The outer roller frame snapped right off in front of the front roller. That leaves the idler without support on that side. Maybe someone can help answer a few questions about how to repair this. I'm thinking of welding the broken off piece back on, or making up a new replacement section to extend to the idler. It's either that or buy a replacement frame part, new or used. Looking at the frame piece, it looks like a fully enclosed channel with three sides cast into a U and the fourth side welded in to complete the box, for the length of the roller frame. The cast metal at the break looks as if it might be cast iron; it is porous looking like cast iron. The fourth side looks like steel. Please tell me that I'm wrong about this being cast iron!! Welding/repairing cast iron is a lot more difficult than if it steel. It's also time to replace the rails and sprockets. I would be interested in hearing opinions on the comparative quality of the different options for new rails and sprocket segments. Choices include Cat, Trek, and V-Track. I know that Cat is good, but how are Trek and V-Track for durability? Any other suggestions? And where is a good place to buy these parts in western Canada?
Any chance of photos ..?
Pretty common when the idlers get sloppy and alot of high speed tracking. Weld it back together and plate outside.
I was hoping that the broken off section of roller frame could be found, but it is missing in action - lost somewhere along the way. It might be possible to fab up a replacement piece and weld and plate it to the roller frame. Assuming that the three sides of the existing roller frame tube are cast iron, any suggestions for welding methods and material to weld a steel section and reinforcement onto that? See pic below.
Found one picture. Hope this attachment works.
That's an OMG ............... start looking for a track frame is my suggestion. The other alternative is to find a place further back on the frame where there's a joint (somewhere out of shot on the LH side of the photo) and have a new piece of frame fabbed up from there forwards.
Yair . . . in the "old days" that's the place conventional track frames bend when sliding around on steep country . . . it certainly doesn't look like that type of half cast/half fabricated assembly would bend and so it breaks instead. Maybe a heads up for other members with similar machines to hose them off and have a good inspection for cracks. Cheers.
I dare say this is beyond the crack that started the problem, when the part leaves that is catastrophic failure. Time for a truck frame and not just piecing together, I would not hang a tube on that frame again, just a sign for the scrap yard.
Same thing I thought when I saw the pic. I have a D5G XL and that sent shivers down my spine. I agree, good advice. Just did that last week on all my iron. I have caught small cracks in the roller frame of the 953 before.
How about a solid piece of bar stock inside the frame for reinforcement . Slot some holes in the sides & weld it up . Fab up a new front section that was lost and slide it down the bar stock & weld as needed . Probably have to remove the two bottom rollers so you could cut slots on the inside frame & weld .
Seen that before on same machine, pretty sure the customer brought in the peice and our welder had repaired it...
It can be welded like td25c said and it will last if it is done right. How could you not find it ? How far did you go with it like that?
Could not have gone to far without noticing broke off like that. Could it? Should be able to cover a lot of ground in a hurry spotting a piece that big with a metal detector.
I wasn't there and am not sure where the part went. It may show up, but I can't count on that. Certainly, replacing the roller frame would be the best option if money were no object. Like some of you, I'm thinking that repairing this with an insert and plating and welding may be worth a try. The price of a new or even a used roller frame adds considerable incentive.
I think we all agree that a new / used frame would be best, but to repair that is not a big deal, the average mechanic with basic tools and a welder should have it up and pushing in no time, better straiten out the adjuster rod to. Overworked
After looking at pic again, see broken bolt on idler side plate, been broken a while, you can weld up some of the slop to keep the frames from breaking, you want to keep the play out. When you let them get that loose its like driving you pickup over speed bumps at 100 mph all day. Those idlers are probably so loose the operator wouldn't notice frame came off unless the track tipped off or he walked beside the machine.
Probably not cast iron but cast steel . if it were me I wouldn't look for the old piece because it's so short and all stress cracked and "work hardened" anyway.
Yair . . . overworked . You must be fishing for a bite or else you are pretty naïve about machinery repair with this statement . . . I put it to you that the "average mechanic" wouldn't have a bloody clue as to go about that fix. It is doable but involves welding procedures/techniques way beyond the "average mechanic". In my experience precious few "mechanics" run low hydrogen vertical all that well and the actual mechanics of the repair . . . one possible workable solution was proposed by td25c . . . will require some thought. The repair needs to be stronger than the original part which has been overstressed and broken and lot of metal has to be put in there necessitating heat and distortion . . . keeping the thing straight will need special consideration . . . ideally the track frame should be removed but I guess I would repair the thing in place. After straightening track frames bent in this area wherever possible I used to weld nicely tapered 2x1" on edge to stiffen up the structure . . . on large tractors you could go bigger. The point I make is that provided you have clearance material welded on edge is going to be more effective in this application than "plating" in the conventional sense. Just some thoughts Cheers.
