Radiator plastic repair

[areid]

My L5240 rad developed a leak this week. Took it out and found a 3/4" crack at the bottom pin where it seats into the frame. Looking online I see this is a very common place for the crack to develop. I called the dealer and a new rad is over $1200 with tax. My rad is almost perfect otherwise. I called a local plastics company that specializes in plastics welding and they said kubota has used a special plastic that cannot be repaired.
Have any of you made this sort of repair successfully.

 

[Roadworthy]

I'm sure it won't help to tell you it's a bad design. Do you have any warranty left of your tractor? If not you could try J B Weld and hope for the best or possibly attempt laying a fiberglass patch on the area. Clean it well and scuff it up first.

 

[BeezFun]

I've fixed a lot of plastic stuff with this UV welder. I've never used it on anything with the kind of mechanical forces your support will probably see, but if all else fails it might be worth a try.

Here's a youtube video of a product being used to weld a plastic Kubota radiator, looks like it might work for your application. It's sold on Amazon and has pretty good reviews.

 

[etpm]

My L5240 rad developed a leak this week. Took it out and found a 3/4" crack at the bottom pin where it seats into the frame. Looking online I see this is a very common place for the crack to develop. I called the dealer and a new rad is over $1200 with tax. My rad is almost perfect otherwise. I called a local plastics company that specializes in plastics welding and they said kubota has used a special plastic that cannot be repaired.
Have any of you made this sort of repair successfully.View attachment 719258View attachment 719259View attachment 719260

About 6 years ago the top of the radiator in my wife's Camry developed a crack about 3 inches long. It leaked badly. I ordered a new radiator but decided to see if I could repair the crack so the car could be driven while we waited for the new radiator. I found some two part plastic glue at the hardware store and gave it a try. Besides doing all the things needed to be done to prepare the plastic surface I also reinforced the repair by using some tightly woven fabric. I applied some glue then the glue saturated cloth, then a little more glue. I left the radiator in service for a couple months just to see if the repair would hold but finally couldn't stand the risk of having the repair fail and so put the new radiator in. The glue I used was rated for a max temp of 200 degrees or thereabouts and I was worried about that because of the hot radiator. Nevertheless the stuff held. Anyway, since I used the stuff I have seen more two part plastic glues show up at the hardware store, so I wouldn't be surprised if there are now even better options than the stuff I used.
Eric

 

[arto98607]

Are there any radiator shops around who could make you an old fashion brass radiator?

I wonder how much that would cost?

 

[Snobdds]

There are plenty of google hits when you enter that part number. Nowhere near 1200, more like 150.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

I have successfully repaired with auto supply two part epoxy. Sand the area good. Blow with a propane torch. Put epoxy on thick. Works on gas tanks too. If it handles gas, it's tough.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

My L5240 rad developed a leak this week. Took it out and found a 3/4" crack at the bottom pin where it seats into the frame. Looking online I see this is a very common place for the crack to develop. I called the dealer and a new rad is over $1200 with tax. My rad is almost perfect otherwise. I called a local plastics company that specializes in plastics welding and they said kubota has used a special plastic that cannot be repaired.
Have any of you made this sort of repair successfully.View attachment 719258View attachment 719259View attachment 719260

They just did not want to do it. They use a special steel that can't be welded. That don't make sense. Plastic is plastic, or don't call it plastic. I have a plastic welder. You may need to get some filler off another radiator to weld it with if you weld it.

 

[number two]

Also check out Rapid-Fix.
A super glue with welding powder.
Body shops fix all kinds of stuff with it.
Their video shows repairing a plastic radiator tank.
Good Luck!

 

[MHarryE]

There is a video showing repairing the plastic tank on a Kubota tractor using Polyvance radiator repair. Your picture identifies the supplier of the radiator as Denso, one of the world’s largest radiator manufacturers supplying product to nearly every manufacturer using this size radiator. If they can’t fix a Denso plastic tank, it’s unlikely they can fix any plastic tank.

 

[LD1]

I agree with above that they just didnt want to repair it. Its NOT a kubota radiator or some kind of special kubota plastic.

