GT225 hood cracked

jbudimlya · Mar 23, 2015

Just looked and I have a crack in the side panel of my 1999 445.....and it is about 6 inches long. There was no known event that caused the crack. Maybe old age and temperature cycling can cause a crack. Whatever happened, it went from a minor event to a 6 inch crack all by itself. I'm guessing that the material looses its ability to resist cracking.

beenthere · Mar 23, 2015

Do you have a pic of the crack to post?

jbudimlya · Mar 23, 2015

Here is a picture of the crack from the inside....there are no obvious marks on the outside that makes an impact to this panel.

beenthere · Mar 23, 2015

I have not had that cracking problem on any of the 425, 445, or 455's I have or have had over the last 15 years.
Don't know how it happened, but must have had some extra strain to cause it to crack.

jbudimlya · Mar 23, 2015

Just bought this tractor a month ago. I have had to store it outside, while it had lived inside since new. The night temps have at times gone near 0 degrees....maybe this contributed to the problem.
The outside surface looks like new, so there has not been any serious impacts. Maybe someone dropped the panel on the corner sometime in the past??
I will try some of repair....maybe a fiberglass / bonding agent while holding the halves together with a fixture?? If that fails....I will use a backer panel and pop rivet all along the crack. I would like it to look perfect, but its more important to have it functional.

jenkinsph · Mar 26, 2015

Wish I could help but haven't had any of these cracks to fix. It would be great to know what kind of glue would work to seal the crack together. Some plastics such as acrylics have a glue that would work for that purpose, if would be great to have a similar glue that works on the Deere plastic compound Xenalloy (spelling?). This could be used to reinforce the crack repair afterwards.

My mother keeps banging and bruising her cars bumpers (plastic of sorts) which have needed cosmetic repairs. I was able to get a tube of bumper repair compound to use for this at an auto paint supply. Seemed to work well and was able to sand it when cured. Something like this may work for attaching an inside splice together.

At any rate getting the chemistry right is key here, I am no chemist though.

jbudimlya · Mar 26, 2015

For what its worth, I am a chemist, and I like your bumper patch material suggestion. I am less interested in cosmetics, but I want it to hold, and when combined with liberal use of pop rivets and fiberglass tape as a reinforcement, I simply want a repair that lasts. I will use the best skills to sand and paint the royal green to make it look good from a distance, but a show winner it will not be

Ken · Mar 26, 2015

peterc38 said:
I'm sure they can crack from abuse. Also, they could crack from unintentional human error. After all we're all human.

About 2 years ago mowing across drive way and backed 18" to have mower slide off the side and land 5' lower upside down on top of me .
Pined to ground engine trying to run and mower deck spinning. The hood busted and parts laying around.
In lifting the 300 pounds to get out from under broke more of the hood
Drug it to the shop repaired all the bent parts but hood was a mess. Had some GOOP Brand sealer and glue.
Then with a piece of metal flat bar drill some bolt holes and put in bolts to retain in correct alignment.
It has held good and just a small discoloration of where fixed.
ken

peterc38 · Mar 26, 2015

Ken said:
About 2 years ago mowing across drive way and backed 18" to have mower slide off the side and land 5' lower upside down on top of me .
Pined to ground engine trying to run and mower deck spinning. The hood busted and parts laying around.
In lifting the 300 pounds to get out from under broke more of the hood
Drug it to the shop repaired all the bent parts but hood was a mess. Had some GOOP Brand sealer and glue.
Then with a piece of metal flat bar drill some bolt holes and put in bolts to retain in correct alignment.
It has held good and just a small discoloration of where fixed.
ken

Wow sounds like you were lucky the only thing you had to fix was related to the tractor and not pieces and parts of yourself.

Ken · Mar 27, 2015

peterc38 said:
Wow sounds like you were lucky the only thing you had to fix was related to the tractor and not pieces and parts of yourself.

Failed to mention that the shoulder therapy for couple months and hip put back into the socket joint
and having to walk funny and slow to get on tractor for a year. but could of been knocked on the head.
Also the glue joint on the hood is solid.
ken