Metal fatigue/ stress crack in a 1520 loader

   / Metal fatigue/ stress crack in a 1520 loader #1  

Phillip w

Platinum Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2017
Messages
779
Location
whiting ks
Tractor
allis Chalmers 185 and massey ferguson 1531
The bucket on my 1520 loader is litreally stressing and cracking near the welds. The welds are fine and holding up ok. However, the metal is stressing and falling about an inch from the welds. Is anyone else experiencing similar issues? I know I have used the devil out of the loader, but now this? Come on !!! The accuse me bashing agco, but the product speaks for it self. And yes, I do not care for agco. But I have been around this stuff all my life and seen some loaders put through the ringer, but I have never seen a bucket start cracking fRom metal fatigue.
 
   / Metal fatigue/ stress crack in a 1520 loader #2  
Sorry to hear about your loader cracking. Just curious if you could post any pictures of the cracks? Are the cracks in the loader arms or in the bucket? What year is your 1520? I'm wondering if some re-enforcing plates could be welded near the cracks to help distribute the stress, I guess it all depends where the cracks are and how much material is around them.
 
   / Metal fatigue/ stress crack in a 1520 loader #3  
He's talking about the bucket itself.... It appears anyhow. Obviously, AGCO doesn't make that bucket. It was sourced from Soo Tractor (Radius Steel) who built the loader assemblies.

Buckets wear out. That's an unfortunate fact of life. If it happened in the first 500 hours, I'd be concerned about it. But if you use the bucket heavily, you'll wear the metal thin.

I use a Tomahawk brand 72" SS bucket on my Massey. Bought it for a longer bottom and more capacity... But talk about a JUNK product! That bucket flexes every time it gets a load, or i try to back drag with it. The metal is also cracked on the back where my Quick-Attach plates mount. I can't even believe they market it as a SS bucket, because my tracked SkidSteer would literally destroy this bucket during use.

How many years & hours of use are on this tractor?
 
   / Metal fatigue/ stress crack in a 1520 loader
  • Thread Starter
#4  
I'm not very good at this picture thing but I will give it a valiant try. The tractor and loader are about 8 years old and just over 1500 hours. Sounds like a lot, but I also took pictures of my koker loader for comparison. God only knows how old and how many hours is on the koker loader. Dad has a John Deere 4100 with a loader
It is probably 15 years old or so, no problem. We had a loader on a old 930 case. We fed a lot of big round bales. Over about a span of 15 years we broke two spindles on the tractor, but no loader trouble. Truthfully, I don't know if agco builds a whole lot of anything. I think they contract a lot of stuff out. I.E. the tractor was built by iseki in Japan. I am not cutting agco much slack hear. The only excuse I might let fly is if the welder put quite a bit of heat to it when welding it and the metal crystallized. You still have an issue, but it is the individual welder that created the issue. 20170915_105633.jpg20170915_105645.jpg20170915_105716.jpg20170915_105718.jpg20170915_105726.jpg20170915_105751.jpg20170915_105754.jpg20170915_105805.jpg20170915_110028.jpg20170915_110008.jpg20170915_105645.jpg20170915_110113.jpg20170915_110054.jpg
 
   / Metal fatigue/ stress crack in a 1520 loader
  • Thread Starter
#5  
Note it took picture of my koker loader for comparison. Pics are a little mixed, here is koker loader pics:20170915_110008.jpg20170915_110028.jpg20170915_110054.jpg20170915_110113.jpg
 
   / Metal fatigue/ stress crack in a 1520 loader #6  
I know you have a chip on your shoulder for AGCO.... And in contrast, my experience so far has been fantastic. So two different view points...

But I'm trying to be fair here. That just looks like worn out, thinned metal from use and time. You can always try to clean up and weld those cracks, or weld new skin over that area. I've seen lots of commercial grade SkidSteer buckets crack and completely wear out along the bottom after only a few years of use ... The Virnig branded bucket (very heavy duty) that came on my Terex track machine lasted 5 years, 1900 hrs, before the bottom was worn out. It's not from lack of quality, but instead from use. And I've seen plenty of older Farm tractor buckets, John Deere machines included, with rusted out, thin bottoms.

Most of the modern CUT buckets seem really thin in my opinion... I bent the bottom edge on my brand new LS branded (made by Amerequip) within 100 hours.

I'm just saying... I don't think you have a quality issue there. I think you have a worn out bucket from 1500 hrs of use and 8 years of exposure to the elements, on a compact tractor.
 
   / Metal fatigue/ stress crack in a 1520 loader
  • Thread Starter
#7  
I guess stuff just is not made like it used to be. Agco is not the only one doing this. I have read stories on here about John Deere. It just seems like stuff made in the 50's 60's and 70's were "tanks on wheels" compared to today. It is not only tractors, it is cars and trucks and everything. Here is an examaple. I bought my wife an SUV. It is a nice little car, drive Ann rides nice. All kinds of bells and whistles. The problem is if this thing acts up, I can't fix it and have to take it somewhere. The next thing is it seems pretty flimsy, lots of plastic and sheet metal seems pretty light. I worry about how it would hold up in a wreck. I think I would rather wreck an old galaxy 500 or international pickup as compared to my wifes SUV. I guess I get more and more frustrated with new stuff falling apart
 
   / Metal fatigue/ stress crack in a 1520 loader #8  
I guess stuff just is not made like it used to be. Agco is not the only one doing this. I have read stories on here about John Deere. It just seems like stuff made in the 50's 60's and 70's were "tanks on wheels" compared to today. It is not only tractors, it is cars and trucks and everything. Here is an examaple. I bought my wife an SUV. It is a nice little car, drive Ann rides nice. All kinds of bells and whistles. The problem is if this thing acts up, I can't fix it and have to take it somewhere. The next thing is it seems pretty flimsy, lots of plastic and sheet metal seems pretty light. I worry about how it would hold up in a wreck. I think I would rather wreck an old galaxy 500 or international pickup as compared to my wifes SUV. I guess I get more and more frustrated with new stuff falling apart
You would think so on face value... But cars now are designed to deflect and absorb energy transfer from collisions, much better than the old Iron. A 45 mph collision from 40 years ago might "look" like a lot less damage on the surface compared to today's cars which appear to "explode" in that same 45 mph collision. The difference though is that with the older car, that energy isn't absorbed by the car, and the human inside takes alot more blunt force than the modern car would transfer.

But yes, i agree with you regarding tractors. The sheetmetal fenders and hood on my tractor is very thin compared to older machines.
 
   / Metal fatigue/ stress crack in a 1520 loader
  • Thread Starter
#9  
I guess it is hard for me to stomach the life of a tractor/loader-bucket to be 1000 to 1500 hours. That maybe ideal for a guy on the edge of town with 5-10 acres. Out here in the farm belt that is totally unacceptable. If I had known level of service I would never have bought it. My allis Chalmers has rolled over at least once, so we are at at least 14000 hours. The old 930 case was pushing 20000 hours. We have an old 730 john Deere And it did hit 20000 hours. So in comparison I gueds you have to understand why I'm so sour on agco.
 
   / Metal fatigue/ stress crack in a 1520 loader #10  
What is the thickness of metal at the cracks? How much wear? Any pictures from the other side?

I think I can see lots of cracks or the start of them. It also looks like quite a bit of rust.
I'm thinking it may be some pretty poor metal that was used?? Slag inclusions?
 
 
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