Gearbox Crack Repair

[Deano]

I repaired a 10" crack in my stepsons jeep that lasted for two years till I bought one off of Ebay and rebuilt it. A year later he wrecked the jeep and he put the "repaired" one back in it and it is still on the road!!

Looks good! Hope you have teh same luck i did!!:thumbsup:

 

[rdsaustintx]

The engineer side of me wants to say you might have relieved the ends of the crack as long as you had a Dremel out.

The redneck side of me remembers a nailgun I dropped with a crack about that size. Lost one night waiting for JB Weld to dry. That was 6+ years ago and it still holds 100 psi.

 

[crazyal]

If it doesn't hold I would try again. Like others have said try and find the ends of the crack and drill them. To do this you can't just look at where the crack stops and think that's where it ends. I would also rough the surface up, say sand blast it to give the epoxy something more to stick to. You could also drill a few small holes in the cooling fins and run wire between them that would also help give the epoxy bite.

While welding would be best it would require you to tear down the gearbox, grind the crack out,and heat the metal before welding it to make sure you only had to do it once.

 

[gauthier]

If he was welding it,just grind the crack out,,but using jb weld or brazing,yeah,a drilled hole would stop crack,if,,you could find the ends of it that is,if you can't find the ends,you just drilled holes,,like said,they have stuff called dye penatrant to show you where crack is,,that area cracked for a reason and generally cracks grow,but in the meantime,you fixed it.

 

[palomar]

dex3361
The case is iron.

I did roughen all surfaces the JB Weld would come in contact with, using 180 grit, but I didn't take pictures. I wish I had thought of drilling the ends of the crack to ensure it does not spread.

Thanks for all the replies and advice.