Cheap parts machine..... (long story w pics)

   / Cheap parts machine..... (long story w pics) #1  

john_bud

Super Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2000
Messages
6,596
Hi,

I may have mentioned that there was a "cheap" tractor loader hoe just like my old ford for sale. Well, the price was too good to pass up ($1000). Had it delivered on a back haul for way cheap. In the low res ad picture it looked pretty dern shabby. No hood, lots of rust and had a known broken SOS transmission. But, I have a one just like it (model 4140 Heavy Duty Industrial) and thought that for the price it would be a good source of spare parts. It was also 598 miles away, but using the "hauling" section of YTmag.com, I found a person that was able to bring it to me for just a little more than what my estimate of round trip fuel would be. It was more than enough to cover his fuel on that leg, and he was headed this way any how - so good deal all around.


Tractor rolls off of the trailer and first thing I notice is that it has a 3pt lift cover on it (no arms) and a PTO. Unusual for a TLB, but a nice surprise!

Wideviewofpartstractor.jpg


Well, I started inspecting the tractor and noticed that the rocker arm cover wasn't fastened. No nuts. The fuel tank (no rust) wasn't bolted down, so I moved it off to the side and took off the rocker cover. This is what I saw.

valvetrain.jpg


Close up

molylube.jpg


Looks like the head was just put together! I sent and e-mail to the seller. He replied that the prior owner did some engine work. But the tractor didn't run. He took off the head to see if the valves were bad. Everything was good. But when he looked at the pistons, they were new. (Nice.) He pulled the pan and a cap and found a new bearing. (Nice)

He then found out from talking to the son of the prior owner that he had rebuilt the engine spending a reputed $1700 but after that it didn't run. It was then parked and the owner eventually died - his son sells the tractor. The guy I bought it from, thinking that the injection pump was bad, he put on good pump. He found that the pump on the tractor was
180 degrees out of phase. His known good pump allowed the engine to start and run with 50 psi of pressure. (Nice)

So, it looks like I have a parts tractor with a newly rebuilt engine that has never been run. The injection pump may or may not be good.

I am now wondering about the SOS. The traction coupling is dis-engaged. Maybe the faulty SOS is just the traction coupling being off? I think I'll drain the trans and see if any chunks fall out (I did find 3 parts of a small (idler??) gear rusted on the floorboard. There is RTV on many of the parts of the SOS so someone was mucking around in there and the shifter is off / apart.

View of the inside of the SOS. You can see it's dirty in there and the filter is missing. It won't get any fluid with no filter!

CIMG1661.jpg

CIMG1664.jpg



There are some key missing parts on the tractor, but nothing super major. The backhoe boom has a crack that needs fixing, the cross bracing at the back was next to falling off and a few hoses need replacement. Those will be fixed and I think it will be usable. It feels VERY tight.

Boom crack.
boomcrack-outside.jpg


Cross bracing.
Bottomrightcrossbraceweldhalfbrokep.jpg


Bottomleftcrossbraceweldbrokepipeco.jpg


Topleftcrossbracebrokenweld.jpg


Toprightcrossbracebrokenweld.jpg


This is a side view of the cross brace, you can see it buckled. The buckling was IMHO due to the 4 welds on the cross brace being total horse pucky from the factory. There was about 1/16" of weld and that looked to be a cold weld. They just don't make 'em like they used to - thankfully!

Sideviewofbentcrossbraceandbrokenwe.jpg


Oh - here's a picture of the silliest thing on the tractor. Apparently, at some point the prior owner had issue with the square head bolts that hold the double bevel wheels to the center hub. Here's his "solution", clever - eh?

weldedbolts.jpg
.

Interesting point on the tractor is this brass badge.
Engineeringtag.jpg


This may have been a tractor that mech's learned on, or a photo mule or a tractor for wear testing, or???

So, my parts tractor looks to have a freshly rebuilt 172 diesel engine, a front end loader with a couple very slight cracks, a hoe that is TIGHT and a 18" bucket (in need big time of bushings). One man's trash as they say...

jb
 
   / Cheap parts machine..... (long story w pics)
  • Thread Starter
#2  
That post was getting too long!

Well, yesterday I took off the cross bracing, straightened it and beveled the edges in readiness for welding. The bottom mount for the 4 point was scary broke, so I decided to weld on a piece of angle iron to strengthen it up a bit. Naturally, the hoe is parked too far from the shop for my welder to reach. I stupidly thought that I could just pick it up and move it closer.

Duh! - BoneHead Alert! - BoneHead Alert! - BoneHead Alert! -

I had the hoe and tractor separated. One stabilizer down and one up. (no hydraulics to power + missing hoses = issue)

CIMG1709.jpg


Well, to shorten up the story a bit, as any half wit should know you can't move a hoe with one stabilizer up and one down and no bucket. It will fall over. (oh, now I tell me!) Well, after it fell over hurting nothing but a few earth worms, I did drag it over to the shop. That isn't easy in case you were wondering. Sucker is about 3000# and the swing cylinders were allowing the box to pivot, letting it flop around like a bluegill in the bottom of a boat. Being even more stubborn than stupid, I got it over.

Hey! It being flopped over makes getting at the bottom of the boom easier! Ewww, but I can see the bottom side cracks...
Before:
Crackinsideboom-before.jpg


crackbottomofboom-before.jpg


topofboomcrackscleaned.jpg


Well, those HAVE to be fixed along with the ugly cross bracing and 4pt mount.

