A real +/- day

[Mobuck]

Today's plan was to finish prepping the "new to us" combine for harvest. We've been working on it as time allowed but as with most used equipment of unknown history, there are unforeseen problems. As we got to one of the final steps in the prep, we discovered 2 bolts that had been twisted off previously. Most of the time, this would be difficult but not insurmountable.
Not this time. I'm not sure how much torque it takes to twist off a Grade 8 3/4" bolt but it's significant. Sure enough, both bolts were broken off deep inside blind holes in an enclosed housing. My attempt to torch out the deepest stub failed so we're going to attempt to drill the other. I can't imagine it's going to go well considering the hard bolt but it's the only hope.
If it doesn't work, I'm on the search for a "magna-drill" to rent.

 

[kodiakken]

How are your welding skills?
Take a piece of pipe that you can slide up against the bolt, Weld the pipe to the broken bolt
through the inside of the pipe.
Have some brake fluid and pore it in around the pipe while it is still fairly warm, let cool then try to turn broken bolt out with a pipe wrench.
Thats what we use to do to get broken studs out of mud pumps on the rigs.
Good luck

 

[CLAYPOOL]

HEAT WITH TORCH..WALK OFF TILL TOMORROW..REPEAT 3 TIMES..EXHAUST BOLT TRICK..EXPLAINED AS WORKING DOWN DEEP ON RUST, etc...

 

[Mobuck]

Thanks for the suggestions. Unfortunately, this is beyond the common seized thread scenarios. The bolt I torched on was broken off 1/2" below the surface of the frame and is now torched out a full inch deeper. The other is broken too far below the surface to weld onto, also.
United Rental has the drill but not sure if the "local" (only 40 miles away) location has one on the shelf. If we can drill/machine out the bolt I didn't torch on, I'll cut an access hole in the formed steel subframe of the machine to allow a "nut on a stick" to be threaded onto a replacement bolt. If the process works well enough, we'll cut the damaged hole where the torching failed one size bigger and do the same there.
This is a BIG piece of metal. It's 6' wide x 8' long and weighs maybe 1000#. It would require blocking up the machine, removing both drive tires (roughly 750# each), at least 2 engine lifts, and a forklift plus at least a full day of wrenching to get it on the ground.
It's surprising how some folks get along w/o even knowing how close they are to a disaster. The broken bolts are 2 of 4 that support 1/2 of the header which can weigh 6000# or more and one had been broken for quite some time. With those 2 broken, it was only a matter of time before the others failed causing a catastrophic disconnection of header from combine. Oh well, we have a few days to get it right and the weather is not totally obnoxious. We hadn't budgeted for 3 days to fix this but better now than later when the machine needs to be running OR after far more costly damage has occurred..

 

[Bull Barrel]

Who said farming was easy? It ain't.

 

[Mega Twin]

Sounds like my used machinery buying experience.

 

[Montelores]

Good thing that you found this.

Sorry that you found this after the purchase and just before use.

Interesting that the previous owner was OK with operating it in this condition.

The engineers wanted 4 bolts for a reason.

Hope that you can find a work-around - access sounds like a pain.

Keep us informed, and good luck -

Monty

 

[Mobuck]

On the plus side, we bought the machine at a price that leaves a fair amount to spend on repairs/updates. This is the third spot we've found that required significant expense and effort but overall the machine is well above average and should be worth the repairs and time spent. In the marketplace of used machines, this one is going to the field well below 1/2 of the average and by doing the repairs ourselves, we have a much better idea of the actual condition rather than counting on claims of a previous owner or dealer.

 

[Achigan]

Mobuck, your ability to find a glimmer of sunshine under that dark cloud humbles me. G’luck on the wrenching.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

I. Hate. Blind-tapped holes.

With a passion.

Sometimes they cannot be avoided, but still . . .

:evil: :evil: :evil:

 

[Mobuck]

Far too often that flicker of hope is actually the flash of the ignition charge!!!
We do have a source for everything needed to ream, rethread, and "heli-coil" the holes back to OEM so it's only a matter of shipping time. All that time I "wasted" studying engineering in college 1/2 a century ago is showing it's worth now.

 

[Mobuck]

Tomorrow may be the day we find if the proposed repair is do-able. The local rental place ordered in the drill we needed and it arrived today. The rest of the fix-it parts are in hand(I hope) and I think we have time to see if the plan works tomorrow afternoon.
Lots of stuff going on. First thing in the morning I have a conference call that was originally scheduled to last 1 hour but I got an email earlier this afternoon with the comment that the meeting will last closer to 2.5 hours which is a BIG difference for me anyway.
Also got a text from one of the landowners of our farming operation stating he was ready to pick up a load of cover crop seed with his semi on Thursday. Good thing I spent the morning cleaning, moving, and loading some seed boxes and getting the seed hopper wagon ready to unload the semi. We'd just got the short grain auger fixed last week knowing this was coming sooner rather than later. The "boys" (both 40+) don't seem to calculate just how much time it takes to do the prep work for all these mundane tasks.