Not sure I would trust them at this point, but can you call them back and tell them its a denso radiator??

Looking the bota part number up online can save a little over the dealer. ~$900-$1000 is what I see.

I wished I saved my old MX radiator. Probably the same and didnt realize they were so $$$$. But I had contacted a company to make me a custom 2-core all aluminum radiator and I was thinking it was ~$600 or so. Took some modification to make the thicker radiator work but I knew that going in.

Its likely a supply and demand thing is why they are so $$$. Not often a radiator on a tractor needs replaced, especially a plastic/aluminum core one. They dont see road salts and stuff that rot them out, and they usually arent in high speed collisions that mess them up

 

[tradosaurus]

I would try JB Weld before I bought a new radiator.

 

[arto98607]

I did a JB Weld repair on a Kubota F mower Diesel fuel tank and it's holding up after 4 months of use, but only time will tell.....
It's a small seam crack up on top so pretty easy case to repair, except the Diesel fuel.

If it fails later I will do a plastic weld repair.

New tank is around $600 which is not the end of the world but just trying to save a tank.

 

[BravoXray]

I repaired a crack in the upper tank of a radiator on a JD mower that had been damaged that I picked up for free at a shop. I ground out the crack a little and roughed up the surrounding area, them patched it with JB Weld. Bend holding leak free for 20 years.

 

[MHarryE]

If you view the Polyvance video, it shows making some major repairs, then testing at working temp afterward. What did concern me is that their process involves heating to a fairly tight range, melting and adding material like welding. The result is quite impressive but if I were to try, I’d like to try on a test sample first. Finding a junk radiator should not be hard as Denso supplies to Toyota, Honda, Ford, Caterpillar, and others.

 

[RCFlyer330]

I dont know if that can be repaired or not but what Ican tell you is the PA66 - GF25 tells you that the plastic is polyamide 66 (aka nylon 66) with glass fiber reinforcement at 25 percent its nothing special. If you were to do a repair you would need that same material and a plastic repair iron that can melt it together. You will need to melt the new material into the old material to get a strong bond. With how much a new radiator costs its worth a try even if it fails. Go on youtube and look at videos of plastic radiator repair and even just plastic welding repair videos the basic process will be the same. I believe harbor freight sells a plastic weld kit really cheap. Jb weld may work too but i think welding would be a better repair.

 

[areid]

There are plenty of google hits when you enter that part number. Nowhere near 1200, more like 150.

I'm not surprised, that would be US but Kubota parts are like gold. Gouging!

 

[areid]

Wow, so much help! Thanks everyone. I used a butane soldering iron to melt the edges of the crack more or less back together and also pushed the small tip of the hot iron into unbroken material to about 50% of the material depth around 60° angle. This left a very rough surface with lots of digits for my JB Weld to flow into and grip. I applied a thin coat first then after a couple hours applied a second thicker coat. It looked like a solid repair so I put it back together and filled the rad. I run it for 15 minutes last night and it held with out a single drip. I'm pretty confident that it will work long term. If it fails I will likely reassess things and try another more robust repair. I will keep you all posted in case any of you need to do the same.
Thanks again.
Aulden

 

[areid]

I dont know if that can be repaired or not but what Ican tell you is the PA66 - GF25 tells you that the plastic is polyamide 66 (aka nylon 66) with glass fiber reinforcement at 25 percent its nothing special. If you were to do a repair you would need that same material and a plastic repair iron that can melt it together. You will need to melt the new material into the old material to get a strong bond. With how much a new radiator costs its worth a try even if it fails. Go on youtube and look at videos of plastic radiator repair and even just plastic welding repair videos the basic process will be the same. I believe harbor freight sells a plastic weld kit really cheap. Jb weld may work too but i think welding would be a better repair.

Someone locally told me tie straps are similar plastic but I don't know if that is true. Our local plastics company told me there is no way to plastic weld these which of course is by design.

 

[areid]

I'm not surprised, that would be US but Kubota parts are like gold. Gouging!

In case I do need to order new, what part number are you entering.