Just broke a knuckle arm 4520r

[North to Alaska]

Storm is here and thankfully my neighbor will plow me out today. Frustrating to be without my tractor.
Broke the knuckle arm yesterday while pulling logs out. Not doing anything severe or stressful but the temperature was a little below zero.
Waiting for a call back from selling dealer (Oklahoma) to get a warranty claim going. (It’s a weekend)
I do have a dealer and a mechanic here in Alaska. I will call them Monday. Not sure how difficult it would be to fix it here rather than haul it long distance. May have to haul it anyway for warranty just to have it checked out by the mechanic. There may be other issues wrong too because of this?

You can see the break to the left of the gear oil fill.

Worried this will take a while to get the parts in
Hopefully I don’t have any issues with warranty either

 

[K5lwq]

Not good. I am surprised it broke there. Can you tell if the housing broke as well?

 

[Thomas]

Dang...can the service tech travel to you for it maybe cheaper than you hauling it both ways.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Maybe see if you can just ship them the broken one and they ship you a replacement?

Or alternately, are there any *really good* weld shops around you? Not just anyone can weld cast iron.

 

[ptsg]

That's indeed a very odd place to break. I wonder if the bearings where the final drive pivots are bad and the entire stress of the front axle is now being put on the knuckle?

I agree with Slim. If you're in a pinch, try find someone to weld that for you for the time being. Personally, I have a bad time trusting a piece of cast iron that has been welded, no matter how good of a job it is, but in a pinch, it's way better than being stuck with a broken tractor.

 

[ArtMech]

If the tractor is still under warranty, it might not be acceptable to weld. Unless after coordination with a dealer.
It could happen due to super low environmental temperatures if any.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

I imagine it's cast steel. Nodular cast maybe. Both can be welded.

 

[Cycledude]

Looks like a very expensive repair ! hopefully warranty will cover it, how far is it to your Alaska Branson dealer ? Do you have any better pictures ? I believe they will most likely want the tractor in their shop to do whatever repairs are required.

 

[North to Alaska]

Another picture
Looks like it is pulling up the ???

I’m afraid this needs to go to the dealer so they can see what else is damaged.

Mechanic lives and works at dealer’s North Pole location which is 4.5 hour drive. However they have two other locations in Anchorage and Wasilla which are 2.5 and 1.5 hours away respectively. Mechanic comes down for appointments at those locations but they set up a “day of appointments” which are scheduled a week or two ahead to make it worth while for him to come down.

 

[K5lwq]

I don't see any other damage on the surface. I am thinking I would see if they would send a new knuckle arm, support bearing and seal. But you may see more as it is torn down. Good luck.