Tractor broke in half again

[woodlandfarms]

Yup.. This time on me (this is the second time it has broke). Very odd. I think that probably the piece cracked earlier in the day and then slowly loosened up. Eventually just bowing like a broken down horse. I was able to get it back to the shop, and am figuring out the next moves.

Of course this happens at the end of my "big burns" where I set large (like 30X30X10) piles of downed trees on fire and clean it off. Now my fire will go out and there will be no more chance this year of a restart. Bumming.

Plan A is ordering a new part from PT. Plan B is having a part made at my local machine shop, something more substantial.

Terry says I can do the surgery myself but for whatever reason I am not comfortable with this. We will see. It is going to be a mess, raise the tractor, get beams under it so front and back match height and are level. Cut out the broken piece and put in the new piece (that will be the nightmare)

Not happy.

 

[MossRoad]

MAN!!! You are rough on that thing! What do you think is causing that? Too much lift? Too many PT pucker events? That just plain split that joint in half, didn't it?

Do you check the tightness of that joint on a regular basis? Grease it regularly? Hmm... maybe grease on that part wouldn't cause that crack. But a loose joint might contribute.

 

[Marks481]

What do you think is causing that?

Carl, you need to stop treating your little tractor like it is a motorbike. No more wheelies, ditch jumping and power sliding!

 

[4570Man]

I'd probably go for the beefed up custom made version. That's my usual approach to things that have proven the original version isn't strong enough.

 

[woodlandfarms]

Breaking an 1850 is not unheard of according to Terry. Breaking it twice... He and I will have a talk tomorrow (or Monday, not sure if they are open tomorrow).

65HP with chains adds some stress to the machine I am sure. I do tighten and grease, this is a metal fatigue crack. Kinda like we get on our rollover bars. In the end it looks like a schedule 40 pipe. Not much meat on the bone for holding together so much force. I also use the machine as a tractor, maxing out its lift potential, doing dirt work... I don't think i am easy on my machine but I do actually maintain it very well. But I do use it and I do use it at all of its capacities.

I have pondered if there is an issue with the front wheels getting less juice than the rear. that one pulls on the other more.

But either way, I think if I thicken up the walls on the center piece I will be in a much better space.

 

[MossRoad]

Great. Looking forward to the beef-up design. :thumbsup:

 

[pmsmechanic]

This looks interesting.

 

[Barryh]

Ouch !

 

[cqaigy2]

Go for the beefed up version. It might help to see what the next weakest part is, it could give us a clue about the stresses that are breaking your tractor.

 

[woodlandfarms]

So just had a nice talk with Terry and one of the head "engineers" who is a machinist. They both conclude that my break is happening due to twisting. So the PT has 12 degrees of twist (We are talking left wheel up, right wheel down, not turning). there are many occassions, due to my having large logs in the jaws of my grapple, that when I come out of a ravine sideways one wheel will be up in the air. As a matter of fact I had that experience the other day where a log shifted, and when I climbed out of the ravine I was one wheel high on the front.

Neither said much about me going for a thicker wall (its not what we have engineered) but neither would officially say it was abad idea.

I am ordering the new original. When it arrives i will take it down to my local machine shop and see if we can find a thicker wall item. I guess I am throwing money at the solution here. Not something I really want to do and pretty much guaranteeing me that I won't have my machine until christmas.