trencher auger

admin

Hello all. For starters, I am a hobbyist welder. I have worked as a welder a little running 7018 smaw for electrical brackets but that is my work welding experience.  I own a htp 221 that I bought to teach myself to tig and accomplish some home projects at the same time.  Today I was approached about a small repair job.  A small contractor has a walk behind vermeer trencher.  The auger that pushes the dirt away from the trench broke off of his trencher.  There are 3 2" approx. welds on each side of the auger blade that hold it to the shaft. These welds did not break, the blade snapped off above and around each of these welds.  I'm sure this blade is hardened steel of some sort.  My question is how I might go about repairing this.  Which process between smaw or gtaw, and what rod would be appropriate.  Any info, tips, or advice would be appreciated.  I can also turn it down if there's more to it than I can handle in my garage.  Thanks for reading, Nick.
Reply:The auger probably broke in those places because the HAZ from the original welds made the metal brittle there. Even so, to break a Vermeer in the way described would take some abuse. If you fix it the contractor will likely be back with the same issue.If it were me I'd "V" out the breaks and fill them with 7018 rod to make a 100% weld. Try to tie in to the original base weld. If the auger is off the trencher it would be much easier.If those break at some time in the future just weld them up again. But I'm a farm weldor that just wants things to work until they need fixed again. A pro might have a better idea.
Reply:Back in the winter my grandfather bought a used 5110 Ditch Witch trencher (about a 10,000 lb trencher, 58 hp) that was missing both augers (1 on each side, about a foot long each). Instead of paying about $600 for both of them, I was able to order some 2.5" OD x 1.875" ID DOM tubing from a steel yard and I got the auger flighting from Ditch Witch for around $250 total for the tubes and flighting.  I welded them with flux cored wire and they are both holding up fine now several jobs and months later. Instead of only welding in small sections like you are talking about, I welded the whole thing from end to end to make it stronger. I don't see how he broke the auger off of the shaft/tube. There is not a whole great deal of force on the auger as it only pushes the loose dirt away from the trench. Sometimes, they can get would up with stuff though. If I were in your shoes, I would probably weld it with 6010/6011 root and cap it with 7018 and weld it from one end to the other if it can be done that way. Some augers have big spaces between the flighting and the shaft and some do not. I don't see how he could possibly break that again if it was welded like that if at all possible. I am not a professional welder, so I could be wrong about it.Edit: How many augers does the machine have 1 or 2?Last edited by GregH; 09-18-2013 at 02:13 AM.
Reply:It only has 1. I think what happened is this, we have TONS of potato sized rocks in our soil here.  I believe one must have jammed just right in between the teeth and the edge of the auger.  There is only a couple inches there. I'm sure it has been beat pretty good as well.  He recently did a 3000 foot trench for the local Park district, hiring these Channahon potatoes the whole way.  I'm supposed to talk to him today.  I was just going to tell him that if he wanted I could weld it for him and worst case I'd it came loose again at that point he could just buy a new one.  Well see what route he wants to take.  Thanks