wmonroe
Elite Member
Your skills are impressive. This machine will be better than new when you're done.
1963 Case 530CK Backhoe/Loader
- Thread starter stans1
- Start date
- Views: 232636
OP
stans1
Silver Member
Part Three:
Here is a series of picture showing the steps that I went through rebuilding the stabilizer legs and shoes:
As you can clearly see in this picture the bores where the pins connected to both the shoe (lower) and the cylinder boss were severely worn. It took a thorough sand blasting to prepare it for inspection and painting later. I inserted one of the old pins just to give some scale. There was so much rattle and movement that the hoe would not stay steady as power was being transmitted through the legs to the ground. Also as I mentioned in a previous post, the cylinders were leaking and so were the hoses, something was going to have to be done.
I wasn't sure about welding on cast, but these bores were going to either have to be welded (interior build-up) then re-bored or the simpler solution seemed to be to weld some machined bosses on their faces. I have a younger brother who has been welding for around 40 years for a living and I called him up to get advise from him since he does so much of this type of stuff. He told me that both ends of the stabilizer arms were cast steel, not cast iron and he was correct. I just had to pre heat them with a rose bud and start welding!
After aligning the new bosses and tack welding them, I carefully welded up the bosses to the ends. Machined new pins to fit. You really have to be careful here because if you weld too much in one place and not across from each weld you can warp them and the pins will not fit! Anytime you weld most steels you are going to get some warp, it is mostly a matter of controlling and herding that warp.
I have the leg mounted and centered on the mill table. You can see a leveling block that I used at the one end in order to hold the stabilizer end perpendicular to the bore. You see there is a taper in both stabilizer legs and is about the only way to compensate for that taper. The set up always takes more time than the actual boring. I used an offset boring head and dialed for each pass and took about .020 at a time until reaching the right interior diameter for the (DOM) sleeve that I would later mount in that enlarged bore.
Just checking the fit this shows completed bore with an end cut of the same material that I was going to use for the sleeve
After checking that everything fits, I then prepared both ends of the sleeve and outer edge of the bore with a 45 deg. grind for a full pin weld.
The sleeve is in and this is the completed weld and is now ready for grinding flush with the face.
Completed face all flush and ready for fit up to the hoe to make sure I have not changed the alignment.
Out on the hoe I check for connection fit to see if the stabilizer leg will swing and have full range of motion, holy crap is it heavy! It really makes you appreciate what the hydraulics are doing for you! It fits, and is ready for paint. Notice the discoloration of both ends, that is from preheating the castings and welding.
So now it was time to prime both shoes and legs. By the way, I had to flush off the old flanges from the shoes fill the divots left from stray wash from cutting off the bent flanges, then grinding them flush. After prepping the surfaces on the shoes I welded new plate flanges 3/4 inch flat bar stock which I had bored with 1 3/8 inch holes for the new pins
First coat of Case colors over the primer.
Here is the finished product with new pins and sleeves and bosses waiting for the rest of the hoe to be done!
Here is a series of picture showing the steps that I went through rebuilding the stabilizer legs and shoes:
As you can clearly see in this picture the bores where the pins connected to both the shoe (lower) and the cylinder boss were severely worn. It took a thorough sand blasting to prepare it for inspection and painting later. I inserted one of the old pins just to give some scale. There was so much rattle and movement that the hoe would not stay steady as power was being transmitted through the legs to the ground. Also as I mentioned in a previous post, the cylinders were leaking and so were the hoses, something was going to have to be done.
I wasn't sure about welding on cast, but these bores were going to either have to be welded (interior build-up) then re-bored or the simpler solution seemed to be to weld some machined bosses on their faces. I have a younger brother who has been welding for around 40 years for a living and I called him up to get advise from him since he does so much of this type of stuff. He told me that both ends of the stabilizer arms were cast steel, not cast iron and he was correct. I just had to pre heat them with a rose bud and start welding!
After aligning the new bosses and tack welding them, I carefully welded up the bosses to the ends. Machined new pins to fit. You really have to be careful here because if you weld too much in one place and not across from each weld you can warp them and the pins will not fit! Anytime you weld most steels you are going to get some warp, it is mostly a matter of controlling and herding that warp.
I have the leg mounted and centered on the mill table. You can see a leveling block that I used at the one end in order to hold the stabilizer end perpendicular to the bore. You see there is a taper in both stabilizer legs and is about the only way to compensate for that taper. The set up always takes more time than the actual boring. I used an offset boring head and dialed for each pass and took about .020 at a time until reaching the right interior diameter for the (DOM) sleeve that I would later mount in that enlarged bore.
