fixing tractor loader

[farm boy00]

First thing. Not a big tractor or even a sub compact.

Just bought this tractor a week ago or so. Have been having problems where the guy welded the tractor loader. It is where the loader drops down. This tractor was a custom from a trencher. Looks to be all good designs, but was only made for moving some soil around or some mulch. Why we broke the loader was because the first morning we had the tractor we used it to dig a septic pipe in wet clay ground.

This is after grinding welds down and pulling it back together.












Used chains and chain binders to pull it together. Then used a bottle jack to push it back out from getting twisted (kept using it for a week cleaning a barn and digging out a septic pipe)














Fish plates cut and ready to weld












Dinner break. Little sister watching mickey mouse and caught my dad watching



Went out and had him weld it. Didn't get no pictures before adding fish plates









View attachment 447332





And grinded out a section where my lift cylinder was hitting



Test. Front end was lifted about 6-12 inches off the ground









What you guys think? ? Anything you would have done different? ? Actually tought my dad new thing about fish plates from this forum. He didn't know they were supposed to be like a Dimond.

 

[Shield Arc]

A couple things that can help, especially in high stress areas. Grind back your starts and stops of your welds. If you use 7018, there is a good chance you'll get porosity in the beginning of the weld. Good practice is to grind out about 3/8 of an inch.
Try never to stop on an edge. Try to end your welds in the center of the plate if you can.
The start, and the end of a weld, are generally the weakest parts.

 

[farm boy00]

A couple things that can help, especially in high stress areas. Grind back your starts and stops of your welds. If you use 7018, there is a good chance you'll get porosity in the beginning of the weld. Good practice is to grind out about 3/8 of an inch.
Try never to stop on an edge. Try to end your welds in the center of the plate if you can.
The start, and the end of a weld, are generally the weakest parts.

Unfortunately I can't view your picture. The app only loads about %10 if the pictures posted. We welded with the wire feed welder (mig right? ?)

 

[tman1020]

Is there a way that you can add a angel brace on a 45 degree angle below repair area both sides? That would really take the stress off of that spot especially when pushing in to a load.

 

[Shield Arc]

We welded with the wire feed welder (mig right? ?)

Yes, Mig. Mig is notorious for cold starts! So even more so with Mig you should grind out the start. Now some times you just can't do this. But say you're are back stepping your welds, that is the perfect time to grind out the starts and stops of your welds.

 

[crystallake]

ShieldArc, trying to make sure I understand what you are saying: Grind back first before you weld? Then move from edge to center?

 

[Shield Arc]

ShieldArc, trying to make sure I understand what you are saying: Grind back first before you weld? Then move from edge to center?

Correct! See how I feather ground each side of this tack? This helps get a good tie in when I start to weld. And when I run up on the tack when making a weld.


Then see how I stopped the weld in the center. You can't always do this, but it is a good practice to get into.

 

[farm boy00]

Ran tyne tractor yesterday for about a hr or so leveling and dug up one popul sapling. Then was digging another and ran out of gas.

Main reason that caused the welds breaking was cause the curl cylinder at full curl still had extra room so that it kept pushing. No cracked welds yet.

As for doing a brace we could and will if there is a problem with it again

 

[farm boy00]

Yes, Mig. Mig is notorious for cold starts! So even more so with Mig you should grind out the start. Now some times you just can't do this. But say you're are back stepping your welds, that is the perfect time to grind out the starts and stops of your welds.

What do you mean by grinding the start and back stepping on the welds? ?

Sorry but ain't %100 sure what you mean

 

[Shield Arc]

Back stepping your welds, and skipping around a lot really helps keep down distortion.

 

[CNC Dan]

What do you mean by grinding the start and back stepping on the welds? ?

Sorry but ain't %100 sure what you mean

Grinding the starts/stops is done because that's where the weld is often bad. If you stop welding, then re-start the weld, you have a start and a stop in the same place. Twice as bad. With MIG you may have a cold strart, and when stopping, you may lose gas coverage while the puddle is hot. With stick, you may not have the rod up to tempature right away at the start, and at the end, you might leave an unfilled crater.

Grinding away where the weld stoped gets rid of the bad part, and striking the arc for the re-start ahead of the tie in point will let the rod (stick welding) get up to temperature before you start making the bead. This will reduce the possibility of having defects in the weld.

 

[Shield Arc]

Here is a good example of feathering the start, and stop of a weld. This was on an aluminum gas tank I built years ago.

 

[farm boy00]

Unfortunately I can't see any of the pictures on the app. Won't load abs can't view them off off my phones Browser.

Ain't going to try to reweld anything because it seems to hold but will try to grind down the ends after my plow truck is up and running. Thanks a bunch for the info shield arc!!

 

[4570Man]

I think you could weld better than that.

 

[Shield Arc]

I think you could weld better than that.

Who me? Nope that's as good as I can do, I'm just a hobby welder.

 

[farm boy00]

And if your talking about me. I can't weld. I had my dad weld it in his sheet metal shop

 

[4570Man]

And if your talking about me. I can't weld. I had my dad weld it in his sheet metal shop

Sure you can weld. I have only been welding a couple months ( a real couple months unlike shield arc). That weld was pretty bad, with a small amount of practice you could have done better.

 

[farm boy00]

Sure you can weld. I have only been welding a couple months ( a real couple months unlike shield arc). That weld was pretty bad, with a small amount of practice you could have done better.

The welding wasn't mine.

I've only welded twice in my life. First was at a job where I had to tack weld duct work with a stick welder because our welder was a no show. Second was actually trying to fix this loader. Just ran tyne normal functions and when the curl got extended out as far as it could go the weld broke instantly

 

[4570Man]

I know the welding wasn't yours. You said your dad did it.