Broke my tractor today

[Gary Fowler]

I think the bolts are ok. They go in at least an inch (see photo with bolts in place) and they were tight. I can tell you for sure, the bracket WILL break before the bolts give way. I think that is the designed preference.

 

[gregsm33]

Hey Gary,

It is nice to see that the drawbar failed before it damaged tractor itself.
When I built my shop few months ago I had 4 trucks stuck in my yard and the 7010 came to rescue, 2 of them were loaded cement trucks with 10 yards high psi cement, and also the truck delviering my roof trusses, and truck delivering steel for roof and siding. I pulled them out with load chain with the hooks off of bucket I had welded. I had a ballast box on back otherwise I would have pulled from back too. In all 3 cases I managed to get all trucks out of mud.

When I get a chance I post few pics of 7010 being useful when I built new shop.

 

[Short Game]

Would it be bad to have a tow hook on the ballast box and pull with that? I pull from my box blade often, as I use it as ballast and it also has a winch mounted on it.

 

[toxicjeeper]

I think the bolts are ok. They go in at least an inch (see photo with bolts in place) and they were tight. I can tell you for sure, the bracket WILL break before the bolts give way. I think that is the designed preference.

At first i was thinking it wouldn't be too hard to make that part from scratch but i agree,,its better that it breaks than do more seriously damage..

Did you do a test pull on the welds? I can see the hair line crack on the inside of that bracket in one of your pictures..

 

[Gary Fowler]

I didnt bother to put it on as I was off to nether regions for 2 months. There was a bit of lack of penetration when I welded it due to improper prep before welding (my fault for getting in too big of a hurry) TOO close to be able to back grind from the inside and I welded the first pass from the outside of the bracket making it impossible to get to the inside to back grind. I just had to weld over it on the inside and hope for the best. There is a couple of small spots but it is no worse than the original casting that had a big hole in on side about centerline of the break which likely contributed to the failure. I would have thought that the drawbar connection would have been stronger than a 3/8" Harbor Freight chain which I think was grade 50.

 

[northpolefolks]

Not good when things break, but pulling on a 45klb load will do it for sure. If somethinghas to break back there better that bracket than your tractor itself. I don't care what brand of tractor you have, that kind of work is going to highlight any weakness you have.

Would seem like you would almost want to have it bolted on with bench tested weight rated bolts. That would make your weak link the bolts and you would never hurt your tractor that way. I know they make the rated bolts for the oil industry with center holes pre drilled to allow for quick "EZ-out" when they break.

Looks like you should be back in business with the weld job. You look like a better welder than me.

 

[SPYDERLK]

If you have to choose weakening of a component there I would look to the pin. Probably use a shear bolt to avoid spreading the ears on the bracket. Any failure of the bolt up connection to the tractor will endanger the casting.
larry

 

[I have no memory]

That shouldn't have broke before the chain. Either it's poorly designed or there was an inherent flaw in the casting.

 

[PapaPerk]

That shouldn't have broke before the chain. Either it's poorly designed or there was an inherent flaw in the casting.

Fully agree. Tractor should loose traction before you break the drawbar. :confused2: Bad design me thinks.

Lifting and pushing the truck at the same time sounds like serious potential for damage to front drive and loader. Glad nothing else broke!

Hope the trucker gave u a nice tip!

 

[I have no memory]

Yeah. On the pulling trucks out thing. There was a fertilizer truck that got stuck on my property a few years ago. It was around 18,000 lbs and there was no way I was going to move it with my 9,000 lb tractor. They tried a 150 hp tractor and it was too light too. They ended up getting a logging winch and pulling it out that way. You really gotta be careful with those big trucks.

I have had to put my excavator bucket up to the side of the dump truck bed while dumping to keep it from tipping over. That gets pretty exciting.