There are several cracks in the frame where the Front engine support is attached to the frame. The support has pushed into the frame on both sides at some point and then welded as it was. Not very good welds either, about my skill level. I've only had the machine a couple weeks and didn't notice this until I pulled the hydraulic pump off. Any ideas on what caused it? The front motor mounts were deteriorated and in upside down. I can get some welds on the cracks and on the support, would that be good enough? The cracks don't appear to be new as far as I can tell. I guess I know that I should have a professional come out and do it. Thanks, Doug
Couple more pics.
I have peered into many 580SLs & SMs, & I must say I've never seen any cracks that look like that! I can't believe they would happen with normal wear & tear. Is this a 4WD? Has there been any attatchments fitted to the front? Looks like the result of someone doing a lot of wheel standing, with it crashing down onto the ground.
After cleaning it up and looking at the cracks so more, I think that the engine would need to be removed to get at all of them. I am thinking of welding what I can reach now myself and removing the engine and doing it right next winter. I assume that the most stress would be put on the cracked areas by the transmission when under stress like digging etc. I don't plan to do much if any digging with the loader, just loading loose material into a truck. I am guessing that I would be using the backhoe at least 75% of the time, if not more. Am I wrong about what will stress those areas?
It is a 4wd. I bought it form someone who said they owned it about 5 years. It was owned by a RR company, Amtrak I think before that. The welds look fairly old, but I would of expected better welds if they were done while Amtrak owned it. I don't think that there were any attachments in the front. The bucket and loader arms all look great. Look much less used than the backhoe.
If you are only useing it on the weekends it would probably last the summer if you weld up what you can get to. If you are going to use it every day of the week I would get that motor out of there and get it fixed. The only proper way to reach all those cracks is with the motor out. You would also need to grind or carbon arc out the cracks so you get full penetration welds.
I would say it's all from front axle stress, but I can't figure what has been done to it, to do that kind of damage...
Ya, it's just a weekend machine to be used around our property mostly. I doubt that it will be used 200 hours before winter. You can't really see it in the pictures, but it looks like most of the cracks rear of the engine support have been welded. It makes me think that the ones towards the front that are seen in the pictures are new or at least newer ones. Both front motor mounts were deteriorated and very loose. There probably a good 1/4" of free play on the motor mount bolts when I removed them.
You have to keep in mind that even when using the backhoe you have all the tires in the air, between having the outriggers down and the front axle off the ground with the front bucket. Puts a lot of stress on the frame if you run it like a cowboy.
I will try to take it easy on the machine. I'll mark the ends of the cracks too and if any of them are getting longer, I'll go ahead and pull the engine. I should probably be doing that now, but I've got a lot of other things going on and would like to get the thing going and get some work done.
Doug when your using the backhoe keep the front bucket flush on the ground not just resting on 1 corner as it will put a lot of stress on the frame.
Pulling the engine and repairing the cracks is definitely a winter job. Lot of work to pull that apart. You should be fine for the summer.
Good point, thanks.
Good, I feel better about waiting to pull the engine now. Thanks
The pivot pin for the front axle has been welded in place for some reason, don't know if that's related to this or not.
I have a customer that puts those tractors up on rail cars and unloads rail road ties. He has done this for years. Granted the tractors are reworked for this expedition but I have never seen one of them crack there. All that stuff needs to be addressed when the engine is removed. I would put money on it that all of this is related.
There is a thumb on the backhoe so maybe it was used to move RR ties. There's also several grounding (?) wires on it, not sure why.
That is certainly some extreme cracking. I wouldn't expect that on a Case, that's the kind of thing that happens on a poorly engineered machine or one that's used outside of it's design parameters. I wonder if there was some serious engine vibration at a certain rpm combined with lots of hours at that rpm? or maybe side slope work with long hours idling? I'd make sure the engine was adequately supported whatever that took. Weld up those cracks with a stick welder with the rod bent to fit if needed. 6010 or 11 turned up hot for the first pass, call it good enough until you see if it's going to hold fine or how long it takes to crack again. If everything is running right, there's no reason that should ever crack if you're using it as you say, loading loose material with the front loader, and using the backhoe. or maybe it was on top of a rail car, and the swinging combined with a firm hold on the rail car caused the cracking?
It would be nice to know how the machine got into the condition it is. Welding at the angles needed is not a strong point of mine. It will be ugly, but hopefully it will hold. Good idea about bending the rod. I would think that the deteriorated and loose front motor mounts are at least partially responsible for some of the newer cracks. They were installed upside down too for some reason.
Welding won't help. In time the seams will tear apart because of incorrect distribution of loading. I see such cracks on the all-wheel drive tractor for the first time...
Found out why the axle pivot pin is welded into place. There is an approx. 3/8" separation in the frame just below where the hydraulic pump connects to the engine. Fudge Only positive thing I can think of at this point is that I could only find one small 1/4" long crack in the repair welds.
What you have there is a front suspension system, just not as Case would have had it. That explains the fatigue cracks on the sides. Sorry, no idea how to fix that satisfactorily.
Prolly going to take a lot of time making and forming fish plates. I don't see any way to repair those cracks permanently without fish plates.
I had to google "fish plates". I welded what I could get to today. Think it turned out decent. I am planning to remove the engine this winter and most likely have someone come out and fix it properly for me. Although, if there are no cracks in the new welds or any other new cracks I might just weld the areas I couldn't reach now and let it go. Hoping I can get the new hydraulic pump in this weekend and finally be able to use the machine.
You want to get someone to come out and fix that this winter. You are going to weld over the cracks. What needs to be done is to get to the bottom of the cracks so that you have the full strength of the frame holding things together again. And not with 6011 but with 7018 or 8018 at the least.
Makes sense that if I go through all the effort of removing the engine I should have it welded properly. Don't want to have to do it again if it can be helped.
Looking at the photos with all the stress cracks ,I think all the steel in the area is fatigued and should be replaced . Any damage behind the bracket will not be able to be repaired without removing brackets,unless you section frame.
Good advice in these couple of posts above. I'd even talk to your repairer about dye checking the areas to repair/drilling the ends of cracks when prepping and definitely using low hydrogen (Eutectic 66*66 or similar) electrodes on this. If the bloke looks at you funny when you mention this, try another tradesman.
I am hoping that there are no more cracks and that the new welds look good when I remove the engine this winter. In the meantime I will try to find a good welder. The shop that I've always used closed down last year and I haven't found a new place yet. We live pretty far from any towns of decent size. I think that I'm not going to baby the machine as I was planning on. I want to use it as I normally would and see how it holds up to it. I will keep an eye on the frame and if I can see any new damage, I might go ahead and remove the engine sooner.