Broke my tractor today

[Gary Fowler]

I Had some gravel being delivered for my driveway and brother in law wanted some shale for his road so the driver delivered him 14 yards in a tandem wheel dump truck that promptly got sunk to the axles on one side. B-I-L asked if I could come over and pull out the truck. When I got there, the truck was leaning downhill and high side tires were coming off the ground. I tried to pull him out with chain to front bumper of truck and chained to my drawbar. After several tries and tractor jumping up and down which is hard on the drive train, I stopped and decided that maybe I could push him from the rear but couldnt do that either. Finally positioned my FEL against his dump bed to dump his load That is when I noticed my drawbar hanging out the back at an angle. When I got off to examine it the cast steel bracket thru which the drawbar pin goes into the front of the drawbar had sheared the back half off and I found everything but the pin which was amazing in itself. I found both broken half circle back pieces of the bolt bracket and even the hairpin clip but never did find the pin. I guess they make the bracket weak so it breaks rather than break off a chunk of the tractor. Finally got him out after we got the 30,000 # of rock off. I put the FEL under the back low corner of his bed and lifted and pushed a the same time. It came right out. After breaking the bracket we finally did it the way we should have but was a little afraid to raise the bed since it was leaning so much. Will try to take a couple of photos of the broken bracket for later post.

 

[creekbend]

That is a lot of weight. Hopefully your tractor is not damaged too much.

 

[Gary Fowler]

As far as seen to date, it is just the drawbar fastening bracket under the belly of the tractor. I think I will try to remove it and weld the ears back on today.

 

[sandman2234]

Ouch!!! Guess it could have been worse, but still ouch!
David from jax

 

[Gary Fowler]

Well folks, I welded the ears back on but I dont think it will hold. The material looks to be cast iron from the sparks made when grinding the bevels. At least it didnt crack and I put it in my rod oven for about an hour to normalize the whole thing in temps. I guess I will let it set in my shop for a few months while I go back to work overseas. Maybe my dealer can have a new one by then along with a pin. Still no photos but perhaps one of the completed work after lunch.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I finally got the bent rod straight via hydraulic jack, heating with oxy torch and sledge hammer. I first put a jack under it after finally getting it rotated to the BTC and picked up the whole tractor and it wouldnt bend back. Then got the torch to it and after a couple of tries with the full weight of the tractor on it, heating and jack slipping off, I got it straight enough to remove from the bracket on the tractor. Then the 16# sledge finished the job. It took more time to straighten that 3/4" rod than to weld the broken bracket.

 

[SPYDERLK]

From pics ... it looks like your drawbar is fixed length. Is that right? Are those 2 bolts the only fastening to the tractor, and required to sustain against the full drawbar load?
Thanks,
larry

 

[Gary Fowler]

You are correct, the drawbar is fixed length. This bracket bolts directly to the rear axle/ hydraulic oil reservoir housing with the two 7/8 or 1" bolts (didnt measure them but it takes a 27mm socket to fit) A pin holds the drawbar in place. The U-bolt allows the drawbar to be swung side to side and pinned in place for a little bit of offset. I was surprised to see that cast iron piece holding the drawbar as most larger tractors have much more sizeable attachments and are made from steel. It looks like they designed it so it would be nearly impossible to break the tractor housing before that little bracket crashed.

 

[Bob77064]

Gary, I am sorry to hear that happened.

 

[SPYDERLK]

You are correct, the drawbar is fixed length. This bracket bolts directly to the rear axle/ hydraulic oil reservoir housing with the two 7/8 or 1" bolts (didnt measure them but it takes a 27mm socket to fit) A pin holds the drawbar in place. The U-bolt allows the drawbar to be swung side to side and pinned in place for a little bit of offset. I was surprised to see that cast iron piece holding the drawbar as most larger tractors have much more sizeable attachments and are made from steel. It looks like they designed it so it would be nearly impossible to break the tractor housing before that little bracket crashed.