Have you looked at/inspected the other side yet ?
We need to clean it off well and check it thoroughly. It may have a spot that may be the beginning of a crack. Thanks for all the ideas, everyone. I'm still not sure if three sides of the frame box are cast iron or cast steel. Based on my experience, when drilled - cast iron comes out as powder and mild steel comes out in larger shavings. I wonder if cast steel will make powder or larger shavings when drilled? I suppose that I could also take the Miller arc and a 7018 rod and run a short test bead. That should tell me pretty quick whether it is iron or steel.
Post more of a close-up photo of the steel close to the break. From what I could see from your original photo the track frame in that area looks a lot like a steel fabrication to me.
From the look of the weld where it's boxed in with that outside plate, I would guess it's all steel, in order to weld cast iron to steel plate I would think you would need some NiRod or a modified stainless to make it work and that weld is neither. It's possible you may find some junior ship channel that is a match or very close to the existing channel shape.
I don't recall ever seeing cast iron used on the small dozers. Pretty sure it is cast steel. The drill test sounds like a good way to check. I'd still look for a used part. You can do a lot of welding and then run a few hundred hours and see all your work disappear in the mud again. Good Luck!
Agree 100%. Any cast parts in a Cat structure such as this one will be cast steel and as such will be weldable with E7018 electrodes or the wire equivalent. Hearing some of the comments being bandied around here really makes me concerned that some serious underestimation has taken place regarding exactly how technically complex this repair actually is going to turn out to be. The thing is that anything can be accomplished if you throw enough men, resources, and money at it - NASA sending a man to the moon is a good analogy. However the question remains whether said repair will either hold up long-term or be cost-effective, or both.
I hate to see something like this happen to anyone's tractor. I have a friend that's a weld tech engineer for a large manufacture , I can bend his ear if you need me to.
Good points Scrub Puller:thumbsup . I thought about this thread today ..... In my early 20's I would have busted the track , pulled the front idler & the two rollers . Jack & crib up the machine as needed . Crawl under the heap and weld it up in place . Well..... today 20 some years later I aint as limber as back then so we pull the track frames and roll them over for a major repair or modification ( Big Grin)
Interesting responses to this thread so I thought I'd add another. Like has been said before,the track frame appears to be a piece of channel with another piece of flatbar welded to it. You can see two weld beads running the length of it, so that would indicate that it is very weldable. If you cut the welds and remove the entire flatbar you would be able to weld the new piece to the channel inside and out. Then weld in a new full length piece of flatbar along with an extra plate on the back side. I don't believe that this should not be that big of a deal for a competent welder.
Just read this entire thread for the first time. I think excavator's answer has nailed it, I would do the same. If it doesn't last this repair at least buys you some time to look for a reasonably priced used frame from a scrapped machine. Any competent welder should be able to do this and I believe the repair would serve indefinitely if done properly.
Excavator's close regarding the way the frame is built, but not quite. It's a typical Cat frame made out of two T-shaped bars for the upper and lower rails and 2 flat pates as the "fillers" in each side to make a closed box. The illustration below is from an off-highway truck frame so it is deeper than the dozer track frame, however the method of construction will be identical so it gives you the idea. The beveled area in each corner is where the welds are. To nail a piece on to a frame like this is not terribly complicated as a welding challenge but needs a bit of thought beforehand so that the repair welds don't all occur in the same vertical plane.