Just checking the fit this shows completed bore with an end cut of the same material that I was going to use for the sleeve
After checking that everything fits, I then prepared both ends of the sleeve and outer edge of the bore with a 45 deg. grind for a full pin weld.
The sleeve is in and this is the completed weld and is now ready for grinding flush with the face.
Completed face all flush and ready for fit up to the hoe to make sure I have not changed the alignment.
Out on the hoe I check for connection fit to see if the stabilizer leg will swing and have full range of motion, holy crap is it heavy! It really makes you appreciate what the hydraulics are doing for you! It fits, and is ready for paint. Notice the discoloration of both ends, that is from preheating the castings and welding.
So now it was time to prime both shoes and legs. By the way, I had to flush off the old flanges from the shoes fill the divots left from stray wash from cutting off the bent flanges, then grinding them flush. After prepping the surfaces on the shoes I welded new plate flanges 3/4 inch flat bar stock which I had bored with 1 3/8 inch holes for the new pins
First coat of Case colors over the primer.
Here is the finished product with new pins and sleeves and bosses waiting for the rest of the hoe to be done!
wmonroe
Elite Member
Very nice.
cycle_gator
Silver Member
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2009
- Messages
- 243
- Location
- Port Orchard, WA
- Tractor
- Kubota L4310 GST;Case 580 CK (1968)
Want to rebuild one of mine? It is off a 580CK but appears to be dimensionally exactly the same. About 3/4 of the upper pivot boss, yes, the casting has broken away. Sot of a pie shaped piece. The remaining boss is severely egged out. Talk about lack of suability when applying power!!
My plan is to cut off the entire boss, machine in a 3 1/2 circle and use a lay-up of three different available DOM's to get a tube with 3 1/2 od/3/4 wall thickness to hold the "bearing piece of DOM a 3/16 walled 1 13/16 ID to hold the pin. I m not home right now so I cannot post a pick, but will do so soon.
How hot did you need to preheat the cast to get the weld to take?
My plan is to cut off the entire boss, machine in a 3 1/2 circle and use a lay-up of three different available DOM's to get a tube with 3 1/2 od/3/4 wall thickness to hold the "bearing piece of DOM a 3/16 walled 1 13/16 ID to hold the pin. I m not home right now so I cannot post a pick, but will do so soon.
How hot did you need to preheat the cast to get the weld to take?
OP
stans1
Silver Member
Cycle_Gator, sounds like you have a bigger problem than I had!
It appears that you have thought your problem through and have a solution; multiple DOM's to form your sleeve. Yeah I guess that will work.
Do you have access to a metal lathe? If you do I would get a chunk of round bar (cold rolled 1018) and bore a hole then machine it out to the dia. you need + a couple of thousands over to fit your pin. I am assuming you have a 1 3/4 in. pin like mine?
As to the pre-heat; I would heat it up to what you would think is about 500-600 deg. and then start your weld. The only reason I heated the pad or shoe end on one of the arms to red was; I had to bend the flange straight, it is not necessary for that much heat just to weld. It was not only egg shaped but bent as well (who knows how someone bends cast steel)! My brother explained to me that you just do not want to shock the cast by welding cold but that high heat is not necessary. Also, do not quench, just let it air cool after you weld it up. Ideally a guy needs an after oven to release the stress after welding but that is not realistic.
Good luck buddy.........
cycle_gator
Silver Member
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2009
- Messages
- 243
- Location
- Port Orchard, WA
- Tractor
- Kubota L4310 GST;Case 580 CK (1968)
Thank you for the response and for sort of hijacking your post. My machine is similar to yours (a 1968 580CK) and shares some of the same issues. So I am really enjoying your super detailed posts and photos on how you are approaching the restoration.
vulcancowboy
Gold Member
Any new progress to report?
OP
stans1
Silver Member
Vulcancowboy, I guess I have just been caught up in the restore to write more. Also crushed a couple of toes after I knocked over a piece of 2"x 4' round bar over on my toes and I was laid up for a while, makes it kind of hard to stand for any length of time. Thanks for the interest, I'll be putting together some more entries......
OP
stans1
Silver Member
Hi again and here are more pictures and notes. Several months ago I started taking the tractor apart to get it down to just engine, torque tube final drive and axles. I had always planned to remove the pumps, starter, generator, power steering, and tubes and assorted hoses so that I could repaint and get rid of the red colored power train and parts.
