Only took me 72 hours to break my tractor!

   / Only took me 72 hours to break my tractor! #11  
I went to look at the 20 and 25 series today and took note of the quick attach welds. Bothe series had the BL200 loader. What I noticed looking at about 5 different ones is the outside weld on that part was the whole length of the joint. The inside weld was only on the top part. The interesting thing was each one of them had a different length of bead on the inside. The shortest was about 2" long. One was about 8" long. The bead was rather small as if it was welded at to fast of travel speed.

If I do purchase one of these I might just redo the welds to insure a good joint. Really was the only thing I saw that was of lesser quality. Makes me wonder if Branson just outsources their quick attach and do not manufacture them. :confused3:

Branson loaders used to be made by Ansung. Very recently they changed to another manufacturer, I believe GMT, a company owned by TYM. The first loader out there by GMT, is the new BL450 and BL450SL (Mechanical self leveling loader) for the 7845 tractor.
 
   / Only took me 72 hours to break my tractor! #12  
If you are seeing varying welds, That makes me doubt the robot welder theory. I am leaning more to my welder on crack cocaine theory. :) Or welder with a 110 volt MIG that goes to 90 amps theory :) Either way the one shown in the original post was NOT welded. I can do almost that good with a caulk gun.
 
   / Only took me 72 hours to break my tractor! #13  
If you are seeing varying welds, That makes me doubt the robot welder theory. I am leaning more to my welder on crack cocaine theory. :) Or welder with a 110 volt MIG that goes to 90 amps theory :) Either way the one shown in the original post was NOT welded. I can do almost that good with a caulk gun.

I thought I snapped a picture but guess I did not. It was a steady light rain while I was looking. If the welder wanted to travel that fast they defiantly needed more amps and faster wire speed! Your crack theory might be spot on! 73...
 
   / Only took me 72 hours to break my tractor! #14  
I thought I snapped a picture but guess I did not. It was a steady light rain while I was looking. If the welder wanted to travel that fast they defiantly needed more amps and faster wire speed! Your crack theory might be spot on! 73...

Either that or Friday afternoon at 4:50 theory. :) Or maybe Monday morning with a case of "bust head" theory :)
 
   / Only took me 72 hours to break my tractor! #16  
If you are seeing varying welds, That makes me doubt the robot welder theory. I am leaning more to my welder on crack cocaine theory. :) Or welder with a 110 volt MIG that goes to 90 amps theory :) Either way the one shown in the original post was NOT welded. I can do almost that good with a caulk gun.

ANY welder can do a bad job if not used properly. Heat and penetration occurs in the direction you point the stick OR gun. On a 90 degree joint with equal thickness metal you have to at least hold the stick or gun at 45 degrees to penetrate both pieces. Even better if you clock the stick or gun between 30 degrees and 60 degrees as you weld.

I have a Lincoln SP 100 I purchased in 1993 and have never seen a need for anything else. I DID have to add a 25 amp dedicated outlet to run it at full amperage.

I have built and overloaded utility trailers with my 100 amp mig and NEVER broken a weld. My current utility trailer I built the same year I bought the welder using 3" channel. A few years back I loaded a couple of huge stumps on it and accidentally put down pressure on the bed with an excavator. It bent the tongue and didn't break a single weld. I was able to put jack stands under it and put down force on the tongue and get it back straight then I added some gussets.

I even welded a thumb on my backhoe with it that hasn't failed in 3 years of HEAVY USE. The edges were curved so I didn't have to bevel the piece but I made 4 passes and clocked my gun back and forth as I welded. The curl force on my backhoe bucket is 10931 lbs.
 
   / Only took me 72 hours to break my tractor! #17  
ANY welder can do a bad job if not used properly. Heat and penetration occurs in the direction you point the stick OR gun. On a 90 degree joint with equal thickness metal you have to at least hold the stick or gun at 45 degrees to penetrate both pieces. Even better if you clock the stick or gun between 30 degrees and 60 degrees as you weld.

I have a Lincoln SP 100 I purchased in 1993 and have never seen a need for anything else. I DID have to add a 25 amp dedicated outlet to run it at full amperage.

I have built and overloaded utility trailers with my 100 amp mig and NEVER broken a weld. My current utility trailer I built the same year I bought the welder using 3" channel. A few years back I loaded a couple of huge stumps on it and accidentally put down pressure on the bed with an excavator. It bent the tongue and didn't break a single weld. I was able to put jack stands under it and put down force on the tongue and get it back straight then I added some gussets.

I even welded a thumb on my backhoe with it that hasn't failed in 3 years of HEAVY USE. The edges were curved so I didn't have to bevel the piece but I made 4 passes and clocked my gun back and forth as I welded. The curl force on my backhoe bucket is 10931 lbs.

Which also makes me doubt the robot welder theory, as the robot would be programmed to use the proscribed current and wire speed and travel speed and would point the nozzle at the thicker of the parent metals to put more heat in the thick parent metal and less in the thinner one. Unless the "robot" went on a bender over the weekend and came in with a big headache. But I am doubting that...:)
 
   / Only took me 72 hours to break my tractor! #18  
   / Only took me 72 hours to break my tractor! #19  
Thanks for posting that thread/experience from the past . I hadnt seen or read it .

Thanks, I hoped it would help and give some prospective that anything can have bad welds or at least welds not as strong as they should be. On my old bucket, perhaps someone welded the right side and it looked good and lasted fine and the left side never did have a good weld in my opinion. Better than that SSQA adaptor the OP posted, but not really correct either. I wish I could find a posting by someone else several years ago of a toothbar that the teeth were falling off of, and the base metal had not a single sign of a pull out of the weld, it was as slick as a baby's bottom. Not even the hint of penetration. Of course this is all pretty thick metal and the MIG weld was not even close to being hot enough to melt the base metals. It was just laid on like a caulking gun. And of course the owner lost several of the teeth because he couldn't find them in the dirt. One hit with a hammer would have knocked any of those teeth off.
 
   / Only took me 72 hours to break my tractor!
  • Thread Starter
#20  
Well got my replacement part for my defective FEL coupler... WRONG PART!!:mad:

I was excited because it was so much nicer looking than the old broken one. WAY better welds and design.

Branson is going to ship the CORRECT part directly to my house:cool2:
 

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