Scrub, I am not fishing, ( wish I was , ha ha ). Maybe after many years of working on my own as an independent and being expected to be able to fix it all, on site, now, if you know what I mean, there is no bolt holes or very accurate alignments on this repair, just strait and true, if the job is on site in the woods, I would remove outer plate back maybe 8" or so, weld on new channel, new flat plate, new gusset on jack like you said would ad some support to side deflection. I know you and many other around this world would have no problem with this repair and I feel most should be able to handle it with minimal backup, if someone has limited welding skills, then hire that part out, Overworked
Probably the most complex part of this job would be determining the exact type of steel the track frame is. Once you know that, with a basic knowledge of metallurgy you can determine how hot the piece needs to be while welding. It needs to be kept at a certain temp. during the welding process and then, maybe even more important, it needs to be let to cool at a very slow rate. I usually wrap it up in old coveralls and rags ect.and let set overnight. I've done jobs like this before where I was told it could not be done, it would not hold up and by simply applying these basic principles it worked great. I almost wish that Swampdog was located where I could go and help him out. Back before I was married I had a room mate who was a metallurgical engineer and this was probably the one most helpful thing I learned from him.
Average mechanic... The concept is somewhat frightening! I hope I'm above average? whatever its measured by!? Maybe a new discussion thread? I don't want to deviate but that sort of failure didn't happen overnight. Your "average" mechanic should have spotted the crack? Anyway, nice job to who gets it, please post pictures of the repair if you can. Serious repair procedures and tasks interest me.
excavator, I agree that knowing the type of metal/steel is important. Three sides of that frame do look a lot like cast iron to me, but maybe some cast steel also has that porous look when broken. I'm in no rush about this and will take my time and try to do it properly. I too wish that you or someone else with more specialized experience lived nearby. On the other hand, while I'm not a professional welder, my welding and repair jobs usually turn out well. When in doubt, add extra reinforcement.
Its not cast iron but like you said when it broke it made it look like cast iron. If you can find a good welder this can be made to hold with out makeing it look like a frankinstin repair but you need the old part bad.
Here are two more pictures. The first one is a closeup of the break. The metal looks porous, which is what made me wonder whether it is cast iron. The second picture is of metal filings. The left side filings are from a small test hole drilled into the cast U channel while the right side filings are from a test hole in a piece of mild steel. Both samples look very much the same to my eyes. It seems to me that, if it were cast iron, it would all be powder and would not have the shiny flakes. My fabrication and welding skills should be up to this. Any thoughts on what welding rod to use? Will the trusty go-to 7018 used with the DC Miller work as well as anything? Or is there something better for this, especially for the vertical and overhead sections?
JMO, I would use 12018 in 3/32" to make sure it holds. Ive done many a frame repair that way and they are all still stuck together.The smaller rod gives you time to fuse it all together without fighting a big runny puddle.
I have to ask if it would be worth removing the frame to repair it , so you can weld each side facing up. There's no doubt it can be fixed. Possibly machine a piece of solid stock to drive inside and drill holes as suggested before.
When it broke it was because of metal fatigue and it makes it look grainy like cast. Not to be a a-- but if some one dosent think this can be welded in place out of position then you dont need to be welding on it.
You can trace the fatigue cracking back by the rust traces, this started on the inside at the heaviest web of the inner channel and finally failed at center of both sides(clean and smooth). It could be welded, will need a piece aligned and sequentially welded front and back all position multiple passes with a heat relief after the weld to reduce the hardening embrittlement from the heating and cooling. That does not get done properly and it will fail faster than before. Again, this is no longer a crack repair, this is a truck replacement point. I for one would not want to trust my health and family's cash flow to being on a hillside when this point fails from a poorly constrained repair, it needs to come apart, be fully stripped to do it correctly, safely and effectively at which point you are already halfway to installing a fully functional used truck assembly.
Im in agreement with that. Some of us have made a considerable amount of money repairing scraper hitches, goosenecks, and draft arms in place. usually on the bottom side. Preheat, postheat and proper rod/wire selection are all part of the challenge.
Yeah...... Metal fatigue. I agree. Funny story... We will be repairing something in the shop or in field and my Dad will start talking to the customer and they both begin to question what caused the part to fail while I am hip deep grinding , cutting , & welding it up . I get tired of all the reasons why something might fail and raise the welding helmet every time and reply ..... " The damn thing wasn't built tough enough to begin with " Short Answer.LOL
I agree, it needs to come apart. but at the end of the day any halfwit junk monkey can fix that to outlast the rest of it, just depends on how good you want it to look.
Yair . . . Monserandsons . Your "halfwit junk monkeys" must be a damn sight better than our ones over here. (he grins) Cheers.
This thread really has me chuckling. By now I would have split the track, pulled the idler out of the way, Jacked it up for clearance, Veed it, welded it, plated where necessary. And even guaranteed it. and it would still look good. Whole lot cheaper than pulling the swing frame. But thats just me.
