Broke a cast wheel today

I have a 2440 that I am selling. We completely went over it and painted it. I sold it today but the customer wanted the back wheels moved in. They were not real hard to break loose but it sure messed up the fresh paint on the bolts. Moved them in and retightened with Milwaukee 18 volt impact and drove the tractor outside to wash the dirt off and son heard a loud crack. The one rear cast center cracked and the wheel wedge split in half. This was on half with the gear to adjust the wheel in and out. The wheel was froze up so we slid it in by hand. I guess there was some rust that kept it from centering right and driving it put to much side torque on it and she split. I have seen a few of the F1500R casting like the two cylinders and 3010's used cracked but never one of the heavier 28 inch castings. Now I have to take one off a 2640 I have here and prime and paint the whole assembly which will take a couple of days with letting the paint dry.This is the second freshly painted tractor I have had to work on recently and am not happy about either one. Sorry for the rant but you put so much work into redoing one then have something stupid like this happen just ruins your day. Tom

tough break.





sorry, I'll see myself out.

It sounds like an old fatigue fracture, you just gave it the last tweek and the last of it failed. If you can take parts apart, and if you can see what we used to call "clam-shell" cracking, or what some used to call "crystallization", where the first parts of the crack are older gray or rusty clam-shell shapes, but the last part to fail is shiny and fresh, that is fatigue failure. It happens. Classic failure, initiated some time ago at a sharp edge or sharp part, and growing slowly. Murphy's Law, in action.

Sometimes better to sell as is, also bring cash.