Broken Casting for top link of 3 point hitch leaking fluid on 5325

mjncad · Apr 17, 2012

I'd try welding or brazing first. Like others have said, what have you got to lose?

Gary Fowler · Apr 17, 2012

Good old E 7018 will weld that up good as new. I recently broke the drawbar fastener on my tractor and welded it up with 7018 good as new. As said, it is likely cast steel rather than cast iron so you can weld it quiet easily with 7018. Just need a bit of preheat to warm the whole piece up to about 200F before starting your welding. Grind a V bevel in it to the full extent of the crack, weld it up, smooth it back down on the gasket surface and it should be good to go. YOu will need to overfill the area with weld metal then carefully grind it down flush while carefully avoiding scarring the surrounding gasket surface.

Gary Fowler · Apr 17, 2012

Your photo shows what appears to be a bolt hole by the crack but it doesnt look like a bolt has been in it and the schematic doesnt show one. This might be the reason it cracked.
Might be a good idea to look at another tractor (if one is available) like yours and see if it is the same. Could be an assembly error and JD might fix it for you for free.
It sure looks like a lot of work to dissassemble that whole thing.

jimgerken · Apr 17, 2012

Do you suppose the reason it broke is that it was loose? My 3720 had this issue, but luckily I caught it before it broke. One other thing, it is possible yours is loose and leaking, and is not broken, only appears broken. Sometimes castings will do that, appear broken when they are not. I know, it sounds unlikely. Check your bolts guys...
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...g/227282-loose-hydro-trans-cover-leaking.html

jcalla · Apr 17, 2012

Clean it up with Berkable 2+2 and apply expoxy JB Weld.

JPC

spruce Deere · Apr 17, 2012

Almost bet its cast iron.
Mine was cast iron and was welded with nickle rod.

lwalsh · Apr 17, 2012

If you have someone weld it make sure they know to bolt it to something solid so the mating surface stays flat.

Piston · Apr 17, 2012

lwalsh said:
If you have someone weld it make sure they know to bolt it to something solid so the mating surface stays flat.

That's some great advice right there, something I NEVER would have thought of :thumbsup:

flusher · Apr 17, 2012

candersen10 said:
Do you know if it is possible to weld a casting together reliably?

Cracks in castings are welded all the time, but usually your talking about non-load-bearing parts like intake/exhaust manifolds, engine block water jackets. Cast iron can be brazed also. I had a badly cracked casting on the water pump for my 1951 Minneapolis Moline BF tractor that I'm restoring. It was relatively easy for my engine guy to do the weld himself in his shop rather than send it out to a weld shop. Of course, the pressure and load on a water pump is negligible compared to loads that might show up on your casting that apparently involves a 3 point hitch attach point.

If you can get the part off your tractor without a large amount of other disassembly, you might take it to a weld shop and see what they say.

I recently was in a similar situation to yours. The 1948 Farmall Cub I was restoring turned out to have a complete fracture of one of the load bearing parts on the front of the engine block (see this thread for details).

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/farmall-vintage-tractors/238713-my-cub-toast.html

No way to fix a mess like this--that block is scrap.

Good luck.

beenthere · Apr 17, 2012

candersen10 said:
To be perfectly honest I have no idea how it cracked. Most recently (when we noticed the problem) it was running a transplanter which is somewhat heavy but runs in a creeper gear and thus I doubt would have caused this type of thing to crack.

We run a plastic layer, transplanter, various mowers, chisel plow (on occasion, we're mostly using a Kuhn moldboard plow on our 6430 premium), and some other random implements on it. Certainly nothing that really lifts the front end up on a steep slope.

Sorry, I missed this post about what the attachments were.
Ground engaging attachments like you mentioned would put forward push (compression load) on the top arm. Where the crack is, would it fit that kind of load?