Tractor broke in half again

[woodlandfarms]

THe PT is an intersting beast. The lift on my particular machine is VERY anemic for its size and weight. It is limited to only 1200lbs of lift. The reason I have been told is so that when you are doing figure 8's at 45 degrees you don't flip over... I do raise heavy loads up high and go sidewas across hills at 30 degrees all the time, definitly a pucker and I doubt the machine could do any weight raised high at 45

 

[CADplans]

A little helicopter reference there?

Who cares about a Jesus nut??

 

[cqaigy2]

A little helicopter reference there?

Lol, i thought, that ain't no helicopter. :laughing:

 

[MossRoad]

Good catch. You fly?

Ohhh just found this. A Vietnam ditty?

"The Jesus Nut" - YouTube

Hahaha, no, I don't fly. But I was raised around airplanes and worked at airport FBO's for 6 years while putting myself through school. My best friend from age 4's father was an aircraft salesman and owner of the FBO in South Bend. So to keep current in many models, he had to fly a lot and i went along for the rides.

Another friends dad was also an aircraft salesman, and owned the FBO in the next town over. And our next door neighbors were a young couple with no children, and they had a Piper 4 seater so lots of rides with them.

Anyhow, I've heard the term many times. :laughing:

 

[MossRoad]

Good catch. You fly?

Ohhh just found this. A Vietnam ditty?

"The Jesus Nut" - YouTube

Hahahah Nice! :thumbsup:

 

[MossRoad]

Who cares about a Jesus nut??

I like how he just looks up, then slowly over.... then slowly down.... :laughing:

 

[woodlandfarms]

I like how he just looks up, then slowly over.... then slowly down.... :laughing:

That was the same thing I laughed about. So Wikipedia says Jesus nut is now used for any fundamentally important fastener.

I think I want to buy a used one for my desk.

 

[MossRoad]

The first time I hear the term, I was poking around the maintenance shop at the FBO and saw a very large aluminum pipe wrench leaning in the corner. Now, I've seen some big pipe wrenches before... but this thing was 6' long! I asked what the heck that was for and the mechanic said for tightening the Jesus nut on a helicopter. So of course, I asked, "What's a Jesus nut?" to which he replied, "It's the nut on top that holds the rotor on. That falls off and you're going to meet Jesus." I almost believed him.... :laughing:

 

[woodlandfarms]

So the new center section arrived today. Over the weekend I am going to devise a few plans to beef this piece up, and Monday will go to the steel shop and see what they have.

Taking all ideas here, if anyone has one.

 

[ponytug]

Carl-

I'm no engineer, but it seemed to me that your old one broke right at the end of the weld. That could be caused by a lack of strength, brittleness from welding, or random. I'm betting it is one of the first two. Adding metal, and then a little post welding heat treatment should help.

Given where it broke last time, I would be tempted to get some E10018 welding rod and build up the perimeter starting at the triangular base, crossing the existing weld and going at least half way around the perimeter of the inset/attached tube. I would work up a couple of passes until you have added another 1/4" of material along the outside of the piece and over the existing welds, which will be (I'm guessing) probably be 3-4 passes. I would also try to add more material at the join to build up the web. (If you think of the perimeter of the part as a keyhole, I would be trying to make the keyhole into more of a triangle by adding material at the sides of the circle/triangle intersection.)

All the best,

Peter