Welding Cast on Differential, Ford 545C

[farmtime]

Carried over for discussion from the Ford/NH Thread.

Thanks for any help.


Well a little bit of a bother here, which I new about, but is going to be a little bit bigger of a challenge, than anticipated.

The lower attachment point on the Top Link, that attaches to the 1" hole on the differential, has been broken off.

I've had one machine shop look at it and he felt that maybe the excessive heat, would cause problems with seals, etc. He called me back and said he doesn't want to try it in place, but if I remove the casing, he can make it as good as new.

So another fellow suggests, that I find a rear casting at the wreckers and change it out, a weld on cast is not strong enough is his opinion.

Has any one come across this problem, suggested fix?

Thanks, Farmtime.

 

[OkieG]

Two problems with repairing cast are the need to preheat parts, and then, once the repair is complete, to find some way to slow cooling. If these two steps are ignored, there is a risk of cracks developing. I have never welded cast, but have brazed a couple projects...same two problems.

These issues are much more easily handled if parts are disassembled. My last project was just a week ago. A friend had a cast exhaust manifold that broke a couple inches above where the exhaust pipe bolts on. I preheated with the torch (probably not the best way), and buried the piece in a sand pile for a couple hours after brazing. It was still too hot to touch for more than a few seconds, even after 2 hours. At that point the air cooled it pretty quickly. Buried overnight probably would have been better. Anyway, the braze is holding so far.

Just off the top of my head, I would say welding/brazing while still assembled is probably not a good idea (too hard to preheat and control cooling). Even disassembled, I don't know whether it could truly be welded as good as new or not. I wouldn't hesitate to repair a crack or break in a fairly non-stressed location (like the exhaust manifold), but there's plenty of stress on the 3PH toplink. A very good welder could probably make it as strong as new. To repair or replace? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

OkieG

 

[mrcaptainbob]

My son welded an exhaust manifold 'in-place' on an old beater. This neighbor guy needed a 'down-and-dirty' emergency-as-cheap as-you-can-get job done. Couldn't believe it! Didn't attach it to the head, either! That was four years ago. Last I saw was two years ago and it's still doing it's job.
This isn't to imply that that was in ANY way the correct way to go! /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gifBut I am amazed that at times something totally unexpected falls into place. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[normde2001]

A picture of the break would help. Several guys on the Yanmar forums the past couple of years have had the problem and fabricated new mounting brackets covering a larger area of the differential case that worked fine. a search on TBN and the original Yahoo forum might turn them up.

 

[RickB]

I guess it all depends on what you use the 3 pt for and the talent that does the welding. I won't say weld it or don't because I have seen repairs that I wouldn't dream of doing or having done that have lasted for years. But if I had to gut that housing to get a trusted guy to weld it, I would think very very hard about replacing the housing with a good one. For reference, a new center section runs 1500 to 2000 depending on transmission. All versions except 4Fx4R and 8Fx8R two wheel drive tractors are common to many, many Ford yellow and blue tractors and should be found used.

 

[Soundguy]

I believe ya. I had an old beater car as a kid with a cracked manifold... the junkyared welder man welded it right on the car.. while it was still hot.. and then told me to start it and drive it on home.. guess the heat helped keep it from cracking?

I sold the car a couple years later..with a spare exhaust manifold inthe trunk from another junkyard, as I knew the other repair was a temp deal.

Soundguy