Rebuilding Arm Rests for my Komatsu Dozer

[GuglioLS]

Last night I got back from another road trip to El Paso, TX.
It was a long drive so I was sitting on my butt for a while. When I got home I needed something to do so as to move around a little bit.

So this is what I did:

The Armrests on my dozer were falling apart so I made some new ones

Here are what the old ones looked like (Falling apart)



The "T" nuts were all rusted, and the particle board was disintegrating:



Had to use a bolt cutter to get the old bolts & "T" nuts off of the mounting bracket:



Larry

[GuglioLS]

Found some plywood scraps and cut them up into little pieces on a table saw:



Glued them together to get the thickness close to the originals:



Then aligned and clamped them together:



Before the glue set, I used a pneumatic Brad gun to tack them together (Brad let me borrow his) It's from...... well you guessed it, Harbor Freight. Except I buy the good HF tools, not the returns like Brad does



Larry

[GuglioLS]

A few of the corners needed to be rounded so they got cut on a scroll saw:



That saw works nice for curves as the blade is very thin and narrow:



Glued:



Then tacked together:




Larry

[GuglioLS]

With the cutting & gluing done it was time to bore out some holes for new "T" nuts that will hold the mount bracket:



Then bore out a smaller through hole for the bolt:



Then using a bolt, set the "T" nut spikes down into the wood:



Test fit the mounting bracket onto new wood arm rest base:



Larry

[GuglioLS]

With all that taken care of, now it's time to cut the Naugahyde*:



Since I finished building my home many years ago, its seems I use my levels more for drawing straight lines than anything else these days:



Got the material all cut out and ready to fit & staple onto the new wood arm rest base:



I pretty much just wrapped it up like a Birthday or Christmas present . For never ever doing upholstery work, I think it came out OK for a Bull Dozer:




Larry

Naugahyde* = which used to be made in Naugatuck, Connecticut. It is now made in Stoughton, Wisconsin.

Naugahyde is from a animal called the "Nauga" whose hides are supposedly the natural source of all the Naugahyde manufactured. According to the story, which has become something of folklore in parts of Connecticut, the Naugas are nocturnal, hairless, aquatic mammals of many colors that live in the Naugatuck River, and can be made to come to the surface at night by shining a flashlight into the water. The Naugas are then captured and sorted by color to be made into the various colors of Naugahyde. Allegedly, when rolled together on a mechanical press, the seams between the Naugas disappear, resulting in a seamless, leather-like product. A popular bumper sticker stated simply: "Save the Naugas!". It is common knowledge that it takes seven and a half Naugas to make a standard sized couch.

[GuglioLS]

Here is the finished product installed and ready for some serious arm resting:




Larry