How can I repair the bottom of the moldboard previous mechanics and operators have worn thru the cutting edge on what appears to be numerous occasions and have worn the bottom of the blade up into the cutting edge bolt holes in spots. also on a side note this is an older unit with a 3306 in it with no power wont ever make smoke will stall in 1st gear wot with barely anything in the blade 1760 hrs on unit , had a bad algae problem I think I have that mess cleaned out finally, now I can diagnose the low power just not sure where to start . 72v11248 serial
Ref the moldboard, post a photo(s) and let's see where it's worn.
picture are right center left , center and left are most worn right side still has some metal left, when I tightened bolts on new edges you could watch the bolts try and shift in the holes that have wear into them , only thing good about this machine is it gets run only about 80 hrs a year . If I can cure the low power I reckon it would be used more on our road maintainence program
So the bolt holes have been wallowed oversize by loose cutting edge bolts at some time then..?
bolt holes are good themselves except where the road wore into the bottom edges and took off some of the bolt also . bottom picture right hand bolt in picture you can see the bolt going thru the blade if you look up at it from underneath
So are you certain it has the correct size bolts in it..? IIRC there are 5/8" and 3/4" options, it's important to get the right one based on the moldboard hole size.
yes it has correct bolts in it , does anyone make some kind of a repair kit for the bottom of the mold board , or am I looking at getting a chunk of ar400 flat stock and adding some metal back to it .. low power issue i was looking on SIS and am triing to make sense of it I should have took a picture of my inj pump also I have a solenoid sticking out the back of the govonor housing and I think it is for a dual hp , I'm not very good at looking stuff up in SIS yet but it also showwed some kind of a switch for dual hp if I knew where this switch was located I could look and see if this actuall applied to my machine or not 72v11248.. I have to send the injectors out to be rebuilt I have 2 leaking out the bodies of them right onto the exhaust, with all the algae problems this thing had I am probably going to have the whole fuel system rebuilt and change all the hoses now that I have the tank cleaned out
What I'd do is get hold of enough flat bar to span the complete length of the moldboard, the same thickness as the moldboard, and maybe 1" wide, maybe even more. The way the bottom of the moldboard has worn has created a natural bevel that will help you when welding. Leave the cutting edges on but get everything clean, especially on that bottom surface of the moldboard where you will be welding. Offer the flat bar up in sections to the bottom of the moldboard and tack weld it both to the moldboard and to the cutting edges, enough that it won't move when subjected to the stresses of welding. Then either fully weld up the flat bar to the bottom of the moldboard on the back side, or at least give it maybe 2-3 passes without completely finishing it, cleaning out every pass with a pneumatic needle gun. The neelde gun is more to stress-relieve the welding and to prevent the flat bar wanting to move than to clean out the slag TBH. Once you have the flat bar fully welded to the back side of the moldboard grind off the tacks between the flat bar and the cutting edges and remove them. If you cant roll the moldboard far enough back for the next step it may have to come off. Grind or Air-Arc a bevel on the front side of the moldboard at the joint between the flat bar and the bottom of the moldboard and weld it up also. Repeat the process with the needle peening gun while welding the front side. It's important that the flat bar keeps the same relative angle between and the cutting edges as the old moldboard because if not you won't get the required support on the lower side of the cutting edges and that could open a whole can of worms that you don't want to be opening quite frankly. Once you're happy with the welding sort out any small welding details in the bolt holes that have worn right through, and grind everything flush. Fit a new set of cutting edges and put the machine to work. Monitor the wear on that first set of cutting edges closely because you're going to want to wear the bottom edge of the flat bar up to a point that it's still supporting the cutting edges but without wearing into the bolt holes like it did before. At that point you call it quits and change the cutting edges a second time and you're home free.
any suggestion on type of steel to use for this repair ?
