Loader frame tube cracked! 3400 Ford Need advice W/pictures

greymond · Apr 9, 2018

WOW! The surprises on this tractor keep on coming! In the first pick you can see where someone welded that plate on to stop the crack on the tube. The crack must have gone all the way around.
The crack is at that joint up front near the bucket on the inside. Where is the drain plug for the loader frame? I assume the frame is the reservoir for the fluid? I also assume I need to drain that fluid out before I start welding on the frame tube? Hate to start a fire!

Mike Groom · Apr 9, 2018

It doesn't look like you have any fluid leaking at the crack,hard to see in the pics.'I would grind it good and weld it,I don't think you have to worry about any
fire,it has to have oxygen on the inside to have a flame and the outside you can control it.Just my thoughts I'm sure someone will say I'm all wet.but I've been
around farm equipment for 69 years and would do it that way.

mmfan55 · Apr 9, 2018

Don't think there is fluid at that
point. Should be able to weld no
worries. Never seen fluid that far
up. First time for everything I
guess. (My disclaimer).

greymond · Apr 9, 2018

My initial idea was to sandblast, grind it and put a deep weld in it. I talked with a welder friend of mine who thought there was a chance the weld could ignite the inner fluid. He said he has seen it happen. With my lack of knowledge with this tractor I thought it might be a good idea to ask a few seasoned tractor folks on here what the best way to handle this is.

Destroked 450 · Apr 9, 2018

No oil in the section that raises up and down, only in the main frame.
Drain plug is in the bottom of the main frame.
The loader on my 4500 had been busted and welded so many times it's was pitiful.

greymond · Apr 9, 2018

I just got done welding the hell out of it. I have to run to the metal store and get a couple 1/2" plates to weld an "L" section on the inside. And I ran out of gas in my welding tank.
Time to head to town.

Bern · Apr 9, 2018

In the future, whenever you weld on reinforcement plates, cut out your support "fishplate" style so you don't end up with welds that are
square to the frame. Welds that are square to the frame tend to crack easier since that is how it wants to break in the first place.

greymond · Apr 10, 2018

That plate was welded on there long before I got the tractor. I do the "fishplate" patches frequently.

sotxbill · Apr 10, 2018

Thats where they always crack...

I wonder if an additional cross piece at the "top of the bend" would help remove the twisting pressure off of that single cross brace? Just be sure to put it where it does not hit the nose of the tractor sheet metal....

edselcat2000 · Jan 29, 2019

mine just cracked on the side arm in the exact same spot and around the center support right arm

BigPapa53 · Jan 30, 2019

I just bought a 730 that’s been repaired with a couple of pieces angle iron. It’s not pretty and probably not exactly as I’d done it but it does seem to function well.

-Scott

Loader frame tube cracked! 3400 Ford Need advice W/pictures

greymond

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Mike Groom

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Destroked 450

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greymond

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Bern

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edselcat2000

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