welding cast housing?

[revitup]

Well I done 'er good this time. I have cracked the flywheel housing and clutch housing on the right side of my john deere 110. Right where the ROPS bolts over the front loader frame onto the bell housing/ clutch assembly. I think I probably stressed it or cracked it in the winter plowing snow. I do remember hitting something really hard last winter. I was moving some smaller logs with the clam bucket today and clearing some pile of dirt when i noticed something felt wrong.
So, what are my options besides spending $7000 on those two new cases? Find used ones? I believe those two parts are cast, can you only braze cast? Is it possible to fix those parts? Brazing is week though isn't it?
Any advise would be appreciated.
Thanks
Kelly

 

[Tx Jim]

I'm not a welder but they're are welding rods to weld cast.

 

[RoyJackson]

Are these cast iron, steel or aluminum?
All will require pre-heat for a successful weld repair....and you might want to grind out the crack first.
I'm guessing any repair will require stripping down all the gears and other internals, if you pre-heat and weld repair.

IMHO, consider all the costs involved and then determine if replacement of the castings is worthwhile. I'd try looking for used castings, but I'll wager they'll be tough to come by.

 

[newbury]

Welding cast is a "special art". It needs to be warmed and cooled properly. Not all welders can do it. From what I've read many claim they can, few are actually successful for good welds.

 

[Baby Grand]

Welding cast is a "special art". It needs to be warmed and cooled properly. Not all welders can do it. From what I've read many claim they can, few are actually successful for good welds.

^Second that! Also, as Roy mentioned, material type and material prep will determine how difficult/successful the finished weld is.
From your description of the break locations, it sounds like this is going to be a weld that will be subjected to major structural loading, not just a weld to patch a leak in an oil filled compartment housing. So weld quality will be paramount or it will fail in use, and you'll be doing it all over again. As long as the breaks don't go through any bearing bores or other machined, tightly held surfaces, an ace welder with lots of cast metal experience should be up to the task.
Either way, it sounds like you're going to have to split the tractor to get the parts out so they can adequately be prepped for welding.

 

[skyhook]

Any chance of a snap-shot of this.

 

[Dave M7040]

Bronze can be a great alternative to other methods of welding cast iron.
Getting the right heat and right flux are critical.
The repair below lasted 40+ years and is still in service.

Dave M7040

 

[pmsmechanic]

Some pictures would be nice.

Bronze has pretty well the same tensile strength as cast iron so I wouldn't be scared to do that.

If you know what to do with a welder I wouldn't be scared to do that either. Just prep as already mentioned and preheat good and then make sure you have a way to let the pieces cool slowly. I usually wrap them in fiberglass insulation over night. I like to use Arctec 223 rods as they have 28% stretch in the weld. I would weld in multiple passes.

The biggest thing here is to figure out why this part broke and figure out what to change so that it doesn't happen again.

$7000 gives you lots of room for repairs.

PS: Isn't a 4600 or a 4700 the same tractor? Might help for finding used parts. You can alway type the part numbers into the "where used" search in JDParts on their website.

 

[varmint]

If you watch select TurnWright Machine Works videos, you'll see ace machinist Keith Fenner fix all sorts of cracked cast iron. Like earlier posters noted, pre-heating and slow cooling to prevent warping are key. Should be doable.

 

[flusher]

First, do a spark test to determine if it's cast iron or cast steel.

How To Weld: Basics of Spark Testing - YouTube

If it's cast steel, you're in luck because you can stick weld with common rods like 6011, 7018.
If it's cast iron, you'll have to use nickel alloy rods.

I recently stick welded a broken part back onto the engine block of my 1948 Farmall Cub. I used Super Missile rod (1/8", DC+, 90-110 amps).

Super Missileweld | The Harris Products Group

You have to run short beads (1" long) and let the workpiece cool down to near room temperature before laying down the next bead. A cheap infrared thermometer from Harbor Freight was useful in measuring the temperature.

I used the backstep weld method to control distortion.

Weld Distortion

Good luck.

 

[revitup]

Thanks everyone for your input. This is a hard pill to swallow.
Here are some photos of the crack. I am afraid it is in a high stress zone though.

 

[revitup]

I'll try to get some better photos when I get home.
It is only on the one side of the cases though.

 

[revitup]

Here are the two parts. The ROPS 4 bolts, lap over the two cases. 2 on the flywheel case and 2 on the long clutch case.

 

[paulfun9]

From the looks of it I would not bother welding it. It covers too much of an uneven surface and has went in more than one direction making it that much harder to do a good weld that will prevent any further stress cracks afterwards.

 

[Tx Jim]

revitup
H old is this machine? Have you tried contacting your JD dealer about possible warranty?

 

[davrow]

From the looks of it I would not bother welding it. It covers too much of an uneven surface and has went in more than one direction

I'm not an expert, but I agree.

I wouldn't call that a 'crack'. I'd say the case shattered, even if it is still held together by other parts. It actually looks like examples I've seen of flawed castings. Crack propagated in too many directions.

 

[flusher]

Yeah. That's a mess. There's no decent access to the cracks to do the necessary prep work with an angle grinder.

Write it off as a loss and move on. I'd write a strongly worded letter to JD with photos to register your displeasure.

 

[skyhook]

Write it off

I have to agree also.

 

[pmsmechanic]

I did a little bit of research. Part number M810326 is the flywheel housing. It's used on the 110, 4500/4510, 4600/4610 and 4700/4710. Part number LVU800159 is the clutch housing. It's used on the 110,4610 and 4710.

www.greepartstore.com has a brand new flywheel housing (M810326)for $1320.82. Wengers Of Myerstown - Farm Equipment, Agriculture Equipment, Tractor Parts, Construction Equipment, Construction Parts has a used one for $495. This is from Googling the part number. There are more available and it looks like this part is not hard to find.

The clutch housing LVU800159. Ouch this one butes new. GreenPartStore - Parts for John Deere Lawn Tractors, John Deere Lawn & Garden Tractors, John Deere Mowers, John Deere Attachments, John Deere Accessories $5821.53. has it new for $5401.42. I didn't see any used ones. Start phoning tractor wreckers with the part numbers.

Good luck. By the way I noticed Telus on the parts diagrams. That's Canada. Where are you from?

 

[revitup]

pmsmechanic, I am from Kimberley, not to far from you, thank you for the imput.
I have been trying to cross reference the part numbers to see if they were on any other machines but I was having no luck. I will try again now. I had a closer look tonight and the cracks propagated from the mounting bolts to an access port, then to up and over the top and down to another access port on the left side. Then horizontal back to the front. It seems to me that on the right side around the mounting bolts there probably was a stress crack there from me carrying too big of logs in the past with the loader or from the classic plowing into a frozen nugget in the winter. Then yesterday working the loader it finally gave way. It's hard to say but there seemed to be dirt in the crack near the mounting bolts and inspection port and clean up and over the top to the other side indicating old and new cracks.

Does anyone know of any tractor wreckers? I will start by searching this forum.

'll have a closer look at it when I split the tractor to see if it can be welded. It does not look shattered and It does hold a magnet so it must be cast steel so a little easier to weld.

Cheers

Kelly