Back when I made my living running equipment, I would work night and day doing emergency repairs when something broke. But, if one has the time, it never hurts to listen to informed opinions on things; one can learn a lot from others. There is no rush about doing this and the various other repairs that this machine needs. It was a toss up between letting it go for parts or spending the time and money to put it back in running condition. This also seems to be the winter that just doesn't want to end, and I prefer to wait for the weather to warm up a bit more.
Yeah RZucker . I'm pretty much the same way of thinking . We all have different areas of experience , and a job that looks like a difficult task for some may just be another day at the office for others . I have stretched & double framed enough over the road trucks over the years that the D5 dozer frame damage just looks like another welding job . On the other hand I am intimidated by all the computer & electronics on the modern equipment . I just don't have the time & experience with it . Some young feller with the Tech training will take care of those type of jobs . In my early years we would have handled the job like you said . Bust the track , jack up the frame as needed & go at it . Later in life today I pull the frames for major work when possible . I don't need anymore experience laying on my back on a repair job as I have plenty of it in the past .
That Mag drill for drilling out the inevitable broken bolts?
The repair of a simple broken piece of mild steel chanel iron and flat bar is fairly simple and doable by any competent welder. Fabing the missing kickrail weldment and idler slide will be the hard part there will be a mirror image of them on the rollerframe. Prolem caused by loose idler slides and jap steel.
Looking at the swept up drill shavings there were a few
No broken bolts . I had to re drill the track frames on the Fiat Allis to accept the new Cat D7G rollers . HeavyEquipmentForums
So swampdog, did you ever get this job finished? Would like to see how it turned out.
The piece that broke off showed up when the snow melted, and I recently picked up metal to reinforce the frame, inside and outside. It should be welded up soon, when I can find the time. The rails also require replacement, so I've begun removing the pads. I have never seen bolts so tight as those that hold on the pads. It takes a 1" drive air impact tool with lots of air to knock the bolts loose. Even then, half of them require a lot of effort. Don't ask how many sockets and adapters bit the dust. Finally, I have a quality 1" drive impact socket (23 mm fits better than 15/16") that seems up to the job. For whatever reason, the two bolts on each pad closest to the grousers are much tighter than the other two bolts. Some require use of the cutting torch on the nut to loosen the bolt. I could cut the head off the bolt, but don't want to damage the pads.
There are actually "special undersize" sockets available for removing worn track bolts. IIRC the correct replacement for 15/16" to attack worn bolt heads is 29/32".
That makes sense. 29/32" converts to 23.0188 mm; pretty much the same size. The 23 mm fits nice and tight on the worn bolt heads.
You'll be amazed at the power loss that you get with a loose impact socket. You will also likely be amazed at the diameter of hose you need so as not to strangle the impact wrench. For a 1"-square impact wrench the hose really needs to be a minimum of 3/4" diameter, and if it's more than about 30ft long preferably 1" in order to flow enough air to the tool.
Might try one of these. Stanley hydraulic impact, 2500 ft-lbs, no pressure droop. It's what the railroads use to make/break rail joints. 1" drive, pin on sockets.
That is true. But I'm also concerned about too much air and breaking things. The Ingersoll Rand compressor shuts off at 180 psi and cycles back on at about 150 psi. The 3/4" impact tool calls for 110 or 120 psi, maximum, and the 1" impact tool calls for 90 psi maximum. Feeding 50% more air pressure than that into the tool is asking for trouble. So I'm using a pressure regulator to knock the air pressure down to safe levels. Ideally, one would have the regulator and gauge right at the tool to know exactly what the pressure is (like one does when painting cars).
I'm sure that would do it, if one could find a socket strong enough to take the torque.
If I'm doing a pad swap I cut all the nuts off, it's not even worth screwing around with a rattle gun.
I completely agree with you about pressure being important, and especially not to exceed the manufacturer's desired pressure if you want the rattle gun to live. But in reality it's the volume in cubic ft/min of air flowing down the hose at X psi that is what gets your nuts off ......... we had exactly the same issues with big (1" and 1-1/2" drive) rattle guns and ended up using 1" hoses to run them. Believe it or not we were able to regulate the air pressure of the supply down by about 20psi and still get far better performance using the bigger hose. What diameter hose are you using right now..?
