Backhoe Popped my BL4690 Backhoe Boom Lock Pin

[Henro]

I’ve wanted to ask about the BL4690 boom lock pin since mine popped out last July.

So I guess I will. I’ve been guilty now and then of forgetting to release the boom lock on my backhoe. Did not really think much about it till one day when I forgot I heard something different, and looked down to see the boom lock pin laying on the ground.

The question to other BL4690 owners is: Is you boom lock pin welded in on the Boom AND the stationary side?

Mine is welded in on the boom, but on the stationary side it looks like it was pressed in. It certainly was not welded. It looks like it was put into the hole and smashed somehow, in a fashion to mushroom the end and was held in by friction more than anything.

Attached is a photo of what I found on the ground…

 

[Henro]

This is what the hole looked like that the pin came out of. No signs of welding…

 

[Henro]

Rather than just weld the pin back in the hole, I though it would be better to add some reinforcement, similar to the way it is done on the boom side. I used a hole saw to cut the proper size hole in a piece of 2x2x 0.25 inch flat bar, then welded the pin in it, with some sticking out the back to go into the original hole it came out of. Ground the weld flat so things would fit tight.

 

[Henro]

Then I welded the front side for good measure, before actually welding it back in place on the backhoe.

 

[Henro]

Almost ready to weld things back together.

 

[Henro]

My first ever vertical and horizontal welds. Hope the experience welders don’t laugh too hard. Couple months have passed and things are still holding together.

 

[Henro]

Back together. You can see the boom side has reinforcement around its pin. Now the stationary side on mine is similar. Back to the original question. Did they forget to weld mine up properly, or are they all like mine was, with a pressed in pin on one side, and a welded in pin on the other? What do you BL4690 owners have on yours?

Color me curious, I guess.

 

[ronjhall]

<font color="blue"> Color me curious, I guess. </font>
Your curiosity made me go out on a dark, cold, wet, windy morning and check mine. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
It appears to have a weld on inside of the frame. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[MadReferee]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( My first ever vertical and horizontal welds. Hope the experience welders don’t laugh too hard. Couple months have passed and things are still holding together.)</font>

It looks like you got plenty of penetration on the new piece but it is difficult to tell how much you got on the boom. If it is still holding after a couple of months of use then it is most likely ok.

 

[Henro]

Ron, thanks for taking a look. Hope that trip out in the cold, dark morning made the coffee taste better! I was going to weld the pin from the back side as well, but later decided that I probably did not need to with the extra on the outside now.

MadRef, the boom side was original and I did not do anything on that side. When I saw it was done that way it struck me as strange that they would weld a reinforcement around the boom pin, but let the other pin simply "stuck" in the hole and not welded at all.