. Lubrication troubles are not something I want to deal with.

And I found a bumper spring. Not sure what it’s from but it was still attached to a valve with the washers/bushings/keepers. It fits perfectly so I’m going to leave the spring on the valve and see if I can’t thread the stem for a nut.

I dropped my shaft off yesterday with the machine shop. He said he had a couple of jobs ahead of me, but that I should have it back in a week.

Well good! glad it all works! Yes, they are all long like that, but a slight trim would not be out of line. HAppy for you!
Don't know if you can thread a valve stem. Would that be like REALLY hard material? A carriage bolt would be the norm. The double nut and long bolt is the adjustment item.

Will check on a stencil later. Going to see my son this weekend. Driving is ok on my back, it's just walking and standing that hurts.

About your vane being painted. I had a vane that had been painted I stripped the paint off and the letters under the paint did not come off. I was shocked. So you might try that and see whats under the paint. I used a spray on stripper bought from Lowes I think.The paint came of well but the letters stayed.

Wayne- I’ll give it a try. I’ve got some orange oil paint stripper sitting on the shelf in the garage. And I think I read a thread on here about using brake fluid to slowly soften layers of paint? I think I’m going to repaint everything so stripping the tail tin isn’t going out of my way. Hunter green for the case and sail tips, and I need to go back through and find the thread(s) talking about the hammered finish spray paint. Cold galvanized just doesn’t have the look.

I got a call earlier from the machine shop. I'll be able to pick up the new shaft tomorrow. Just in time to leave town to visit family. I love them to death, but this is going to be a long trip knowing this is waiting at the house. And yes, this is cold rolled 1080 material. Brightest finish I ever saw on a stick of cold rolled.

I also picked up a small handheld sandblast rig while I was out today. I have a 20 gallon sandblaster, it's just such a pain to set up and use. This option may be slower to blast, but probably take me less time once I subtract out the setup. Hoping to get some paint on late next week and get things reassembled shortly after.

I think at this point, all I am lacking is the brake shoe. I need to hit up the auto parts place and see what my options are for a 9" drum brake shoe. I should be able to cut a bracket that fits, and bolt the shoe to the bracket and make it all work. I didn't feel I could move on that until I had the new shaft fabricated and the hub back in place.

Slowly but surely.

Outstanding! Can't wait!

I was in a parts house the other week. (NAPA) on the wall were a variety of mini brakeshoes, just like for auto and truck, but smaller. Got to looking at the advertisements, and turns out they were for 4 wheelers, and ATV's. I thought about you immediately. However, when I left I forgot about you immediately. You just reminded me. Ahhh..love these golden years.

The brake should be easy actually. This is a drum brake set up instead of a band around the outside. My hub ID is really convenient. Seems like everyone made a 9” drum brake at some point. Looking on Amazon I’ve got 3-4 options on the first page for less than $30. And that’s for 4 shoes- enough to do a rear axle. I’ll buy it local though so I can confirm the width of the shoe I need.