Where does this carriage bolt belong?

[adlertom]

I had a mishap with my TC33DA. A small diameter log that I drove over turned upward and hit my radiator, where the lower radiator hose attaches.

I'm hoping that the damage is confined to the hose and clamp, although the radiator does have appear to have a small dent in it . The coolant leak was slow, and I was close to my garage, so I immediately drove back and shut down.

I also found a loose carriage bolt laying in the vicinity of the damage, but can't find where it came from. Maybe it's not related to today's incident? Photos attached. Can anyone tell me where this bolt might belong?

 

[seville009]

I'd say the bolt is unrelated. Threads are full of grime, so it has probably been laying around for awhile. Wouldn't think a carriage bolt would be used on a tractor (maybe on a 3 pt implement)

 

[M59]

I agree with Seville009's assesment.

 

[stuckmotor]

When I was in truck driver training in '87 several of is were on the ground while one of the students was practicing some backing maneuver. I looked down and there was an important looking hex head bolt approximately eight inches long. We stopped the rig and looked all over it for where the bolt came from and found nothing. That memory comes into my head every so often and I still wonder what it fell out of.

 

[5030]

When I was in truck driver training in '87 several of is were on the ground while one of the students was practicing some backing maneuver. I looked down and there was an important looking hex head bolt approximately eight inches long. We stopped the rig and looked all over it for where the bolt came from and found nothing. That memory comes into my head every so often and I still wonder what it fell out of.

So long as it don't wind up in a tire, it's all good. I remember getting an old intake or exhaust valve in a tire once. Had to have the tire booted.

 

[DLTrekkers]

Check if the radiator mounting bolts at the bottom is still there !

 

[adlertom]

So, I completely removed the radiator. No sign of any missing carriage bolts anywhere in the engine compartment, so I'll assume that opinions expressed by others are correct, and that it's not related to yesterday's mishap. Thanks for the replies.

Attached are some photos of the damage to the radiator. The fitting for the lower radiator hose has a dent in it, making it impossible to seal effectively with the hose clamp. Opinions on whether or not this radiator is repairable?

The tractor is 17 years old with 550 hours on it. Even if repairable, am I perhaps better off replacing the radiator, since I've gone to this much trouble already?

 

[adlertom]

Check if the radiator mounting bolts at the bottom is still there !

Yes, those are hex head bolts, and are intact.

 

[thclimer]

I'm sure you tried but from the pictures the end of the connection doesn't look too out of round and that a clamp on or near it would seal with the flexibility of a hose.

Looking on Messicks it looks to be a about a $900 radiator. Do you have any radiator repair shops around you? It might be worth a trip to one with it to get their input, maybe with some heat they can reform the connection.

If your into self repairs, JB Weld is pretty an amazing epoxy that might allow you to form the connection back to something that would seal.

Hopefully others will have ideas as well.

 

[WM75Guy]

I vote for the local radiator repair shop first. As far as the carriage bolt when searching the Messick's online parts website it looks like only one is used on that model, for the hand throttle.