I could go bigger on the hose, if that becomes an issue. Using a 1/2" at the moment.
To my mind 1/2" is too small for a 1"impact. It will be strangling your wrench for air. I would go to 3/4"minimum personally, the results might surprise you. The larger diameter hose will flow more than twice the volume of air per minute compared to the one you are using now.
Nige, I totally agree. I also would like to find a larger sized regulator (and gauge) and fittings to remove those restrictions and to adequately control the pressure. It's hard to find the bigger fittings, hoses, regulators, etc. around here.
Someone wanted to know more about the repair. I found time this week to get to it. At the risk of hearing, "why did you do it that way, you fool," here are a few pics. Don't laugh at the welding; it may not be as pretty as if one did this all day every day, but my welds do hold. I guess that I could clean up the welds with the grinder, and I would do that before painting the repair. All that wet looking stuff on the metal is cutting fluid from drilling and tapping. I made up a sleeve, 1 15/16" x 3", to fit inside the broken frame pieces. The sleeve is built of the heaviest gauge 3" channel, with a flat bar, 3/8" x 3", welded in to complete the fourth side. It went in tight,with the help of a 12 pound sledge. After Vee-ing the break, I welded the the break on the top, bottom, and outside face of the frame. Then I welded on a 4 foot by 4 inch by 1/2 inch piece of steel onto the outside face of the frame, notched at one end to allow for adjustment of the track length. A shorter piece of 2" by 1/2" metal went on top of the frame. And a cross brace to the other side of the frame catches the broken piece in front of the break. I think that leaves enough room for backing off the adjuster when the new track goes on. Then I drilled and tapped seven Grade 8 bolts through from the outside to catch and help stabilize the sleeve. I may or may not run a few bolts down from the top to tie into the sleeve. I also may pull the idler while changing the track to see whether it is possible to reinforce the inside surface. Am I nearing overkill yet? Another thing that one could do is to weld on a brace from the frame behind the break to near the bottom of the idler guard. It would not be pretty, and it would make future roller changes more difficult, but it would add strength. Thoughts?
Looks good to me, the bolts/ washers used look like they will disintegrate once exposed to the organics. For a few bucks CAT makes bolts that are darn near indestructible to corrosion.
Looks great swampdog . I like how the tubing was tight & had to be drove in with the sledge . Should work fine . Hey ....The way I look at this is the track frame failed because it was not built strong enough to begin with . You Sir have now succeeded with your repair:thumbsup
Nice job, I think the bolts are not needed, might want to put a plate other side, good job swamp.
If I'm reading this right you did no welding on the machine side of the crack?
On that side, all I could get at (even with my best contortionist welding positions) was the top inch or two. That was the reason for adding the angled top brace that catches the broken side in front of the break. That, and the sleeve and other plating may be enough. But pulling the idler might allow more access to that side, and I will look at doing that once the track is completely off. That would make me feel more comfortable with the repair.
Yair . . . I would think that swampdog has it fixed. It's strange though how it's different strokes for different folks. I would not have considered that repair without splitting the track and removing the idler so I could get at it could lay in a full weld all around . . . and I would have used a series of circular or slot plug welds to integrate the inner sleeve into the structure. These would have been overlayed with a 5/8" plate extending right to the front and shaped to fit the track frame the back end of the plate would be tapered/radiused. Then (as mentioned up thread) in the way of the break and extending to the front of the track frame I would have welded on a couple of 2x1's on edge . . . ends tapered to a suitable angle. Then, assuming there was clearance I would do the plate and 2x1 thing on the inside. Machinery is much more valuable over here and my object when doing any structural work was always to retain a professional or "factory" look to the job to preserve the resale value. Cheers.
I wouldn't really trust the repair until the welds cover full circle, too much stress to leave it go as is. Good looking repair but will only suffice when complete. Still would be looking for a used truck to change this out at a later date as it isn't if it fails again but when.
sweet job run it
How is machinery on your side of the pond "much more valuable"? My iron is my lifeblood and I take good care of it. I follow the same idea of keeping repairs looking factory but if Swampdog is planning on running this dozer till disposal time and his repair puts this piece of iron back out making money then it's a successful project. Last week we had an existing sub grade inspection by a geotech engineer. After he walked the site and was satisfied, he commented that you can always tell the quality of an excavation contractor by the condition of his equipment, saying our iron looked good. My remark was thank you and then I proceeded to tell him 3 of the 4 pieces on site are 10 years old. Point being is this repair would not be noticed if you have a nice tidy array of equipment. I am always watching what the re-sale value of my iron is as it's an investment that has to be cared for. However, I don't plan on selling any of my iron any time soon, except for a few Bobcat branded pieces but that's a different story. With the new emissions BS and the high price tag, rebuild and run is my new philosophy.
