[TheForge] broken weld on mower deck

[dann at wctatel.net]

Enjoyed reading this post.  I welded  up a damaged  Woods'brother deck
on a B International tractor a few times over the last 40 years.. mostly
due to rust  issues, but   Jerry's Diamond  Stress  joint... jived
exactly   with how I saw a semi grain trailer  repaired 7 or 8 years
ago.  

Thanks Jerry! 

Dann 

On 2017-06-06 19:48, terry l. ridder wrote:

> hello
> 
> thank you for the reply.
> 
> I think i have got it.
> 
> this appears to be a common problem with mower decks.
> some say that is from the vibration of the mower and hitting the ground.
> some say that it is just from hitting large objects while mowing.
> I tend to think it is a little of both.
> 
> i have to pick up the mower deck with the bobcat so it is at a height
> that i may work on it. I am not getting down on the ground to work on
> it.
> 
> my paraphrase.
> 
> drill a stop hole at the end of the weld.
> pull the broken weld together with gentle force.
> clean up the broken weld and remove any paint in the area.
> weld the broken weld.
> take a similar metal and weld diamond shaped pieces over the repair
> weld.
> clean up welds.
> spray paint with kubota orange.
> 
> repeat as necessary ;-)
> 
> On Tue, 6 Jun 2017, jerry Frost wrote:
> 
>> No, don't try heat treating the welds. First thing to do is drill stopper
>> holes at the ends of the cracks. After you weld it up, fish plate them it. A
>> fish plate is a diamond shape piece of steel of the same or similar
>> thickness as the piece being welded.
>> 
>> NO! Do NOT use thicker steel it will defeat the purpose of fishplating. You
>> want the fish plate to flex and spread the force over a distance. Slightly
>> lighter weight steel is more effective. Fish plates are NOT reinforcements
>> they distribute stress, two entirely different things, related but
>> different.
>> 
>> Fish plate the high stress or high flex zone. You lay the plate over the
>> weld so none of the corners of the diamond line up with or fall on the weld.
>> Perimeter weld it over the weld. Mig it is good, the smoother the beads the
>> lower the stress at the edges. Do NOT torch weld, the HAZ (Heat Affect Zone)
>> is way too large.
>> 
>> What a fish plate does is distribute the stress formed by the ends of a weld
>> bead which is a stress riser. A final touch to maximize the effect is to run
>> the beads towards each narrow end of the plate and carry the bead past the
>> point in a J shaped finish. Called a "J tail."
>> 
>> The "J tail" distributes any flexing stress over a distance in a curve
>> leaving no stress riser.
>> 
>> I hope this is clearer than it sounds.
>> 
>> Frosty
> 
> -- 
> terry l. ridder ><>
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