PTO winch gearcase

[island45]

Unfortunately I find myself in need of a new gear housing for my factory pto winch. Both front and rear mounts have been busted off. one is missing and one is welded back on very poorly. . I have been trying the vendors. No luck so far, but I have located a used pto gear for my later xfer case. I have years worth of good trading stock if that helps any. Thanks

 

[nuclearlemon]

must be kind of common cause my fact pto drive housing also has a cracked ear.

 

[cruiser_guy]

Very common fault and VERY hard to find part!!

 

[island45]

Anybody here ever repaired one? Is the housing cast iron or cast steel?

 

[cruiser_guy]

Cast iron as far as I know. If you find someone who can weld it up and remachine the bosses, post up. I have a case with busted ears too! I was lucky enough to find someone who had a case for sale but that's pretty rare.

 

[rutbeer]

Not finding one cracked is rare? I have four that are not and the only other two I have seen were fine too. What causes the cracks, front end impact?

 

[cruiser_guy]

Not finding one cracked is rare? I have four that are not and the only other two I have seen were fine too. What causes the cracks, front end impact?

Not finding one that is not cracked AND not part of a complete PTO setup is rare.

 

[Pin_Head]

How big is the part that cracked?

High strenght repairs to cast iron parts, like mounting tabs can be made.
The basic approach is to install a grid of closely spaced screws about 3/4 inch deep in the part. This provides the mechanical strenght against cracking. Then you weld over the screw heads and then weld a steel foot or mounting tab.

For a 2x2 part, you would install 3/16 inch screws spaced about a half inch apart, or a total of about 12-16 screws. You don't have to worry about the cast iron weld being brittle because the screws are steel. I have a picture of this in my old welding text book where they used this procedure to repair a 100 ton press.

 

[island45]

Sounds like a pretty decent repair to me. Kinda reminds me of how a dentist attatches a crown by drilling and inserting a post into whats left of the old tooth. I can picture this.. The missing foot is about maybe 1 1/4 x 2 . I'll send a photo of this hideous mess. Funny, this didn't show up on the pictures the po sent me.

 

[shelfboy1]

they are cast steel i beleive ,i have welded some back together that were split in 2and am still using one use a rod for porus or cast metals not 6011.they welded smooth with no problems if its a user winch and not a looker you can wrap bar stock around the housing for extra strenght good luck

 

[Pin_Head]

You would expect cast iron in this application and the welds look like they are to cast iron. If I get a chance, I will post up the part from my welding text book that covers this type of repair. Basically, just install as many screws as possible in the H beam section, weld over the screws with nickle filler and then weld the steel tab to the cast section.
The screws provide the mechanical strength, because the welded part will be brittle unless you heat the whole shebang up to 1000F, weld it and let it cool slowly.

 

[island45]

Been drilling and tapping... I assume you saw my post on the other thread about the value of pto stuff. I figure it's worth a try.. heck, the case is junk anyways. I ground some xtra off, because I now found a really nice pc of 5/8 x 1 1/2 bar stock that will become the tab. I'm just doing the front one first and will set it back in the frame for alignment before I address the rear. .. I still think I should be concentrating on getting that 2f installed, but Ive done that a bunch of times, and this is a genuine challenge, specially for someone who never made a decent weld untill 2 weeks ago.

 

[island45]

Been welding. Jigged everything up nice and square. The H beam section presents a challenge, but I also got 2) 5/16 bolts in, one above the other at the intersections where it was thickest. The poorly welded rear tab fell off during the process, so I'm now doing both at the same time. Additionally, I'm going to install another 5/16 just above the tabs and weld that to the 5/8 bar stock and then grind it to look like the vertical web. This should spread the load out some more. Good call, Pinhead.

 

[island45]

Dang! Out of sheilding gas, and it was just getting fun...that's a 1/4 -20 over a 5/16-18 on the upper web section. I triangulated this last 'external' process by getting two more in below the tab, side by each, and welding them to the 5/8 bar stock. With the bolts I got in behind the tab, and all these extra attachment points, I really dont see these things shearing off. Using a 220 volt wire feed and burning 'em in. And yeah, I know I should have disassembled the thing....

 

[IDave]

sweet!

 

[cruiser_guy]

I'm gonna give that a try once you're all done (and my broken case is already disassembled).

 

[island45]

Back at it... with a fresh tank of gas. Wish me luck!

 

[cruiser_guy]

Post up pictures of the finished product to give us all a little encouragement.

 

[Pin_Head]

Here are the relevant pictures from the welding text book "Metals and How to Weld Them" J.F. Lincoln Welding Foundation, copyright 1990 fair use.

 

[island45]

Progress was slowed greatly by Sunday visitors...Here are a couple of photos with the rear tab completed. I need a new tap for the boltholes in the mounting tabs, and then I can mount it in the frame...I feel like it has got pretty good strength, and it looks better than it did before, so I'm glad I tried it.