Thanks for the comments. There's more than one way to peel a banana. A little grinding and some yellow paint can also go a long way to spruce up a battle scar on a Cat. Another option that I considered was to cut out a section of the outer surface of the frame on both sides of the crack. That would have provided access to the inner part of the crack. One could then have welded the two hard to get at sides from inside the frame. A plate or piece of angle iron then could have also gone in there, welded to the frame. Then the cut out outer piece of the frame could have been replaced, straddling the crack, and outer plating added as permitted by the machine design. But that method would not have allowed for a rectangular sleeve inside the frame. Once the idler is off, it will be possible to see how much welding and reinforcement can take place on the machine side of the frame. If it's possible to add even a short plate there, it should be as strong as, or stronger, than factory. After seeing the broken off piece, I have a new theory about why this broke. Earlier, a mechanic thought that the machine had been dropped, nose down. Now I'm thinking that something - possibly a rock or piece of heavy metal - went up between the idler and the front of the roller frame. The inside front surface of the roller frame has a few large dents (in the front four inches or so) that make me think that something jammed in there and caused the break..
I believe Scrub is saying that equipment costs a whole lot more over there versus the same piece in the States. A $100K dozer over here might cost $160K over there, therefore their investment is a little more dear to them.
Price of acquisition is relative to the hourly rate you can get for the machine plus labor, fuel, overhead, taxes, etc.
Believe me, I have seen repairs that looked much, much worse on some pretty high dollar equipment. I think Swampdog did an excellent job.
Yair . . . d9gdon . Yes mate that's how I have always looked at it anyway. As you know I just comment here for interest, I have no skin in the game anymore but a quick look at any Australian machinery site I think would confirm your point about machinery values As I said I believe swampdog has it fixed and workable (or will have when repairs are complete) but if I was looking at buying that machine I would probably keep on looking . . . or if all other things were equal I may still be interested if the price was discounted by the value of a replacement track frame. CM1995 That is just the point I make . . . the machinery, fuel and probably wages are much more spendy here and yet from what I see on this board, the hourly rates are similar . . . I will bear correcting on that one but that is as I see it, particularly with trucks. Cheers.
If that's the case, God bless you blokes because it's hard enough to make money here even with our lower price of entry.
It is a constant amazement to me how cheap the earthmoving and agricultural machinery is in America, (or how expensive it is here). The exchange rate is not that different. What is the reason? Maybe this could be a separate thread?
Here's another update on the repair, in case anyone is interested. I pulled the idler yesterday, using the trusty engine hoist to control it, since I had no idea how much it weighs. That provided enough room to weld the vertical crack on the machine side of roller frame piece. I also added a piece of steel, 2 inch x 1/2 inch, angling from in front of the break, about half way down, back to the cross web behind the break. While that side may not be as strong as the outer side, it should be good. The yoke that connects from the track adjuster to the idler had a pretty good bend in it, from who knows what, so I thought that should be straightened. On removing all the dried mud from around the shaft, it turned out that the yoke shaft had also snapped in two, right where the rough metal shaft transitions to the smooth shaft that moves back and forth in the cylinder. After a call to Cat revealed that a replacement yoke would cost close to $900, I spent the next three hours or so straightening the yoke and then welding the break. Heat and a twenty ton press served to straighten the yoke. Then, using the angle grinder, I Vee-ed out the shaft all the way around, mainly cutting into the metal on the rough textured side of the shaft, so as not to lose length from the polished side. Then I made up a jig to align the two pieces. I kept on turning the piece and welded it a bit at a time, frequently checking for warping and alignment. The piece ended up straight and in alignment. The parts are back together, and I'm just waiting for the new rails and sprocket segments to show up.
Great job. Bet you'll be pleased to see it back pushing!
I do not want to re read the entire thread... did you inspect the other side of this machine for the same conditions ? BTW. Your repair looks really good, bury it in dirt and move on.
The other side looks fine. I pulled the covers and cleaned out the entire area and have not found any damage.