mower deck ate my bracket to 3pt hitch

   / mower deck ate my bracket to 3pt hitch #21  
If it were mine I would remove the other one to have something to work from, straighten the broken one out and reweld it. The metal is thick enough that even a stick welder would work.
 
   / mower deck ate my bracket to 3pt hitch
  • Thread Starter
#22  
22vyb6: Thanks for the thoughtful opportunity to help out with my twisted mess.
I took the part to a local wielding shop, he straighten up the less twisted part and did not charge me. He did tell me it would be cheaper to buy the other part new from the dealer. It was 54 dollars. So it will be in on Tues and I will be off and running.

The wife put the kibosh on the idea of buying the equipment so I just went with what was easy and fast.

Again thanks all for your input.

Roger
 
   / mower deck ate my bracket to 3pt hitch #23  
As my grandfather usta say we ain't building a watch!!

cut both links off straighten them out it looks like threaded rod is a little long
lay along side of were you cut weld them back together.

as long as being a little wider and a little shorter wont effect operation.

tom
 
   / mower deck ate my bracket to 3pt hitch #24  
If it were me, and I ain't no expert welder-man, I'd just go get the new part for a few bucks more and learn my lesson.

Take it to the shop....have them heat-bend, cut, and re-weld and then sit back and wonder how long it will last. Who knows what will happen to the quality and integrity of the piece after all that has been done.


That' s a pretty serious damagement to that arm...
 
   / mower deck ate my bracket to 3pt hitch #25  
There is no guarantee that the new part will be any better than the previous one which broke because it was run over. The old, welded part(s) will surely be much better because there will be more weld contact area and probably done on both sides, not just the outside (easiest to do with the hurry up wire feed that made it on a production line.

The fact remains that these links are contained by pins that are secured by flimsy rings like that used on sets of car keys. Weeds, branches and other stuff pull at them and finally pull them out. Then the mechanism goes snafu.

So. by learning to straighten and weld them, you are prepared to fix them again and again until you solve the problem that caused the pin dropout. Once you have a welder and can use it (I only have a Sears a/c buzzbox), life changes. I do cast iron, repair, new items and winter tool warming with this equipment. The next thing to do with his mower is to repair the blade gouges with weldment. Good as new. And balanced. Or as you say you can spend $100 for a set of blades each time you hit a stone or a piece of iron, or the pins you knocked out last time and could not find in the field. Maybe you should replace the mower spindle(s), too because the imbalanced blades will wear the bearings.
 
   / mower deck ate my bracket to 3pt hitch #26  
"There is no guarantee that the new part will be any better than the previous one which broke because it was run over.."

Okay then, if the original part is so poor then why even go to the effort of fixing it? If you're going to spend some time on this project rather than just buying, why not just completely fashion your own design stronger/bigger/better and replace them all and never worry again?

There is also no guarantee that a reworked bracket will be any better than the original.....depends on who does it, how well they do it, and what damage is already done to it.

I'm all for being proficient around the place, but, an item like this doesn't seem to be the one to spend too much time on when the replacement is so cheap. If this part isn't the answer, in any form, then spend the time devisinig a whole new piece that is.
 
 
Top