Welding a "Skid Steer" Loader

admin

I have been asked to weld a crack on the lift arm of a New Holland (Bobcat style) loader. The crack is completely along the bottom and up approx. 3" on both sides. I can't tell how deep it is. I was planning to grind the crack out and run a root pass with 6013 and then a finish pass of 7018.  I was told by a person that is a mechanic for the Mfr. that they do not recommend welding the lift arms (booms). Is this legitimate or do they just like to sell very expensive parts? Mike
Reply:weld em. i think they are just trying to sell parts. i commonly weld excavator booms and rubber tire backhoe booms. pre-heat to 500 and 400 on the interpass. peen your welds except the root and the cover pass. not sure on the thick ness of the metal you are welding but it should be in the 1/4 range. i would tack a piece of angle or something on the arm to keep it from pulling. apply a little post heat and cover and let slow cool."Retreat hell, were just fighting in the other direction"Miller Trailblazer 302, Extreme 12 VS, Dimension 400, Spectrum 375, HF 251D-1, Milermatic 251 w/ spoolgun  Hypertherm 1000Lincoln sp 1702000 F-450 to haul it
Reply:Manufactures do not like having people weld on something that they are paying product liability insurance on. You maybe the best welder on the planet or just bought your first buzz box yesterday, they have no way of knowing. You got any pics of the lift arm and crack? I'd grind for full penetration and use 7018 for all passes. One of our skid steers is a New Holland and gets abused daily with no problems. Any idea what cracked it?
Reply:Yup, they want to sell parts. I've been welding them for years. They won't explode or self destruct like they would have you believe.  FWIW, the Bobcat dealer here repair welds their booms all the time.I definitely would not get anywhere near it with a 6013...never. Full pen 7018 would be best...or if you must, 6010/11 root and 7018 cap. 7018 all the way is the best way by far. You may want to drill the crack at the ends to attempt to stop it from progressing. Nowadays, I prefer to run dual shield or an E71T-8 flux core. I just like it better that way.
Reply:Weld it, I have done several.  grind it out, run 7018 for all passes then weld in a plate over the crack to add some strength.  It would not hurt to drill the crack at each ends before welding.I'm a Lover, Fighter, Wild horse Rider, and a pretty good welding man......
Reply:We have them for the blasting crew to back fill there holes, well any how the crks are caused from improper use and yes they can be repaired. The material is 1/4 inch and I've always v them with a grinder no pre heat is required providing the temp of the steel is not below 70 deg F. Also one was so bad of shape I made some fish plates and it never crkd back out, the area they crk is usually above upper hoist cyl mount. 3/32 7018 is my weapon of choice or .045 71 elite.AWS CWI Hypertherm 850 plasmaLincoln LN-25Lincoln SAE 400Miller Big 40D28' X 36' X 14' Shop_____________________________________Tools are not the the skill but simply tools!
Reply:here is a drawing of my design.Last edited by Dipper Welder64; 08-12-2007 at 12:16 PM.AWS CWI Hypertherm 850 plasmaLincoln LN-25Lincoln SAE 400Miller Big 40D28' X 36' X 14' Shop_____________________________________Tools are not the the skill but simply tools!
Reply:Originally Posted by MJDamianiI have been asked to weld a crack on the lift arm of a New Holland (Bobcat style) loader. The crack is completely along the bottom and up approx. 3" on both sides. Mike
Reply:Actually, they all break. One of the worst ones I ever saw was a Bobcat 753. The loader arm was completely broken off near the center brace and in the process destroyed the Bobtatch and a few other pieces. The dude wanted me to fix it for a few hundred bucks. I figured it would start around $1100.00 and expected it to be around 1500-1800. Needless to say I didn't get the job. I heard that Bobcat repired it and it was over $2000.00.  Had almost the same deal with a CASE 590 Super K. That one took the better part of a day just to realign and weld up. Once I finished it, it lasted another few years before the customer liquidated it and bought new stuff. Both of those machines had very, very hard lives. Abuse anything enough and it will break. Good thing we have the technology to put them back together.
Reply:I do repairs for the local bobcat dealer.  They showed me a boom that was totally broken in two along the welds.  Lengthwise.  It was held together with threaded rod through the holes in the boom.  I told them I couldn't do it unless they took it off the machine.  They didn't want to take it off and I didn't want to touch it.  I still do work for them.DavidReal world weldin.  When I grow up I want to be a tig weldor.
Reply:The lift arms are supposed to back tight against the skid steer's frame when pushing with a dozer blade, or digging with a bucket.  Otherwise they develop cracks.  It happened to my ASV PosiTrack which I bought used.I would think that the repairs to the cracks, when prepped in the correct manner, could be welded with wire.  From the look of the stringer beads on my machine, that is how it was welded from the factory.WeldingWeb forum--now more sophomoric banter than anything else!
Reply:try this again!AWS CWI Hypertherm 850 plasmaLincoln LN-25Lincoln SAE 400Miller Big 40D28' X 36' X 14' Shop_____________________________________Tools are not the the skill but simply tools!
Reply:Thank you to everyone that replied.  The New Holland LX-985 is repaired and ready to go. My friend asked me to do him a favor and it became a project. If I fixed everything on this machine, it would take me 2 weeks. Hydraulic leaks, re- welding, etc.  I will fix all of the non-structural repairs after the construction season. Again, thanks for all of your replies and help,Mike