Even though I had pressure washed my hoe several times before bringing it into the shop to disassemble, all surfaces still had a lot of built up grease, hydraulic fluid, oil and petrified dirt on them!
After I removed the front axle and radiator group I started scraping the muck and crud off of the engine and then put the wire brush on my 41/2 inch grinder and went to work.
Just removed the generator and front pulley on the end of the crankshaft. I found that the crank pulley had really been wallowed out from the crank nut coming loose, and between the resistance from the hydraulic pump that was attached to it really did a number on the woodruff key and pulley fit! I am positive in that condition it would have only been a matter of time before the pulley would have spun on the crank and failed. Leaving me in some place that would have required a service truck to lift the hydraulics to get access to and then fix the connection between crank and pump, so I was glad to find out now!
Engine Clean, ready to prime. You cannot see from the picture the bushing that I had to machine to take up the slack between crank nut and pulley, but I machined it tight enough to make a nice tight fit again including a new key and refurbished keyway. I put in a new oil seal then painted everything behind the pulley so as not to rust before mounting it back on the crankshaft.
Everything clean and the engine is completely primed. I now was starting on the torque tube, brakes and axle area.
Ok, the whole thing is clean as well as hand rubbed with lacquer thinner to remove any remaining grease or oil. Also, I mounted the steering pedestal so I could then mount the tank to check the fit before painting. I then removed the tank and pedestal and taped a couple of things and it is ready to paint. You will notice that the backhoe docking bar is still mounted on the left side. I have to leave one connection point from tractor to hoe to keep things stable.
The whole thing is primed and ready for the sand down. I personally like to use a scotch type pad to rub over the surface to help bond the new finish coat and also to rub off the many rag threads that pull loose from the lacquer soaked cloth.
Just another perspective of the fully primered powertrain. I taped all of the mating surfaces where the starter, power steering pump, and oil filter etc.
I used the Case color chart and painted it the newer Case color Power Tan. I like it better than the stock red that Case painted the 530ck. When you look at the newer hoes, 580 series, it just seemed more construction like, than the farm tractor color that was originally picked by Case.
In this picture you can see the a-frame rectangle tube that I stitch welded on to the boom at the rear of the picture. When you remove as much stuff as I had, it is the only way to keep things safe and stable. Later, they will be cut off and anyway I intend to install a newer boom that I had acquired some time earlier and shuck this one.
Just thought I would include one of the tranny and shuttle tube. Brakes are all cleaned out inside and I repaired the brake and clutch shaft that is contained in the rounded looking area with the two grease zirks. Had to really spend some time straightening both arms that attach to the bottom of the transmission casting (the area that is squared off and has three holes in the casting.
Just a shot of the right side of the power train and if you look at the shift levers you will see the old knobs. I was able to purchase new ones just like OEM from: McMaster-Carr . I wound up getting both shift knobs and backhoe knobs for a really reasonable price. I just painted these because it was easier than taping the threads.
Final view to show entire tractor power train. I still have to get the Roosa Master pump (fuel injection) rebuilt from a local shop. I'm really glad to be at this point on the project, most of the major parts have been cleaned up, so now I have a bunch of painting to do and then reinstallation of those part. In the following post that I make I will show you how I repaired other parts and the steps.
Thanks again for taking a look.
Even though I had pressure washed my hoe several times before bringing it into the shop to disassemble, all surfaces still had a lot of built up grease, hydraulic fluid, oil and petrified dirt on them!
After I removed the front axle and radiator group I started scraping the muck and crud off of the engine and then put the wire brush on my 41/2 inch grinder and went to work.
Just removed the generator and front pulley on the end of the crankshaft. I found that the crank pulley had really been wallowed out from the crank nut coming loose, and between the resistance from the hydraulic pump that was attached to it really did a number on the woodruff key and pulley fit! I am positive in that condition it would have only been a matter of time before the pulley would have spun on the crank and failed. Leaving me in some place that would have required a service truck to lift the hydraulics to get access to and then fix the connection between crank and pump, so I was glad to find out now!
Engine Clean, ready to prime. You cannot see from the picture the bushing that I had to machine to take up the slack between crank nut and pulley, but I machined it tight enough to make a nice tight fit again including a new key and refurbished keyway. I put in a new oil seal then painted everything behind the pulley so as not to rust before mounting it back on the crankshaft.
Everything clean and the engine is completely primed. I now was starting on the torque tube, brakes and axle area.
