Look what I found when trying to remove my 3pt hitch arm

[DepositGuy]

About three options occur to me:

1) Richie Rich - Buy a new casting and spend a couple days swapping it out, done forever.

2) Farmer Joe/Fabber Fred - Grind off the old stuff and fab your own ears (use mild steel, flesh won’t work) and bolt them on, might or might not work for a while.

3) Welder Wes - Grind off all the old stuff. Consult with someone with skill and equipment to weld cast iron and fab some ears out of what they suggest and get it all welded up, could work, probably for a while.

I suspect the BH hooks up to these ears as well? If so, I’d probably go with option 1. But if you have more time than money, options 2 and 3 might work, but I doubt option 3 is significantly less expensive than option 1 if you outsource.

If it was the ‘70s, Dad would have (did) employed option 3 on the 8N, but he’d weld it himself. Called it brazing and he’d heat the casting first. Had some sort of powdered flux to dump on it too IIRC.

Good luck with it. It looks like a decent enough challenge.

 

[DepositGuy]

I went with option 1 (Richie Rich) as it's the right thing to do. I already have the part but it's a Spring-time job.

 

[GrizBota]

I went with option 1 (Richie Rich) as it's the right thing to do. I already have the part but it's a Spring-time job.

At least you won’t run out of things to fix. At least that seems to be my deal between the wife, kids and cows all busting things up on the regular.

 

[DepositGuy]

At least you won’t run out of things to fix. At least that seems to be my deal between the wife, kids and cows all busting things up on the regular.

You got that right my friend. My truck's tranny went wild yesterday and is leaking. My backhoe trencher is a 1979, say no more. Even gentleman farming is rough on everything and something always needs to be straightened, welded, repaired or replaced. Such is our lot. Early Merry Christmas (another work day for many a dairy farmer).

 

[GrizBota]

You got that right my friend. My truck's tranny went wild yesterday and is leaking. My backhoe trencher is a 1979, say no more. Even gentleman farming is rough on everything and something always needs to be straightened, welded, repaired or replaced. Such is our lot. Early Merry Christmas (another work day for many a dairy farmer).

A dairy farmer! Oh my. Never a true day off or to sleep in. You have my respect.

I grew up working on dairy farms. I know the gig, but not as well as you. I also grew up milking a couple of our cows by hand. Looking back, I’m glad I had the opportunity, but as a kid, it wasn’t all that appreciated.

Merry Christmas to you too.

 

[DepositGuy]

A dairy farmer! Oh my. Never a true day off or to sleep in. You have my respect.

I grew up working on dairy farms. I know the gig, but not as well as you. I also grew up milking a couple of our cows by hand. Looking back, I’m glad I had the opportunity, but as a kid, it wasn’t all that appreciated.

Merry Christmas to you too.

No, I'm not that foolish! I helped around on a dairy farm and a couple of neighbors have them, so I'm in the know but never had the fortitude to make a living out of it.

 

[GeoHorn]

Welding cast iron is tricky….requires heating the part for the welding operation then controlling the cooling-off to avoid fractureing. But I’m an amateur welder….and have successfully welded cast STEEL with excellent results…and the 3 cast steel items I welded…were highly stressed and never broke again. I used MIG welder, solid wire, C25 gas.

The items I welded were: A drill-press vise that was broken in half. A bench vise that was fractured at the jaw-to-shaft connection. And a 9N Ford lift arm fork that broke at the fork.

I didn’t do anything special…. just ground a small 45 at the break and welded it with the wire-feed MIG. It never broke again in 8 years.