As far as your low power problem goes, yes, your machine appears to have a variable horsepower (VHP) solenoid, but it's not likely to be the trouble because the higher HP only comes in in the higher gears. Start by making sure the fuel system is clean then check the fuel transfer pressure at the filter head. Not sure if your machine has an air/fuel ratio control. I'm thinking possibly not. Can you post a photo of the pump? If we establish you have no AFR, or you do have one and it's OK then the next step would probably be to check boost pressure.
thanks nige and thanks cmark I will take a picture of the fuel system tommorrow and attempt to get it posted its quite a chore to do on work network, that makes sense as the switch appears to be on the tranny somewhere also if i get a chance I will try to post some fuel pressure and boost readings along with it . I will add it starts really hard in the winter it will make smoke but wont take off till it gets a wiff from the ether can it dont gets used in the winter due to this and a north carolina winter isnt all that cold
The mold board issue is pretty common on older machines. I've seen plenty of units with the flat bar welded on but most of the time because of the bevel cut on the frog, the welding pulls the flat bar toward the back of the blade and you don't get any support on the cutting edge. A lot of times all you need is a hard washer between the nut and the frog. Because they didn't use washers to begin with the nut works on and doesn't set flat against the back of the frog. The hard washer allows you to get full torque on the bolt and nut.
I agree, that's the biggest challenge. Get it wrong and the cutting edges have no support at the bottom of the moldboard. Using a needle peening gun is one way to get rid of the stress generated in the weld metal before the cooling weld pulls the flat bar out of alignment. The tack welds on the bottom between the bar and the cutting edge help in that respect but there's no substitute for getting the stress out of the weld with a needle gun. Thinking about it, it's probably a 2-man job; one welding and one driving the needle gun. Regarding your question about material, I'd just use mild steel. You want something that's easy to weld. Another thought. Before you start welding knock up some kind of template out of a bit of sheet steel so that you can check at a glance if your flat bar is pulling out of alignment with the moldboard as you are welding.
cat only calls for plow bolt and nut , not sayying I couldn't use a washer in there also it cant hurt I will more them likely start this repair in a couple weeks and knowing my luck they will want to use it all of a sudden, will post pictures when I do it as I think I have only seen one other picture of said repairs and that was a complete cutout and replacment of a frog on a champion grader this is going to be a straight up field fix in the shop, blade has alredy been bent and tweaked slightly , so im will be putting some heavy tacks on to my flat bar replacment to cutting edge to help keep it put and will put the truck mechanic on the needle scaler as I weld
I can't see it being that big of an issue really. Just run it. I plowed snow with a 14E that the three center holes were worn through the bottom with no problems. Perhaps if all the holes were the same you might pop a blade, but unless you are into really hard packed material with an aggressive operator, I can't see you having a problem.
that is exactly my problem our roads have trash trucks on them all day to say its hard packed is an understatement and no one seems to be able to read the operation manual to see the tips of running it properly I have and ran it the other day to get some gravel back up to the surface , had to run it nice and slow Im a mechanic not an operater but I have some pretty good sense when it comes to running equipment from time to time .the whole left side blade is what concerns me on this unit as almost all the bolt holes are worn into , couple weeks I will start on it and post some pictures of the repair .ATM im side tracked putting tools into my truck and organizing it shoulda done that 6 months ago after today I should be able to get to my a40 volvo project and be able to find my tools when I need them
You shouldn't have to take the moldboard off... for the front pass, side shift it out to the side and swing it up. It will lay flat for you and be a piece of cake to weld the front passes.
So I finally took a picture of my inj pump lol no sign of an ** control . I know for a fact I have the algae issue cured now . I still need to check fuel and boost pressure , I have a couple injectors leaking fuel now so they are going to all come out and go to the local fuel shop now that I have sis I may just send the pump out also I have the feeling it may be in need of attention it also has oil leaks on the govener that need to be taken care of. Should I start a 3306 low power please help me thread lol just kidding .
Shoot forgot the picture . Here it is