AC175wf loader, broken rt. steering arm!

This is the second broken arm(original AC not available, poor quality Chinese A&I parts) on this loader tractor, cast iron, breaks right at the keyway where thinnest! Bought another A&I part, pix below, now what to do by welding outside the arm at the keyway??? Plenty of room there to weld, but what method of welding and what material will be best here? Especially if you have experienced this and fixed successfully!!!

That metal looks a bit porous to me where it broke. I would get one from Hy-Capacity and send the one from A&I back to them. I've bought several from Hy-Capacity and never had a problem. Rick

How wide are your front tires? How much air in them? Makes a lot of difference in how easy it steers. A little grease will help too. JMHO, Tracy

No greater gift than healthy grandkids!

I put 7000 hours on a 175 with loader and never broke an arm.

Just curious, is the key slot on the left side arm also in a thin section?

Not the first thing A&I made that was junk. MACK

I agree probably poor parts.That said ag tractor front ends were designed to carry the weight of the front of the tractor the loader puts a lot more stress on them.For light duty work it usually works OK but if you're doing heavy work with a loader you'd be way ahead to look for an industrial tractor.

Had the broken one machined by a shop to proper interference fit, according to the shop. The welder says that adding too much there as suggested by some will crack the cast when it cools. It looks like the left one is a little thicker there, hard to tell for sure.

If you have a helper, keeping the whole thing heated with a rose bud while you're welding and building up that thin area, and let it cool very slowly by burying it in sand (hot sand if you can rig it up), it should not crack.

Here is another option: Brass or brazing is typically as strong as the original cast material ...

I once saw a machinist / welder, brazing a broken drive sprocket on a bull dozer. until I did some research I thought he was crazy.

Why Choose Brazing

First, a brazed joint is a strong joint. A properly-made brazed joint (like a welded joint) will in many cases be as strong or stronger than the metals being joined. Second, the joint is made at relatively low temperatures. Brazing temperatures generally range from about 1150°F to 1600°F (620°C to 870°C).

Most significant, the base metals are never melted.

Since the base metals are not melted, they can typically retain most of their physical properties. And this “integrity” of the base metals is characteristic of all brazed joints, of thin section as well as thick-section joints. Also, the lower heat minimizes any danger of metal distortion or warping.

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Tbone95 wrote:

If you have a helper, keeping the whole thing heated with a rose bud while you're welding and building up that thin area, and let it cool very slowly by burying it in sand (hot sand if you can rig it up), it should not crack.

Not everyone that welds, knows how to do it right, by preheating, post heating and slow cooling. We had a barrel split long ways at the shop. Anything cast that needed welding was buried in charcoal in the barrel to pre heat, then buried in warm sand to cool off for as long as it took.
If I was going to use that welded one, I would want at least another 1/4 inch of material added to the outside.

Edited by CTuckerNWIL - 12 Mar 2019 at 5:27pm

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So... loaders are a tough thing.

This arm broke for two reasons... first... there's too damned little metal in there... second, the stress is totally concentrated on the weakest point.

A loader puts more strain on, because you're turning a steering wheel while the tires are heftly planted.

IF you were to make a stronger steering arm, the next thing that would happen, is that you'll twist off the keyed shaft.

The DESIGN is the biggest problem here... and I addressed this substantially when dealing with my little Cub Cadet loader... and I'll be dealing with it same way on Schwartz (my WD-based TL)

The REAL solution, is to build a better spindle/knuckle design, where the steering arms are physically PART OF the knuckle... I'm all out of photo space, so I can't post 'em here, but they're probably posted on the Cub Cadet forums of years ago.

If you want a stout loader steering system that will NOT break, setting it up so that steering forces originate from hydraulic cylinders mounted TO the axle beam, and acting on the knuckles directly... but you probably don't think that's such a fun task... but I'll assure you from experience... it's the ONLY way to do it right. Wink

Ten Amendments, Ten Commandments, and one Golden Rule solve most every problem. Citrus hand-cleaner with Pumice does the rest.

That should work.

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