1845c hours meter

[phil314]

My hours meter died on me last year. I figured out fairly quickly it didn't have anything to do with the outside wiring. It runs off the 12v battery and alt signal, so that the hours only turn when the machine is running. Both those checked out good.

A new one is over $700, so that's out of the question. So I pulled the gauge panel itself. It's kind of a sealed unit, but with a handful of razor blades, I was able to release all the tabs and get it open. The problem was fairly obvious. The hours meter is triggered by a 12v solenoid and the solenoid mount was broken. This caused it to rest on the plunger and prevent it from returning to bottom to grab the next number. It's pot metal, so there is no fixing it and no reusing the solenoid.


But I figure I can get another solenoid cheap and fabricate a mount and duplicate the function of the old one. So I pulled out the meter, it was anti-tamper melted in place, but with a dremel and small bit I got it out. Now I just have to round up some parts that might work and see if I can fabri-cobble something together.

 

[phil314]

Now I just need to find a solenoid with 3.5mm of pull and 13.5 ohms resistance that's not more than 20mm tall. No problem.
I was actually worried about a new solenoid drawing too much power. But the old one was almost 1 amp!
So I'm fairly sure the circuit board can drive just about any new solenoid.

 

[phil314]

If anyone happens to have/know of a gauge panel for a reasonable price, let me know.
The panel doesn't have to work as long as the hours meter is intact.
I'll just swap the meter into my panel.
Nothing on ebay at the moment.

 

[Delmer]

That looks like a JBweld job to me. Nothing to lose but the time.

 

[crane operator]

Search for parts machines. This one looks like it has the right panel in the pictures.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/CASE-1845C...121876660929?_trksid=p2385738.m4383.l4275.c10

 

[phil314]

Search for parts machines. This one looks like it has the right panel in the pictures.

Lol, I've bought parts from them before. Msg has been sent. Thanks for the tip.

 

[phil314]

That looks like a JBweld job to me. Nothing to lose but the time.

I considered that. But the plunger rod and post are build as one assembly together.
It would be hard to JB weld it back in the correct place without getting JB inside the solenoid hole and sticking the plunger.
Also would be impossible to clean it out afterwords. They really didn't design this piece to be taken apart or repaired.

 

[Delmer]

I can't see how the sides of that pot metal casting were held to the base of the hour meter. That cast part would have to come out to be able to clean the inside with a drill bit, and then put back over the plunger. Or the lever and dials would have to come out...

 

[phil314]

Ok, I'm sure you are all on the edge of your seats to see how this turned out.
Well I finally got back to working on this again.

First thing I did was cut off the solenoid arm and remove the plunger.
I then fabricated a new solenoid holder and ended up with this.

 

[phil314]

Next I drilled holes and mounted the new mount.
Then I JB Welded the bottom of the solenoid to the center of the broken off post.
Hopefully this will keep the solenoid from sliding off the post.
And mounted the solenoid and plunger.

 

[phil314]

And finally take it for a test run. Seem to work pretty damn well.
When connected to the machine it will "click" once every 3.6 seconds.
Just need to do some final assembly and soldering, but I'm calling this a success.

Camera didn't focus well, but you get the idea:

 

[Larpy]

Genius!

 

[Joe Fick]

Brilliant