Front axle hairline crack

[Desert Bred]

It likely a crack that resulted from around a porous casting. I've seen this multiple times before in some of the lower quality Chinese tractors back in the 80's and 90's... They would also grind the castings to smooth out outward defects. Fei Dong made a decent tractor, better than many of them...But anything is possible. You'll likely need an axle housing before it's over if you have a front end loader on it. I have a dealer friend that specializes on Chinese parts and has a warehouse full of them. He's in FL but sells all over the US. IF you need a housing or parts pm me and I'll give you his contact info.

I heard about brazing haven't looked into it though yet .
It does appear you're right about that porous casting I looked at it closer and it bulges a bit and then appears grinded down before paint (someone else above also noted that) - the loads are a bit on the heavy side due to this Davis 8d14 loader from the 50's I have on it and it was made like a tank with a 5 ft bucket. Very heavy piece here . Frame alone weighs more than the previous frame and loader/arms I had on it (MF 216 with 4ft bucket). Front wheels kept clipping the mounting frame so i needed to change it.

Going to try to keep those loads down some and look into some prices on another axle. Thanks for those responses full of insight and I'll be pm'ing you about that friend of yours. Thanks
Db

 

[muddstopper]

I always use a nickle99 stick rod for welding cast. If you drain the oil from housing and then heat the crack with a torch, you will burn out the oils from the pores. Keep the torch handy. You want to preheat when you weld it, and you want to post heat it when your done.

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

I've seen this many times as I said....welding it won't fix the porosity at the site. The part in the middle is likely a ingot of slag that was trapped during the casting process and it's cracked around it...the "QC" people at the factory caught it, but unfortunately instead of rejecting it, it was ground down...and puttied over.

 

[muddstopper]

Mark, you may be right, but if the alternative is to try to weld or replace the axle, I would at least give welding a shot before buying a new axle. A hand full of rods, a little grinding and patience might do the trick.

 

[ishiboo]

I've seen this many times as I said....welding it won't fix the porosity at the site. The part in the middle is likely a ingot of slag that was trapped during the casting process and it's cracked around it...the "QC" people at the factory caught it, but unfortunately instead of rejecting it, it was ground down...and puttied over.

What you are saying might be true, but it's usually worth spending the $50 or whatever to have it welded up and seeing what happens versus trying to find a likely expensive and hard to find part immediately. That crack does not currently look "that bad" and the majority of the stress from the loader work would be on the bottom "web" (yes, it's a tube) of the axle. So with even a semi-decent weld it should hold up fine, the biggest components are keeping it from spreading if it is a crack/void, and preventing the lube from leaking out.

I am not familiar with cast iron welding but have seen things fixed, as well as the references here… it seems highly likely this can be fixed without spending big bucks on a new axle.

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

What you are saying might be true, but it's usually worth spending the $50 or whatever to have it welded up and seeing what happens versus trying to find a likely expensive and hard to find part immediately. That crack does not currently look "that bad" and the majority of the stress from the loader work would be on the bottom "web" (yes, it's a tube) of the axle. So with even a semi-decent weld it should hold up fine, the biggest components are keeping it from spreading if it is a crack/void, and preventing the lube from leaking out.

I am not familiar with cast iron welding but have seen things fixed, as well as the references here… it seems highly likely this can be fixed without spending big bucks on a new axle.

$50.00??
This is specialized welding. You can't even buy a box of electrodes to do this task for that. You have to preheat and post heat this metal. You have to grind the affected area out...then build it back in. Seeing how I've worked on these type tractors and seen this before, all the way back to 1986, the axle housing will make a good door stop nothing more. You have to disassemble the axle because there are seals and bearings in the vecinity of this area. You are looking at 300 or 400 dollars for this repair. An end axle housing like this is not that expensive.

 

[muddstopper]

Hobart Nickel 99 Stick Electrodes — 3/32in. Dia., 10-Ct., Model# H500531-RDP | Welding Sticks Wire| Northern Tool + Equipment
Little less than $50 I figure. Yes it has to be disassembled, but it also has to be disassembled and reassembled if he chooses to buy a new axle.
Preheat and postheat isnt that big an issue either. Last casted metal i welded i used a propane weed burner and heated the entire assembly to 800F, Kept it at that heat while i welded it and didnt have any cracking problems. I am not a profession welder by any stretch, but I believe I would try welding the piece before springing for a new axle housing.

 

[Arc weld]

Brazing would be a better option but it would have to be completely disassembled and lots and lots of preheat. I think it would be good to determine if it's a stress crack or just a casting flaw that is leaking. If it appears to be a casting flaw, then maybe cleaning it really good with a carbide burr on a die grinder, heating it just enough to burn any oil out and using an epoxy would work fine for stopping the leak. If you tried this, it would be best to take the axle off and set it so the flaw is facing up. Then the epoxy wouldn't run. Cleaning it up would best be done overhead so the filings fall away from it. You just want to keep any filings from getting inside.

 

[Shield Arc]

You could always do the old trick before selling a car, that the rear end was going out. Pack it full of saw dust, or banana peels. :laughing:

 

[pmsmechanic]

I am not a professional welder by any means though I have done a lot of welding for the neighbours and I like to build my own stuff. I also like to experiment and have found Actec 223 rods to work very well for welding cast and forged iron. They're a bit of a sticky rod but once you get them going they weld ok. My thoughts are that if this is just a casting flaw then brazing would be good enough. If stress is causing this crack then I'd be either looking for a different axle or if your going to all the work of taking this axle out to weld it then while it's out you might want to design and weld in some reinforcement so that your heavy loads won't cause the same thing all over again. I'll be interested in seeing what you end up doing.