One more photo of the LA723 loader cracks

Patk · May 22, 2005

This is a shot of the crack in the same location , but on the right side of the tractor...it's not as bad and could easily be overlooked.

Junkman · May 22, 2005

Must be my poor vision, but I don't see any sign of a crack. Possible you could better describe where the crack is located? Thanks Junk......

johnday · May 22, 2005

Pat; I'm just a rookie weldor, but it looks more like overlap to me. If thats what it is, it really shouldn't be a problem. Just isn't what a grade A weldor would like to see. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

ronjhall · May 22, 2005

Pat has started 2 threads on the same subject. This thread shows the crack better. Click Here

johnday · May 22, 2005

Ron; Yep, definetly a crack after seeing the other photo. It still appears to be a lousy weld tho. Wonder what Kubota has to say about it? /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

FL_Cracker · May 22, 2005

From this photo and the photo from the other thread I would say you have some COLD welds. With a mig welder you can lay down some perfect looking welds that really only penitrate one of the two pieces of steel. This seems to be your case. It may only require re-welding to fix the problem if after close inspection they find that the side plates are not broken.

Good luck...

johnday · May 22, 2005

Charles; Righton about Mig. Grind it out, check the plates, and reweld with some 7018 about 120 amps. Easy to get nice looking along with strong welds like that. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

MessickFarmEqu · May 22, 2005

Run it by the company, they usually will fix this kinda stuff even outside the warrenty period if it looks like its not user error.

Patk · May 23, 2005

Thanks for the comments. The dealer is a great outfit and they'll add plating to both sides of both arms. I'm certain that'll me more than sufficient.

I like the ieda of a guage on the bucket circuit...I knew about the impulse force damage that can occur when encountering the imovable object at speed, but it didn't occur to me to check the steady pressue that raking and backdragging could add.

I gotta say that grapple is so handy that I _HAVE_ to find a way to make the tractor and grapple work without tearing apart the loader.

Here's a photo of the other side of the pin...the crack is barely noticable in that last shot ( and to the naked eye) but it looks a bit more obvious on the inside.

If anyone else should happen to find similiar cracks on their loaders, I'd like to know...so I won't feel as bad about the grapple abuse aspect. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Tollster · May 23, 2005

By the looks of it he was running cold on the last pass and the weld has excessive convexity putting more stress at the toe. It also has propagated to the basemetal so more like likely is deeper than you can seen. I hope Kabota can help you out on this. I see allot of fatique cracking such as this in my inspections. This is a stress point and is an area likely to experience fatique indications such as this. If you perform any repairs on your own I would recommend thoroughly backgrooving the indication and performing either a dye penetrant exam or a magnetic particle exam to ensure you have all of it removed, prior to welding. Any machine shop is likely to have these items on hand to assist you. You can do a cheap dye check with some light machine oil. Soak the area well then use a lint free cloth and some alcohol and remove the oil after its soaked for 10 minutes. Then sprinkle a uniform coating of baby powder over the area. If the crack still exists the powder will draw it out of the fissure enabling you to see it. It a crude test but its one we still use in the weld inspection industry. Its called Non-destructive testing.