Larry239
New member
I looked at something similar last night at tractor supply. The JD lift arms have two bends. Those are straight. Would it work if I bought both sides?
Broken hitch arms on a 3320
- Thread starter Bspring
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- john deere 3320
I looked at something similar last night at tractor supply. The JD lift arms have two bends. Those are straight. Would it work if I bought both sides?
JB4310
Super Member
I'm not a metallurgist but by the fact that they snapped clean tells me they are some type of cast, No I don't think a "hobby" mig would be the right welder, not sure what you have, but if they are cast I'm surprised you were able to tack them together.
Regardless you would have to IMO reinforce them on both sides, I'd bring it to a weld shop at least for an opinion to see what your dealing with.
JB.
DanD78
Platinum Member
I looked at my 3320 arms and they look to be forged or pressed steel. They are not cast. I would try welding them back but Mig would be my last choice unless you can get a lot of amps and larger wire. Make sure you make a 100% vee that is wide so you get 100% weld. A lot of guys just knock the corners off a crack and call that a vee. My choice would be 3/32-7018 rod. Do not try to fill the vee in one pass but use several hot passes to insure good penetration. Clean the weld with a wire wheel between each pass. Weld through the hole and re-drill after the welds are ground down. DO NOT quench the weld. Let it air cool nice and slow.
For Larry's bent arm. If it is bent only a few degrees use a press and straighten it out cold. If bent more some heat would help. Not red hot but almost. If bent to the point where you can see tears in the steel, press it flat, vee it out and weld as above. If you do press it back in shape, wire brush the paint off and look for tear marks in the steel. If there are tears you may as well vee it out and weld it up or just give it a try.
Good luck to all
Dan
For Larry's bent arm. If it is bent only a few degrees use a press and straighten it out cold. If bent more some heat would help. Not red hot but almost. If bent to the point where you can see tears in the steel, press it flat, vee it out and weld as above. If you do press it back in shape, wire brush the paint off and look for tear marks in the steel. If there are tears you may as well vee it out and weld it up or just give it a try.
Good luck to all
Dan
DanD78
Platinum Member
Bspring, I am in the market for a box blade to fit my 3320. What width and brand do you have. I am thinking 6' but a guy with 4210? (older tractor same horse power) says a 5' would be a load.
Yours must be pretty tough blade to tear the tractor up and not hurt the blade. Or is there more your are not telling.
Thanks
Dan D.
Yours must be pretty tough blade to tear the tractor up and not hurt the blade. Or is there more your are not telling.
Thanks
Dan D.
SFish
Silver Member
I put a pretty big bend in one of the draft links on my 3320 about eight months ago. I was grading backwards with the boxblade and had forgotten to put the sway bar pin in on one side. I straightened it by setting it up on a 2 ft thick, 3.5 ft diameter fir round and whacking it about 20 times with a 12 lb hammer. I have also straightened scarifier teeth this way. I use shooting earmuffs to protect my ears. A few weeks ago I snagged a root while scarifying a road and it stopped the tractor cold and broke the link that had been bent. I have purchased a new one and may try to repair the broken one to have as a spare.
Steve
Steve
Dan, a welding instructor that I know (not local) made the same suggestions as you have on the rod and V. I have made very deep and wide V on both sides. So they are prepped and ready to be welded.
As far as there being more to the story, there could be. The box blade has been reinforced because of a previous oops (see picture). I was grading in reverse down hill and hit a rock dead center. Yes, I know get a bulldozer Anyway, I do not know if that blow weakened the hitch arms but there was no damage the box blade this time.
As far as there being more to the story, there could be. The box blade has been reinforced because of a previous oops (see picture). I was grading in reverse down hill and hit a rock dead center. Yes, I know get a bulldozer Anyway, I do not know if that blow weakened the hitch arms but there was no damage the box blade this time.
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soulasphil
Platinum Member
I don't know for sure about the 3320 but the swivel balls were worn out on my very similar Massey Ferguson 35 and the dealer cut them off and welded new ones. Welding those hitch arms didn't seem to be a problem, they were definitely not cast.
Larry239
New member
Just left my buddy's muffler shop. He has a big press he uses to bend pipes. In less than 5 minutes and some metal blocks he bent the arm right back. We laid the two arms out and the bent one was almost 4 inches off center of the other one. Now you put them on top of each other and their identical again. Thanks for the help.
JB4310
Super Member
How can some bend 4 inches and others break so clean seems like they would have to be made at opposite ends of the hardness spectrum. What type of non cast metals could break so clean? Can forged metal break like that?
Good question. Mine didn稚 bend at all they just snapped.
I just got back from getting them fixed and the welder wanted to use a Flux machine. He said it would be just as good as the stick and look better. I wasn稚 familiar with that so I requested he use the stick. It was a messy looking weld and makes me think that he was not very good. I don稚 think that he wanted his boss to see it so he asked me to hand him $20.00 and sent me away.
I just got back from getting them fixed and the welder wanted to use a Flux machine. He said it would be just as good as the stick and look better. I wasn稚 familiar with that so I requested he use the stick. It was a messy looking weld and makes me think that he was not very good. I don稚 think that he wanted his boss to see it so he asked me to hand him $20.00 and sent me away.