cradle pins 225 timberjack

[minn firewood cutter]

Just looking for some helpfull hints on replacing the cradle pins on a 225D timberjack 1970. Some say its not that bad i will bring it back to my shop and and start on it. Any help would be great Thanks

[lynde37avery]

David L knows about timberjack pins.

[David-L]

I have done them on a 225A series that I owned. I took the blade and cylinders off after using the blade hyd power to lift it up as high as I could. Square block at the front of the belly pan, chock rear wheels front and back. Cement floor helps for sure. Tires off in front and the I used two chainfalls to let the cradle and axle down off of tractor forks from my large tractor but sounds like in the shop you will have to rig something else up for the chainfalls. Chainfalls are nice as when going back in you can micro adjust things a bit when doing endplay. The front drive shaft I recall being a bugger. Unbolt the crade bolts and I would go with new ones and get a good selection of the brass washers for end play in the cradle for reasemble. The washers are grooved special and need to be purchased specific for the job. They come in different widths for endplay. If the holes in the cradle are gone and the spherical bushing kinda goes in with ease you might consider new weld mounts or a bit of weld and the some dremel work. Those bushings go in somewhat tight if you want the cradle bushings to stay tight when finished. I also pin pricked around the bushing a bit. I used the old pins when adjusting end play as they slip in and out easier than the new pins as they have wear on the. Mix and match the washers front and back so the cradle rocks stiffly but not locked up. once your good with endplay new pins are whacked in and bolted up , I did use locktite on them. Not a bad job just time consuming and There are  four places I can think of to get all the parts for this job. good blocking and when reinstaling just do the cradle and then lift the axle in after as the endplay stuff can be cussing work. Good luck and you can pm me for part sources if needed.