Just bought first tractor and got ripped off

[Threepoint]

Do you see a crack in the weld? ... I dont in the pics. The leak may be just from some porosity within an otherwise strong fix. If so, you may just have a leak to stop. Forget JB weld either way. Nothing will give you enough strength, but if its just a leak look for oil tolerant sealers for tight porosity. -- Then do a clean up and fix in place. Do not use Brake Kleen because it leaves a difficult to remove residue in the metal that will degrade the adhesive as the casting warms up in use. Acetone or alcohol followed by thorough drying with a hair dryer will be much better.

Spyderlk, curious about this for future reference. I fortunately haven't had to try JB weld for this type of application, but it is steel-reinforced epoxy, and plenty strong for some other demanding situations I've had. Are there particular oil tolerant sealers for tight porosity that you recommend?

 

[flusher]

Your only low-cost choice is to scrape off that black crud, clean the crack and the area around the crack with your favorite degreaser and then apply JB-Weld epoxy to the cracked area. Depending on how well you cleaned the metal, that epoxy will last from a few years to permanently.

Good luck

 

[newbury]

Yea I'm just going to move on. I have let this consume my life enough. I'm going to get the tractor re-welded and hope for the best.

Unless I missed it you still have not told us the rate of leakage. LD1 hs some good points that it might not need welding. Lot's of vehicle leak throughout their life.

In the Army we used to park vehicles over drip pans and add a quart every so often. The vehicles ran for YEARS that way and might have consumed a case of oil due to drips. One case of oil was a lot cheaper than replacing the seal every couple of years.

 

[jajiu]

Check ebay for a used trans. case, you'd be surprised what you can find there for a good price.

 

[SPYDERLK]

Spyderlk, curious about this for future reference. I fortunately haven't had to try JB weld for this type of application, but it is steel-reinforced epoxy, and plenty strong for some other demanding situations I've had. Are there particular oil tolerant sealers for tight porosity that you recommend?

The forces that caused the initial crack were huge. Any repair of that crack must be comparably strong and stiff as the original, very stiff, casting. The crack must be immobilized as if the area is fused together again. No epoxy will do this. The weld or braze repair might have ... and maybe still is. It is very important to find out whether that is the situation. If not, it is hopeless w/o a sophisticated weld repair or case replacement.

Working from the possibility that it is a strong and comparably stiff repair that just happens to have a few voids you have a much different and easier repair. ... Somebodys got to take a real hard look at the leak. Is the repair cracked or not??​

- Lets make the assumption that once someone pays appropriate attention it is found that the leak is from a couple or even several pinpoint sources in the repair and no crack can be found. There is huge work overhead and risk in trying to re weld to stop a leak through some little holes in that prior weld that, otherwise, is in good shape. This is the time to just seal the holes. The seal is against essentially zero pressure. Strength of any such patch remedy is immaterial since that strength will be vanishingly miniscule in proportion to the weld itself. What is important is that the material is not grossly affected by oil, either during application or useful life, and that the material bond is durable in the face of stresses induced by differential expansion with temperature change. A surface patch is at more risk since it must adhere. A flexible material gets around the expansion stresses but is it good with long term oil contact? RTV gasket compound certainly isnt. Is that the gasket maker referred to?:

I just bought a 2002 tc24d with 1,000hrs (first tractor I have owned). When I got home I noticed hydraulic fluid on my trailer like it was leaking by the belly mower. So I went in for farther investigation to see what is going on. I found that I have been ripped off there is a 12" weld going up the lift side of the transmission which was covered in gasket maker and painted black. Acourse its leaking hydraulic fluid. Now I'm lost what do I do. I don't have any money to fix it I saved up for a year to buy this tractor and the seller is pretty much non responsive.

Better than any surface patch/seal is a liquid that will go into the hole and set up forming a mechanical plug. This has the advantage of being able to work without actually having to stick. The plug is lodged within the hole, essentially keyed to its profile. Anaerobic setting compounds are surprisingly suitable for sealing small leak paths. Typically, an extremely thin wicking compound is used, drawn into the porosity by capillary action, then setting up due to the confined metal rich air free environment. In the situation here a wicking liquid is not really necessary since it is easy to apply a moderate vacuum to the case and draw a thicker anaerobic liquid - or even a liquid epoxy - into the hole/s.

 

[hutchman]

Every body always tries to say that an 'as is' sale means you, the buyer, are screwed no matter what, but this is not the case. There is such a thing as 'concealment' in the law, as in 'lying about, or failure to disclose, a known problem'.

Under the laws of all states in the country, the seller of a vehicle is required to disclose all material facts known about an item impacting desirability or price paid by a potential buyer. In this matter, if the seller knew of the problems with the tractor that the OP is now writing about and did not disclose such to him, and such problems were not readily visible, he may have a factual and legal basis to cancel the sale based upon said "concealment".

The problem for him is proving that the seller knew of the problems before the "as is" sale and did not disclose such before he took possession of the item and had the intent to defraud the buyer. He has text messages showing that the seller did indeed know about the problem before hand.

Again, selling something 'As Is' does NOT automatically protect you.

I agree. You are in VA. We have some good consumer protection laws. It won't hurt to call your Attorney General office and explain the situation. They will know or will know who you need to talk to. The product was misrepresented. On some items (like vehicles) you have a certain number of days to change your mind for any reason. Doesn't cost anything to call and ask. There may be some special case for farm equipment.

 

[hutchman]

My brand of tractor has had issues with the bell housing breaking with FEL and/or BH use or abuse which prompted me to fab braces which carry some stress back to the rear axle rather than hanging all off the bell. While the weld repair does look good, if only to ease your mind, this might also be an option too after the leak fix. While I agree it's a sh**** deal, I have seen some awful looking repairs on old farm equipment that amazingly worked!
Don't give up hope.

I was thinking this too. A co-worker had his tractor split and he didn't check the torque of loader mounts and bell housing bolts periodically as he started using it again and they became loose and broke more stuff. Make sure the loader mount bolts are tightened to spec (my manual says to check ever 10hrs or so).

You want to make sure everything under there is to proper torque spec. If it isn't, this repair is going to come apart again.

Since this has busted once, you should consider what extra bracing could be easily added to keep tractor from flexing in the middle or stressing that crack because that repair probably isn't as strong as the original casting. Distributing the FEL forces back to the ROPS mount in the rear is how my tractor distributes these forces.

 

[jack707]

I don't know what you could do if you paid in cash! You might try to take the guy to small claims.

 

[jack707]

A renter took me for 800 and after I won court he asked the judge to write it off since he makes under the poverty level!!!.

 

[Poorboy04]

Ok so I started removing everything to better see the weld. We'll what do I find just more problems. The next section in front of the transmission has about a 10" weld starting at the top and wrapping around the right side of the tractor that looks to be leaking hydraulic fluid to. Now what do I do.