Yeah, that is a light setup for that tractors potential capability. For some added safety margin you should make sure those bolts use the whole hole depth and are tight. If theyre short a quarter inch Id buy longer and custom cut or use a high strength washer or 2 under the head to adjust.
larry

 

[Gary Fowler]

I think the bolts are ok. They go in at least an inch (see photo with bolts in place) and they were tight. I can tell you for sure, the bracket WILL break before the bolts give way. I think that is the designed preference.

 

[gregsm33]

Hey Gary,

It is nice to see that the drawbar failed before it damaged tractor itself.
When I built my shop few months ago I had 4 trucks stuck in my yard and the 7010 came to rescue, 2 of them were loaded cement trucks with 10 yards high psi cement, and also the truck delviering my roof trusses, and truck delivering steel for roof and siding. I pulled them out with load chain with the hooks off of bucket I had welded. I had a ballast box on back otherwise I would have pulled from back too. In all 3 cases I managed to get all trucks out of mud.

When I get a chance I post few pics of 7010 being useful when I built new shop.

 

[Short Game]

Would it be bad to have a tow hook on the ballast box and pull with that? I pull from my box blade often, as I use it as ballast and it also has a winch mounted on it.

 

[toxicjeeper]

I think the bolts are ok. They go in at least an inch (see photo with bolts in place) and they were tight. I can tell you for sure, the bracket WILL break before the bolts give way. I think that is the designed preference.

At first i was thinking it wouldn't be too hard to make that part from scratch but i agree,,its better that it breaks than do more seriously damage..

Did you do a test pull on the welds? I can see the hair line crack on the inside of that bracket in one of your pictures..

 

[Gary Fowler]

I didnt bother to put it on as I was off to nether regions for 2 months. There was a bit of lack of penetration when I welded it due to improper prep before welding (my fault for getting in too big of a hurry) TOO close to be able to back grind from the inside and I welded the first pass from the outside of the bracket making it impossible to get to the inside to back grind. I just had to weld over it on the inside and hope for the best. There is a couple of small spots but it is no worse than the original casting that had a big hole in on side about centerline of the break which likely contributed to the failure. I would have thought that the drawbar connection would have been stronger than a 3/8" Harbor Freight chain which I think was grade 50.

 

[northpolefolks]

Not good when things break, but pulling on a 45klb load will do it for sure. If somethinghas to break back there better that bracket than your tractor itself. I don't care what brand of tractor you have, that kind of work is going to highlight any weakness you have.

Would seem like you would almost want to have it bolted on with bench tested weight rated bolts. That would make your weak link the bolts and you would never hurt your tractor that way. I know they make the rated bolts for the oil industry with center holes pre drilled to allow for quick "EZ-out" when they break.

Looks like you should be back in business with the weld job. You look like a better welder than me.

 

[SPYDERLK]

If you have to choose weakening of a component there I would look to the pin. Probably use a shear bolt to avoid spreading the ears on the bracket. Any failure of the bolt up connection to the tractor will endanger the casting.
larry

 

[I have no memory]

That shouldn't have broke before the chain. Either it's poorly designed or there was an inherent flaw in the casting.

 

[PapaPerk]

That shouldn't have broke before the chain. Either it's poorly designed or there was an inherent flaw in the casting.

Fully agree. Tractor should loose traction before you break the drawbar. :confused2: Bad design me thinks.

Lifting and pushing the truck at the same time sounds like serious potential for damage to front drive and loader. Glad nothing else broke!

Hope the trucker gave u a nice tip!

 

[I have no memory]

Yeah. On the pulling trucks out thing. There was a fertilizer truck that got stuck on my property a few years ago. It was around 18,000 lbs and there was no way I was going to move it with my 9,000 lb tractor. They tried a 150 hp tractor and it was too light too. They ended up getting a logging winch and pulling it out that way. You really gotta be careful with those big trucks.

I have had to put my excavator bucket up to the side of the dump truck bed while dumping to keep it from tipping over. That gets pretty exciting.