weld failure?

[LD1]

I could be wrong but I first thought it was the front caster for a zero turn, looked like from a gravely . Maybe wrong but I doubt it was from a rotory cutter.

Now I'm kinda curious what it's off of.

You could be right. Just saw yolk off a mower and assumed rotary cutter.

 

[lt190b]

TBNers, thanks for your opinions and comments. This is a front caster from a gravely ZD HD. It is 3 month old and has 40+ HRS. on it. It mows the same ground a cub cadet 3204 mowed and has the same driver (my wife). This is the second caster to fail in this 3 month period. The first one I rewelded, to get back in service. The dealer furnished a new one. We'll see what happens now. Thanks again.

 

[k0ua]

Yeah, I think from what we know now, a redesign of that caster/shaft is in order. The shaft probably needs to be longer to allow welding on the top too. The design of just welding on the little tit of a shaft coming thru the piece of steel on the yoke is not a very good one. Let along doing it with a MIG that is not hot enough to really penetrate the parent metal of the yoke very well. I did not see any of the Yoke metal jerked out when the weld failed. It appeared to be intact around the edge of the hole. This lead me to think the weld was not too good to begin with, but yes in reality the design is not ideal either.

 

[yomax4]

TBNers, thanks for your opinions and comments. This is a front caster from a gravely ZD HD. It is 3 month old and has 40+ HRS. on it. It mows the same ground a cub cadet 3204 mowed and has the same driver (my wife). This is the second caster to fail in this 3 month period. The first one I rewelded, to get back in service. The dealer furnished a new one. We'll see what happens now. Thanks again.

I have 2 of that same mower. They get P'pounded on 4 acres of yard and 4 acres of orchard and food plots. Very Rough ground. ( poor wife ) Never had a prob. My 1st was a Cub Cadet and that is why I have Gravely now. Maybe the newbie welder at Gravely got moved over to the CNC table and the problem will go away.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

This is a caster yolk from my mower. Can you tell from the pictures if this is a welding failure or abuse?View attachment 514373View attachment 514374View attachment 514375

Welcome to today's production MIG welding. QA on stuff like implements is visual examination only. I have had several instances in the last 10 years where welds looked perfect but failed early in life. Inspection of the breaks always shows a weld on the surface only and no penetration into the joint. They never heard of beveling; parts are always cut square and butted tight to each other. Most this stuff is 3/16-5/16 steel (3/8 sometimes); so, a hot stinger should penetrate to center easily. I still bevel such parts for insurance and stick weld. I usually run a lot hotter than most folks also. Pipe welders don't mess around with cold stingers. Weld both sides? What is that? One Kubota item, still in warranty, it took me 1/2 hour to convince the service manager (he is not a former mechanic) that it was a factory defect. The shop foreman heard us arguing, wandered over, one look and he backed me up. I received a new $450 part on the spot.

Ron

Ron

 

[k0ua]

Welcome to today's production MIG welding. QA on stuff like implements is visual examination only. I have had several instances in the last 10 years where welds looked perfect but failed early in life. Inspection of the breaks always shows a weld on the surface only and no penetration into the joint. They never heard of beveling; parts are always cut square and butted tight to each other. Most this stuff is 3/16-5/16 steel (3/8 sometimes); so, a hot stinger should penetrate to center easily. I still bevel such parts for insurance and stick weld. I usually run a lot hotter than most folks also. Pipe welders don't mess around with cold stingers. Weld both sides? What is that? One Kubota item, still in warranty, it took me 1/2 hour to convince the service manager (he is not a former mechanic) that it was a factory defect. The shop foreman heard us arguing, wandered over, one look and he backed me up. I received a new $450 part on the spot.

Ron

Ron

Yep. It looked to me from the photo there was no penetration into the yoke square component at all. Sure didn't see any metal yanked out. Now it is not like holding the piece in your hands and really inspecting it, but that was my impression.

 

[lt190b]

Thanks to all who posted comments. The dealer called and said he had talked to gravely, said they had a production run with some problems. The one I "fixed" is still on the mower, I replaced the second broken one with the replacement one, it is a little different than the original ones. When I get the other new one (#2) I will post a picture of their fix so you can see it. To be continued.

 

[k0ua]

Thanks to all who posted comments. The dealer called and said he had talked to gravely, said they had a production run with some problems. The one I "fixed" is still on the mower, I replaced the second broken one with the replacement one, it is a little different than the original ones. When I get the other new one (#2) I will post a picture of their fix so you can see it. To be continued.

Thanks for getting back with us, I look forward to seeing how they redesign this.

 

[yomax4]

Gravely actually went with a much heavier front yoke on the 2017 models. Larger shaft and as stated above, The shaft sticks out a little more to allow more weld. They also had weight distribution issues causing traction concerns. They fixed that with very large rear tires and a frame redesign. They also threw in a newer design and very comfy new seat to boot.

 

[flyerdan]

Definitely a design / fabrication issue. That shaft should have been beveled to allow for a good fill, and since burn through isn't likely, pour some amps to it, I'd probably do 145-160. Properly welded, an abuse failure on that part should have the shaft looking like a bent nail before it pulled out.