Ok, the whole thing is clean as well as hand rubbed with lacquer thinner to remove any remaining grease or oil. Also, I mounted the steering pedestal so I could then mount the tank to check the fit before painting. I then removed the tank and pedestal and taped a couple of things and it is ready to paint. You will notice that the backhoe docking bar is still mounted on the left side. I have to leave one connection point from tractor to hoe to keep things stable.
The whole thing is primed and ready for the sand down. I personally like to use a scotch type pad to rub over the surface to help bond the new finish coat and also to rub off the many rag threads that pull loose from the lacquer soaked cloth.
Just another perspective of the fully primered powertrain. I taped all of the mating surfaces where the starter, power steering pump, and oil filter etc.
I used the Case color chart and painted it the newer Case color Power Tan. I like it better than the stock red that Case painted the 530ck. When you look at the newer hoes, 580 series, it just seemed more construction like, than the farm tractor color that was originally picked by Case.
In this picture you can see the a-frame rectangle tube that I stitch welded on to the boom at the rear of the picture. When you remove as much stuff as I had, it is the only way to keep things safe and stable. Later, they will be cut off and anyway I intend to install a newer boom that I had acquired some time earlier and shuck this one.
Just thought I would include one of the tranny and shuttle tube. Brakes are all cleaned out inside and I repaired the brake and clutch shaft that is contained in the rounded looking area with the two grease zirks. Had to really spend some time straightening both arms that attach to the bottom of the transmission casting (the area that is squared off and has three holes in the casting.
Just a shot of the right side of the power train and if you look at the shift levers you will see the old knobs. I was able to purchase new ones just like OEM from: McMaster-Carr . I wound up getting both shift knobs and backhoe knobs for a really reasonable price. I just painted these because it was easier than taping the threads.
Final view to show entire tractor power train. I still have to get the Roosa Master pump (fuel injection) rebuilt from a local shop. I'm really glad to be at this point on the project, most of the major parts have been cleaned up, so now I have a bunch of painting to do and then reinstallation of those part. In the following post that I make I will show you how I repaired other parts and the steps.
Thanks again for taking a look.
vulcancowboy
Gold Member
Wow, you sure have been busy! Great pictures and write up, thanks!
OP
stans1
Silver Member
Yes, it feels like I have been busy. But sure have a lot to do yet. Thanks for noticing. I'll have a bunch more to post......
OP
stans1
Silver Member
Here are some of the pictures that I promised.
I've included some old and the new ones so that you can see it in order of progression. Well most of the pictures are kind of self explanatory and you probably don't need captions, but here goes:
Just one to show how it looked before disassembly, the damage on the front part of the arm. If you look at the very upper part of the tower with the hole through it you can see how buggered up the welding and fit were. Someone at an earlier time had tried to fabricate a partial replacement of the tower and re-align the pivot boss and bushing and it was never right so I am discarding most of it and using only the rear undamaged flange that attaches the arm to the rear axle.
This is my used replacement arm (after sandblasting), shows the damage to the rear flange and why I am cutting it off and discarding it. You know, most of these pieces of equipment are so abused that I don't think you could ever find one that is complete and undamaged at least some place on the tractor after 50+ years of use.
This one shows how bad the repair was on the front part of the old arm (angle iron and fish plates on the tower) but the axle flange is good. It was leaking hydraulic fluid in so many places (looking at the dried dirt and oil on face and this was after I had pressure washed the machine) that there was no way to rebuild or preserve it.
OK, I determined where to cut the frame and put indexing marks on the rear flange (removed paint on the surface of the part) to speed up the re-join. Look at how the upper bracing arm of the backhoe has dug into the metal frame from the pressure exerted from the hoe working on the frame..
This is what is left from cutting the old frame arm and will discard this part. By the way; the section is 3/8" steel. I'm sure that Case sheared the steel from plate stock then broke the radiuses bends, then put them together in a jig and welded them up to form the structural frame arm. I found it pretty amazing that the two frames that I had from different build years were so close in size and shape, it shows Case's willingness to maintain quality control in their manufacturing process!
This is the sandblasted front section and will dress this to weld to the flange off of the other arm.
Just a larger picture of saved piece and my cutting torch.
I stacked up a pile of PT blocks to catch the end as it is falling off after burning off the flange, so it won't fall on my toes.
After grinding and preparing both pieces and several test fits I clamped the 2 pieces together and tack welded them.
Fitting up the stiff backs (1/2"x6" bar stock) to maintaining straight and cut down on warpage during welding. Doing something like this is akin to putting walers (horizontal support) on concrete forms, resists the pressure exerted by the heat of welding.
