Need help....is this fixable???

[Little Red Tractor]

I think you'll get the best result if you disassemble the unit first, then heat and beat back into alignment. Grind a good V so you can get a good bead where you are welding. Plating to reinforce the broken spots would likely be a good investment in both time and material. I'd use 1/4" or up to the thickness of the steel in the boom.

 

[MasseyWV]

I think you'll get the best result if you disassemble the unit first, then heat and beat back into alignment. Grind a good V so you can get a good bead where you are welding. Plating to reinforce the broken spots would likely be a good investment in both time and material. I'd use 1/4" or up to the thickness of the steel in the boom.

:thumbsup:

 

[Cat_Driver]

Cut it out and make a new on STRONGER that what that garbage that's on there.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Same here, I would cut out the pulled out section and fab a whole new piece complete with new pin bushings. Then but a scab plate on that covers the welded area by at least 2-3 inches and weld around it. I would put the scab plate on both sides. You are going to have to straighten the back side, grind off the old weld and reweld it first making sure the pin is in perfectly square to the boom. THere is a thread here where Eddie Walker did a boom repair that might be of interest on how to make the scab plates.

 

[jake98]

It's a valuable lesson on why not to whack stuff sideways..

 

[ericher69]

Fixable!

How did the damage happen?

 

[chevy292]

I didn't hit anything sideways. I was digging out a brook, very easy digging. Just normal yearly clean out. Made a horrible sound and boom. I was just starring at it saying to myself, "oh crap......"

The parts you guys mentioned, longer pins and bushings. Where is a good online place to order them? Where I live there are no places to buy such things.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Sounds like it had been stretching and wearing for a while. Sounds like a good place to start looking for abuse on my upcoming used TLB purchase. Also looks like you backhoe owners probably ought to check your machines for wear and early signs of stress cracks that can be repaired easily before the open wide. If I were the OP on this one, I would look at the rest of my boom closely, remove any flaking paint and look for any other stressed points: Fix them all now.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I went back and looked at your photos again and it looks like the weld around the bushing has been broken for a long time and all the pressure has been gradually stretching that thin piece of wrap around steel to the final breaking point. If you can get everything squared back up, and the pins aligned, I think it will be a pretty easy fix. It would be much easier if the boom was separated and on a fab table. You need to grind out all the old weld around the bushing and v bevel it with a carbide bit rotary file so you can get at least 75% penetration around the bushing. I think that is the culprit that caused the whole problem, that little fillet weld around the bushing is taking all the load. You should be able to heat and beat that strap back into place and work the other cracked side back straight, then as said above get a good 7018 weld all around it. You can then put a doubler plate on the outside of the bushing leaving enough space to put the safety bolt and nut in by notching that area and welding all around the notch. Your double needs to be as thick as the boom section minimum. I would extend it up the boom at least 8" and taper it down toward the end but leave about a 2" radius on the end of the doubler plate. Put one on each side and if will never break again, at least not there.
That bottom strap should not be the load carrier for this. The load should be on the weld around the bushing which is what you are beefing up

 

[Gary Fowler]

One other thing, if you can remove the boom so you can get to the back side of that bushing and weld it from the back side without causing any metal binding, it will be a much stronger joint. IF the bushing is flush on the inside edge, you wont be able to do this and should then try for a full penetration weld from the other side being carefull to not have weld metal lumped up inside that may bind on the hinge of the pinned connection.