sako243
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- My mansion in Wales
I had a whoopsie moment mowing the lawns yesterday, sheared two bolts holding on the bottom pin for the 3 point link's lower arm. Got the mower back up to the top by the house and got the tractor into the workshop.
This is what's sheared - one has some studding accessible and one is just below the casing.
First quick test was a pair of mole grips on the stub but it didn't work.
Second attempt grabbed a nut and tried welding it on - got the nut nicely but after letting it cool down and tried undoing it it simply broke the weld off the stub. Several attempts later (including whacking the power right up) and the weld is always snapped off at the bolt, basically struggling to get good / any penetration onto the bolt. I suspect it's a combination of heat dissipation in the transmission casing as well as the material the bolt is made from.
Annoying despite looking like there's loads of access (which there is to be fair) the axle tube above limits access via a drill. There's also a lug which is used for the lower link stay bar which is annoyingly right in the way - you can see it in the foreground here.
Dad's got a Milwaukee right angle drill but it's about 12cm long and that bracket is 10cm away from the casing so a no go. One will have to be drilled out (the rear most one) and I've managed to get a good centre punch mark into it. Difficulty is in getting something in there square to it to drill it out.
Currently thinking about welding a drill bit into a long bar or maybe even buying a small collet chuck and making up an extension bar on the lathe. One will have to be drilled out - the other might undo if I could successfully weld to it.
Any thoughts? Not adverse to buying a new tool , been having a look at the small M12 and M18 drills (got both batteries) but they're not small enough. Air might be a possibility - came across a nice colleted right angle drill but £300 is a little more than I want to spend. For that I'd probably put the wheel back on and take it to the local tractor repair place and make it his problem.
This is what's sheared - one has some studding accessible and one is just below the casing.
First quick test was a pair of mole grips on the stub but it didn't work.
Second attempt grabbed a nut and tried welding it on - got the nut nicely but after letting it cool down and tried undoing it it simply broke the weld off the stub. Several attempts later (including whacking the power right up) and the weld is always snapped off at the bolt, basically struggling to get good / any penetration onto the bolt. I suspect it's a combination of heat dissipation in the transmission casing as well as the material the bolt is made from.
Annoying despite looking like there's loads of access (which there is to be fair) the axle tube above limits access via a drill. There's also a lug which is used for the lower link stay bar which is annoyingly right in the way - you can see it in the foreground here.
Dad's got a Milwaukee right angle drill but it's about 12cm long and that bracket is 10cm away from the casing so a no go. One will have to be drilled out (the rear most one) and I've managed to get a good centre punch mark into it. Difficulty is in getting something in there square to it to drill it out.
Currently thinking about welding a drill bit into a long bar or maybe even buying a small collet chuck and making up an extension bar on the lathe. One will have to be drilled out - the other might undo if I could successfully weld to it.
Any thoughts? Not adverse to buying a new tool , been having a look at the small M12 and M18 drills (got both batteries) but they're not small enough. Air might be a possibility - came across a nice colleted right angle drill but £300 is a little more than I want to spend. For that I'd probably put the wheel back on and take it to the local tractor repair place and make it his problem.