So I'm in between logging projects right now so I figure its a good time to bring the misses home and fix up her blade proper like... just a few cracks...
So I don't have any pictures and I've already cut most of the garbage off of it as of now, but try to follow along.
In between the "ears" of the old style Deere blades, it started with two massive cracks that extended about 3/4 of the blade down, former owner decided that just building up layer upon layer of bird **** would be enough for that part, its not. Now since the cracks started at the top, his first idea was to have a 5/8"? plate welded across said cracks just don't bother with welding those cracks that plate is more then strong enough...
Well it wasn't.
So after throwing on one more booger over the plate, that broke, lets put some 1/8 by 1" angle on there... that didn't work so we'll booger on some more crap, then weld on some rebar over the welds on the angle.
Well **** that didn't work either.
So some 3/8x2" angle across the whole ******* mess should really do the trick...
Nope...
This is about the time that I bought the ole girl, after a few weeks and some profit I hired a guy to weld some of the worse for wear cracks, those on the face and a few others. Of course that cost a fair penny, and those welds are worth every dime, but they didn't address the problem of all the scrap iron on top.
Flash forward a year or two...
My fat ass now has a welder up to the task and the time to deal with it right now, so I've spent the better part of 5 hours torching off all the BS that has been welded on over the years. Only to find out that the original cracks along the top that have been covered up by a mountain of cluelesness where never welded in the first place...
Tomorrow I'll see if I have any acytalen (?S?) left and torch off the rest of the 5/8 plate, maybe... got some backhoe work that may take the rest of the day...
My welds aren't pretty, they are a little crooked for the most part, but dammit they penetrate and don't have much defect, for the most part they even sit kinda flat.
I'm not even getting into the gusset that was scabbed back on crooked... or the frame welds... that I'm scared too look closely at...