Things were going great.... but then $@!#

Well, let's see.... this is not good by any means, and I am hoping you can still find parts, darned nut came off the bolt, bolt fell out that holds the arm, arm fell off, just after a turn, made it through the head land, turned, got halfway through, stopped to pick up rocks, (did an awful lot of that today), started back up, heard a noise and looked back, this is not right ! The sad thing about it, was that I saw the nut come loose while greasing at lunch time, tightened er back up but good, threads peened over and or deformed, nut did not seem to move, wrong. I'm not sure what should be in there, but it should be pinned, castellated nut, cotter or something. The arm is cast iron or steel, no way to weld that... what to do, no book on it, just a casting or part number on the arm, differs by one digit, for each side or it seems. Anyone know about parts for Brillion, I think the local JD dealer carries Brillion, need to find the arm for this thing asap. Neighbor got a 8350 drill, got er working, and set up as he wanted on the fertilizer and seed oats, 3 bushels per acre, was only on field 6-8 acres behind him when this happened, might have to live with one roller for now. Was pulling this with a JD 3150, open station, dust mask on, nasty business being so dry now.

Billy,

If that arm is cast steel , it will weld
with 7018 , if it is cast iron ,it needs to
be done with oxy/acet and bare cast iron and
flux . For cast iron it needs to be preheated
in fire brick with large lp gas fire (weed
burner) to a red glow 900 to 1200 deg F .

george

Durn stuff always breaks just when you need it.
I hope you will be rolling soon.It sure does look dry there.Let us know how you made out. Good luck!

Billy, don't feel too bad things were going good for me today also, until one of the attaching points pulled loose from my A/C disc. I will be able to repair it, but I will need to come up with a extra 4 hours between now and Monday. Stan

George, I was wondering just that, how do you tell if it is cast steel, grinding and observing the sparks ? I'm hoping that part is not obsolete, I have no idea the vintage of this thing. I know welding cast is tricky and I don't have a forge or similar for pre & post heat, + the electrode, and the process I am not familiar with, especially torch welding, but do understand what you said, would be my first attempt at it anyway, better to let an experienced hand do that.

Is the procedure for welding cast steel any different than say welding mild A-60 type steel, I am dialed in on my Miller NT251 trailblazer and am very proficient with 7018 now, I can also set the piece to work in position on the bench etc, so no problems trying to get a stick in tight place, vertical etc. It would be great if that could be done similar to mild steel, as my repairs with 7018 always hold up.

Yeah, just working for a long time farmer friend, 60 acres of oats this year, not sure what the acre count is on the drill, was hoping to be 1/2 done yesterday, I think the last piece is about 25 acres, well at least it's drilled in this year so it's under the soil, but that packer really smooths out the field, open station, (wearing a dust mask) dust and stopping to pick rocks, I am hurting this morning, age, old injuries who knows what, 12 hours of packing, and pickin rocks will wear a person out.
Fields are dried right out on top, but there is moisture below, we're due for rain, and it usually shows up on time.

Happens this way sometimes don't it, well I still have a single roller to work with, so maybe I have to do a 2nd pass where the clods are large, but like you said that lost time, rain coming, always trying to stay ahead...... it'll work out, just that I should have seen this coming, with that nut loosening up, should have checked er again, could have taken old tractor paths back to my yard and put a tack weld on it to get by, shoulda, woulda coulda...... Thing is, just looks or makes you feel terrible when it's someone elses equipment, he knows I'm real careful and attentive, not your fault, but I still take part of the blame cause I did see that nut come loose, that and finding that part bugs me, you could not ask to work for a better guy though, he's seen this for close to 60 years now.

You can get nickel rod to stick weld cast iron and you can get bronze rod to arc braze steel and/or cast. I've used the bronze to repair a railroad jack with steel parts. Jack was probably cast steel but wasn't sure. Expensive but real easy to work. Could be a quick fix without getting in too deep. Good luck! joe in ny

get a old piece of chain link fence put a little weight on it and you can cover alot of ground

Get on the Brillion website. They have a dealer finder. I counted 32 Brillion dealers in NY state. I don't know where you're at.

Billy,

send me an email with a phone # and I'll

call you .

george

I've welded both cast steel and cast iron without any problems. The cast steel was on the bucket pivot on our loader. I ground it out and first laid down some 6011 in the bottom, then 7014 or 7018 on top. Been about a year now and the arm is still holding up, even after a winter of frozen manure piles, moving large chunks of concrete, rocks, and anything else the typical loader tractor gets abused for.

I've welded several cast iron things, one was the hitch clevis on our disc. Still holding solid. I veed it out all the way through, and laid multiple passes of Ni rod, chipping and peening it after every pass. I didn't have any sand or anything to stick it in to cool it as slow a it should be, but it's held very solid for 10 years now. (I was a freshman in High School welding class when I did it)

If you grind it out and chip the slag after every pass and take your time, I wouldn't be afraid of welding it at all. I've welded several other peices of cast so far, and so far they've all held up.

Donovan from Wisconsin

I found them too, still need to get bearings

I'm pretty sure it's cast steel, I welded it up, several passes 1/8" 7018 110 amps or so, material was nice to work with. I just saw that tapping on it with a hammer, cast iron = thud, cast steel ting..... gray color at the break, which I observed, photos to follow.

I did that, just like you said, this material was nice to work with, heat was set just right, slight bevel to all adjoining edges, observed the sparks, very distinct, would like to see photos of cast steel spark tests to confirm. Multiple passes, chipped and wire brushed all slag to prevent porousness etc., I really like this Miller NT 251, just burns those 7018's nicely, even good on the re-strike. Photos to follow

I saw your welds in your later post. I thought they looked like 7018 and saw a bit of the slag. 110 amps is a little cold for 1/8" and you could travel a little faster. 125,130 amps should work a little better and when you have the right speed, you will will have nice round ripples in the weld. If you go a little faster and/or hotter the ripples will be slightly pointed which is OK too. Dave

Cast steel sparks pretty much like normal steel- Atleast I think so.

Cast Iron has a very distinct orange spark with a kind of streamer effect. If it is iron, I've heard 7018 rod works ok on it so I wouldn't worry. The worst that can happen is it breaks again so you'll have another shot at it.

We've got a Miller Thunderbolt stick welder and it's performed well.

Donovan from Wisconsin

Yeah, I might have been a little hotter than that, I was running 150 for 5/16, or next size up electrode, then turned it back to weld his slow moving sign bracket on his 5 bottom, then I tacked this piece, liked the setting, and left it, speed and arc length was easy to maintain on this piece, but that hardened plow steel was interesting when I did the shares for him, darned things held, he thinks he'll get another 30 acres out of them, so at least that is good for awhile.

This piece did not make a lot of sparks like mild steel, seemed orange to me, and less sparks, hard to figure what it is, but at least it held so far.