Looking at the set up from the outside after tacking.
Close-up of the rat holes and stiff backs. The rat holes were so that you can continue the weld through the backing stock.
I only welded about 4" at a time let it set for awhile to cool (keep the heat warp to a minimum) then proceed again.
This picture is while I was checking fit and seeing what needed to be done for final install. I had to take it off and adjust a little at some of the points of contact, but I was real lucky and nailed the fit, considering how easily I could have screwed it up! An 1/8"-1/4" off and it would throw off all of the other points of contact and sync would have made for an unworkable piece of junk! It's not as easy as welding two pieces of steel together, trust me!!!
I included this one to show you how many parts would be out of alignment if I had got the angles in my initial cutting of the parts wrong. The arm has compound angles on both ends of attachment at the tractor, it angles in toward the front frame where the radiator is. If any of the parts are out of sync. at any of the dimensions, the shaft or rod that goes through both arms will be in a bind or worse, won't slide through both bosses and the loader arms would be in a bind and you know what happens then!
I was setting up the fish plate as extra backing and getting ready to weld. I'm using that duo-shield .045 wire.
Got her done and no distortions or warps. I welded it in steps again (not too much heat).
Here's the final and finished arm.
I still have to pressure test it for leaks then paint the frame before I install it. I've already welded up several leaking spots and re-welded the boss where the loader arm shaft rotates. There were several cracks in the weld and sheet metal of the tower but I think I got those repaired.
Thanks for waiting for this later submission, but it takes time to put it all together as well as doing the project.
I've included some old and the new ones so that you can see it in order of progression. Well most of the pictures are kind of self explanatory and you probably don't need captions, but here goes:
Just one to show how it looked before disassembly, the damage on the front part of the arm. If you look at the very upper part of the tower with the hole through it you can see how buggered up the welding and fit were. Someone at an earlier time had tried to fabricate a partial replacement of the tower and re-align the pivot boss and bushing and it was never right so I am discarding most of it and using only the rear undamaged flange that attaches the arm to the rear axle.
This is my used replacement arm (after sandblasting), shows the damage to the rear flange and why I am cutting it off and discarding it. You know, most of these pieces of equipment are so abused that I don't think you could ever find one that is complete and undamaged at least some place on the tractor after 50+ years of use.
This one shows how bad the repair was on the front part of the old arm (angle iron and fish plates on the tower) but the axle flange is good. It was leaking hydraulic fluid in so many places (looking at the dried dirt and oil on face and this was after I had pressure washed the machine) that there was no way to rebuild or preserve it.
OK, I determined where to cut the frame and put indexing marks on the rear flange (removed paint on the surface of the part) to speed up the re-join. Look at how the upper bracing arm of the backhoe has dug into the metal frame from the pressure exerted from the hoe working on the frame..
This is what is left from cutting the old frame arm and will discard this part. By the way; the section is 3/8" steel. I'm sure that Case sheared the steel from plate stock then broke the radiuses bends, then put them together in a jig and welded them up to form the structural frame arm. I found it pretty amazing that the two frames that I had from different build years were so close in size and shape, it shows Case's willingness to maintain quality control in their manufacturing process!
This is the sandblasted front section and will dress this to weld to the flange off of the other arm.
Just a larger picture of saved piece and my cutting torch.
I stacked up a pile of PT blocks to catch the end as it is falling off after burning off the flange, so it won't fall on my toes.
After grinding and preparing both pieces and several test fits I clamped the 2 pieces together and tack welded them.
Fitting up the stiff backs (1/2"x6" bar stock) to maintaining straight and cut down on warpage during welding. Doing something like this is akin to putting walers (horizontal support) on concrete forms, resists the pressure exerted by the heat of welding.
Looking at the set up from the outside after tacking.
Close-up of the rat holes and stiff backs. The rat holes were so that you can continue the weld through the backing stock.
I only welded about 4" at a time let it set for awhile to cool (keep the heat warp to a minimum) then proceed again.
This picture is while I was checking fit and seeing what needed to be done for final install. I had to take it off and adjust a little at some of the points of contact, but I was real lucky and nailed the fit, considering how easily I could have screwed it up! An 1/8"-1/4" off and it would throw off all of the other points of contact and sync would have made for an unworkable piece of junk! It's not as easy as welding two pieces of steel together, trust me!!!
