Enough to ruin your day!!

[no-red 6 0]

Here is my troubles from last weeks snow storm (Feb.24/25 ~9.5")

As you can see, the rusted mount was on the drivers side which had obviously had hairlined cracked god knows when and the 'snap' i heard was the passenger side tearing the metal - that is the fresh clean piece. I only thought i broke the drivers side hence the strap only there. Drove home with the plow only strapped on one side, damn thing could have came off on me going down the road...
Costly repair, to the tune of $300. That cut in to the profit of side cash i made that day....

 

[bushpilot]

bummer...is that what it cost you to have it fixed or did you have to
buy new parts....that'd 300 would go a pretty long way towards
a welder

 

[atk]

that deffintely cuts into the profit.... ....does look like the left side was broke(cracked)already. put alot of stress on right side....glad you made it home safe....

 

[fordtrucker4life!]

bummer...is that what it cost you to have it fixed or did you have to
buy new parts....that'd 300 would go a pretty long way towards
a welder

That looked like cast iron to me. Welding cast iron is almost impossible. At least I have had no luck in doing so. There is also so much stess on the mounts when plowing that welded parts won't last that long, happens to me all the time. I have a fisher plow on a F250 that has been pretty good.

Red-that sucks. Good thing you made it back safely.

 

[no-red 6 0]

el correct o. cast iron. no weldy.

a rep. for the manufacturer said the manufacturer may want to see me. those should have never broke. i am to get an answer maybe tuesday. perhaps get my money back

bp: replacement cost of 8 bolts to bolt on the new mount - $314 and change...

 

[JLDickmon]

el correct o. cast iron. no weldy.

a rep. for the manufacturer said the manufacturer may want to see me. those should have never broke. i am to get an answer maybe tuesday. perhaps get my money back

bp: replacement cost of 8 bolts to bolt on the new mount - $314 and change...

sure you can.

Well, I can't, but I know it can be done... Mitsubishi used to have this contraption exhaust manifold with the cat built into it... guess what one of the first items they obsoleted was... oh yeah... the cast iron cat housing...


you have to heat it nearly to the point it remelts, run your bead, and pack it in firebrick to cool...

and pray it doesn't crack...

 

[RenoF250]

My dad told me you could not weld cast iron so I decided to try on an old frying pan that had a crack. I welded it up real nice and pretty and went to go tell him he was wrong when I hear "TINK". It cracked, dad was right again.

How long are those parts on the plow? For $300 I would buy a chunk of bar stock and cut them out of that if it is possible. Don't know what the other end looks like.

 

[atk]

That looked like cast iron to me. Welding cast iron is almost impossible. At least I have had no luck in doing so. There is also so much stess on the mounts when plowing that welded parts won't last that long, happens to me all the time. I have a fisher plow on a F250 that has been pretty good.

Red-that sucks. Good thing you made it back safely.

with a part like that, i wouldn`t trust it , if it had been welded. i have welded cast before, but that was on engine blocks. it does take a special rod and isn`t very cheap....just my ....

 

[dpantazis]

notch toughness

dan-

ouch! i ma glad that you made it home safe.

from your carnage pictures, this one is curious to me. it shows the CLASSIC notch toughness failure. i highlighted areas in red.

toughness is the ability for metal to deform and absorb energy with a flaw. cold temeratures makes the condition worse.

the 'classic' teaching example is the liberty ships in WW2- the steel had poor notch toughness and welding made it worse. these ships developed a crack midships at the gunnel and the whole thing broke in two. adding riveted plated to reinforce the area 'fixed' the problem. they still cracked, but they didn;t unzip.

in your case, the part looks like a steel FORGING or steel casting not cast iron. i think the first one broke because of a forging defect or a 'notch' that could have simply been a whack at the right point with something heavy- like a prybar or plow edge. just a good nick will concentrate the stress enough. you would be surprised at how small the notches are when we test the materials.

i would not weld it either. the part was probably heat treated as well to give it strength. even if it was some steel or semi steel that is weldable, its not worth it. think 'insurance'.

dennis

 

[no-red 6 0]

Dennis-
i am assuming you work w/ metals? lol
awesome info - as i have a get together on tuesday w/ the rep. for the manufacture i will bring it up. i am certainly gonna push for the 'failure' and would like my money back.... it is worth a shot.

just to clarify, i have been told it is cast iron, heat treated. so welding it is not an option. only option is to buy $300 worth of new plow mount.

as for a new subject. in the plow receiver part you can see the 2 upward dents on each piece where when the part failed it popped up and dimpled the mount. hoping to get a new one of those too. as you said Dennis, think 'insurance'....