After:

crossbraceangleiron-after.jpg


crackinsideboom-after.jpg


bottominsideboomcorner-after.jpg


boomcrack-outsidewelded.jpg


topofboomcrackswelded.jpg


Topleftcrossbracebrokenweldafter.jpg


Toprightcrossbracebrokenweldafter.jpg


Bottomleftcrossbraceweldafter.jpg


Bottomrightcrossbraceafter.jpg


And in the bottom pictures you can see the angle that was welded on.


This was welded outside and the wind was blowing away the shield gas. SO, I ran off and got some flux core wire based on "Thingy"'s advice. What a freaking waste !! I did about 2 inches of weld, took one look and reached for the grinder. By the time I got the grinder, the weld had cracked. "Thingy" you owe me a beer! Using flux core may be great for little stuff, but it ain't got the azz for real work. (least ways not the way I use it). You may have noticed that the welds seem to have been done in small sections. That's because I was using my left hand to cup the work area the wind from blowing away the shield gas. You know instantly when that happens. And for sure when you look at it. Yikes!

You may wonder, how does a person working alone manipulate a 3000# backhoe that has fallen off the stands and flopped around on the ground? I use my buddies!

manipulatingbackhoe-.jpg


manipulatingbackhoe-2.jpg


You'll note the pry bar wedged holding the boom / dipper from flopping over. Very safe! OK, not so much. I moved a tractor to position the bucket as a "fall arrestor" and "squish preventer"

tractorbucketasfallguard.jpg
 
   / Cheap parts machine..... (long story w pics) #3  
Looks like ya got alot of work ahead of ya! Also looks like you were using 7018 rod to weld with, good stuff and will hold. Dress the welds up with a grinder where you can and pour the rod to it. A pea grinder works great for the hard to reach places. When I was in the Navy welding with 7018 I used to find that if I used a pea grinder to cut the rod length in half it was always much easier to handle in hard to reach places......and welding on Boiler and Steam piping there were plenty of hard to reach places!
 
   / Cheap parts machine..... (long story w pics) #4  
You got a lot of potential in those parts I'd say. And a whole lot of work, but all iron needs work. With a lot of TLC it'll end up like those in the pictures and can be your helper for the next project. :D

Mike
 
   / Cheap parts machine..... (long story w pics) #5  
Did you swap the polarity when you switched to flux core?
whodat
 
   / Cheap parts machine..... (long story w pics)
  • Thread Starter
#6  
whodat90 said:
Did you swap the polarity when you switched to flux core?
whodat


Whoops

(Maybe I owe "thingy" the beer after all!)
 
   / Cheap parts machine..... (long story w pics) #7  
Nice pix and interesting project, JB. Pix look great and are a
decent size for us dialup folks.

I sold my first MIG welder to a newbie and set it up for flux core
wire for him. I found the welds to be poor like you did. Maybe
I needed more practice. Once you use MIG, you can never go
to flux-core, I guess....
 
   / Cheap parts machine..... (long story w pics) #8  
Interesting project you have there. If the engine pans out to be a good rebuilt unit (other than the welded up valve keeper), you made out like a bandit. I wonder if you took model/sn to Ford if they could give you any of it's history (might could clue you in on the brass tag). Looks like a lot of work on the back hoe, but when your done, you'll have a nice unit.

Thingy must be on vacation (or in jail) or something. Haven't heard anything out of him in a week or so, or maybe I'm reading the wrong posts.
 
   / Cheap parts machine..... (long story w pics)
  • Thread Starter
#9  
BTDT said:
Interesting project you have there. If the engine pans out to be a good rebuilt unit (other than the welded up valve keeper), you made out like a bandit. I wonder if you took model/sn to Ford if they could give you any of it's history (might could clue you in on the brass tag). Looks like a lot of work on the back hoe, but when your done, you'll have a nice unit.

Thingy must be on vacation (or in jail) or something. Haven't heard anything out of him in a week or so, or maybe I'm reading the wrong posts.


BTDT,

I had to do a double take on the valve pictures. Even went back to the high res originals. I think you may have been fooled by the angle or something, no weld. Just a glob of moly lube used to help break in the moving parts.

Looks like a lot of work? No way! In fact, this one is in so much better shape that I am focussing on it to get a working hoe running faster!

Have to get a few hoses and adaptors tomorrow then may try and connect to the yellow tractor in the pictures. I anticipate some leaks. In fact, I think I will disconnect and flush the lines out. Gonna need some hydro fluid...

jb
 
   / Cheap parts machine..... (long story w pics) #10  
Great find! A kick in the pants project! Gotta get up and movin' and that thing and get it goin'...

I thought that the valve spring was welded, too. First thought was a rebuild job from how clean everything was and the number sequence on the head bolts, exhaust, etc.

Great pictures, too! I gotta figure out how to use my kid's digital camera. Took some pics and they were out of focus... like me.

Keep 'em comin'. Can hardly wait to see it with the first bucket full of dirt!

AKfish

Kinda thought that the short welds were from the daylight-sunlight makin' it hard to see what you were doin'.... those instant darkening helmets shut down in real bright light and if the sun is over your shoulder -- well, I'm always stopping to look at what I've got done.. anyways.
 
 
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