I included this one to show you how many parts would be out of alignment if I had got the angles in my initial cutting of the parts wrong. The arm has compound angles on both ends of attachment at the tractor, it angles in toward the front frame where the radiator is. If any of the parts are out of sync. at any of the dimensions, the shaft or rod that goes through both arms will be in a bind or worse, won't slide through both bosses and the loader arms would be in a bind and you know what happens then!
I was setting up the fish plate as extra backing and getting ready to weld. I'm using that duo-shield .045 wire.
Got her done and no distortions or warps. I welded it in steps again (not too much heat).
Here's the final and finished arm.
I still have to pressure test it for leaks then paint the frame before I install it. I've already welded up several leaking spots and re-welded the boss where the loader arm shaft rotates. There were several cracks in the weld and sheet metal of the tower but I think I got those repaired.
Thanks for waiting for this later submission, but it takes time to put it all together as well as doing the project.
wmonroe
Elite Member
Impressive workmanship. Thanks for the update.
Billrog
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2014
- Messages
- 2,057
- Location
- Armstrong, British Columbia
- Tractor
- Kioti 2610, 580 SuperM Case Backhoe
Excellent job very nice work !!!
OP
stans1
Silver Member
Thanks, wmonroe, I noticed that you have been following my posts and that's appreciated!
OP
stans1
Silver Member
Boy it's been a odyssey, but fun too. More to come...........
vulcancowboy
Gold Member
Very nice, wish I lived closer, I'd love to watch/learn.
OP
stans1
Silver Member
Thanks for the kind words, vulcancowboy. I noticed that you have been following the rebuild too. You know, I'm just an old broken down carpenter, been in the trades for 45-50 years and bought this hoe back in 1998 with all of it's problems, to build my shop and just didn't have time to fix all the broken stuff while I was still working in the real world. Well, I'm retired now and really enjoying the process. I decided if I was going to do it, I was going to do it right.
vulcancowboy
Gold Member
I hope to retire in a few years, trying to buy stuff for the shop while I still have the money! I love old (and new) iron!
OP
stans1
Silver Member
Well, here are a few more and a little farther down the trail............
When I started addressing (what I call the backhoe docking bars) condition, I realized that they were going to have to be entirely rebuilt. The bars were fabricated out of 1"x6" steel and were, because of their size, still in acceptable condition. As you can see from the picture, the front attaching angle 5/8"x3" steel bar had been broken and welded many times. Also the rear axle attaching bars had been broke and welded and warped as well.
This is one of the rear bars and welded plate and chicken poop welds, not much strength here!
Cleaning prepping the bars for later work. Even the cone shaped hole had some damage that had to have some build up and grinding.
After washing off the old welds and steel with a gouging tip on my torch, I could finally begin clamping up the 1"x6" bar, axle attaching bars after milling holes in them, and front angle and get them into proper position to tack up and then weld.
Another perspective of the front attachment in sync. with the structural loader frame
A close-up of the connection point with 3/4" bolt. I had to build up the surface between the L-flange and frame because of excessive ware at that point. I did this while the loader frame was off, then ground it down for the fit. Now it's ready to tack.
Just got them all in position and tacked.
Ready for weld up.
Welded up a root pass and cooling off.
Two cover passes and cooling
Finished weld (using .045 Duo-shield) and got good penetration.
Painted and ready to install........... Glad to have this done on both sides!
When I started addressing (what I call the backhoe docking bars) condition, I realized that they were going to have to be entirely rebuilt. The bars were fabricated out of 1"x6" steel and were, because of their size, still in acceptable condition. As you can see from the picture, the front attaching angle 5/8"x3" steel bar had been broken and welded many times. Also the rear axle attaching bars had been broke and welded and warped as well.
This is one of the rear bars and welded plate and chicken poop welds, not much strength here!
Cleaning prepping the bars for later work. Even the cone shaped hole had some damage that had to have some build up and grinding.
After washing off the old welds and steel with a gouging tip on my torch, I could finally begin clamping up the 1"x6" bar, axle attaching bars after milling holes in them, and front angle and get them into proper position to tack up and then weld.
Another perspective of the front attachment in sync. with the structural loader frame
A close-up of the connection point with 3/4" bolt. I had to build up the surface between the L-flange and frame because of excessive ware at that point. I did this while the loader frame was off, then ground it down for the fit. Now it's ready to tack.
Just got them all in position and tacked.
Ready for weld up.
Welded up a root pass and cooling off.
Two cover passes and cooling
Finished weld (using .045 Duo-shield) and got good penetration.
Painted and ready to install........... Glad to have this done on both sides!
