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Cracked loader arm

D

Doug - Iowa

Member
Putting bales out last Tuesday I noticed a crack opening up near the cyl mount in the loader arm. By the time I got it to the shop it was broke clear thru both sides with only the top of the tube and a little bit of the bottom holdng it together. Looks like it had been welded before, so we v'd it out real good and MIG it back together. Found a couple other cracks in the process, guess this spring I need to strip all the tubing off of it and go over it real careful before heavy manure loading use.

It's a WL40, but I still think Westendorf makes a loader good as any and better than most. After they been beat for years they're bound to start breaking. But once they do, anyone figure how many years you got left? 2 or 3 tops?
 
i've fixed plenty of broke loaders over the years by fish plating over crack and welding them up solid...havent had any break again in same spot...i use 1/4" plate and 6011 rods with a Lincoln 225 AC cracker box.
 
Well V it out is the right thing to do but using a mig is the wrong way in my book. Also just V it out will not hold long because any time some thing like that brakes it has cracks you can not see all over the place and you need to add a fish plate to it or it will crack again on one side or the other of where you welded. BTDT many many many times and I have fixed a lot of cracked/broken loaders. I also use either 7014 or 7018 rod when doing the repair and I make sure I run it on the hot side
 
It's best to V it out but 7018 would be stronger than MIG. Maybe run a 6010 first pass. MIG could work also if you had it hot enough and had 100% fusion and penetration. If you can add some reinforcement should help. Dave
 
Here is an extra thought when welding and grinding if your tractor has a cab. Be sure to cover the windows first or you may have a lot of pitting etc from the hot sparks. I have seen that happen.
 
just some input i have experienced being around welders. a welder i know will air arc all the cracks before welding. when he is finished his work looks like it came out of the factory, and he is a perfectionist. he just dont slap a plate on unless there is reason to and when he does its a factory lookin job too.i have seen so much gobes or grapes hanging on loaders to.thats when a plate gets slapped on when the "welder" does not trust his own welding.
 
Biggest problem with the MIG is its too damn handy. I know we use it for way more than we should. I think I will have some plates made to reinforce the stressed areas. Should be able to make them look almost factory if we do it right. But that is going to be a warm weather job, too cold to do it now and need the loader (and the shop space) so hopefully it will hold together till spring. Thanks to all for the comments.
 
MIG is the right way to fix it.Cut or grind or somehow get all of the old weld off,V it out and weld it uphill with MIG if possible.Then I would grind the weld down flush and put a plate over it.If you do put a plate on it you want to keep your weld an inch from the top and bottom of square tubing and weld it longways as much as possible.So if you weld right up to the top of the square tubing and all the way across the face of it,it will probably crack right beside that weld.So if you can taper the ends so you dont have a long weld across the face of the tubing.You dont want to weld across the corner or even get closer than an inch from the corner of square tubing.If its cracked there when you start v it out and weld it then grind flush which is about as good as you can get it,but if it cracked before maybe it will again.
There is nothing at all wrong with using a MIG for that.Its probably the best way to do it and will probably take more abuse than stick welding it.It will probably break somewhere else before it breaks there again if you use a MIG.
 
Yep understand the cold weather stuff. Have blowing snow right now and doe snot look like it will let up for a while. As for welding loaders I rebuild broken ones all the time and so far they all have held up good. Yep buy them cheap repair them and if lucky sell them with a tractor
 
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