I realize this is a year old video but I wanted to add you can fix a crack like that with JB Weld. We had the same thing on a Ford 7000 years ago and I took a grinder and and slightly opened the crack just a little and then filled it in with JB Weld. A couple of days later I grinded it to look smoother and then we decided to just repaint and label the tractor. You could never tell it. JB Weld is amazing.
Good try! When I saw you talking about welding a cast iron block crack, I've think to myself "If this guy could do it so easy, it will be a miracle." I like the honest way you show all the mistakes. Best regards!
As a certified welder, many tears ago, engine blocks are castings ... made with lots of air bubbles, impurities and just about everything else under the sun, they are a BITCH to weld.
Hey Mustie1 I admire your effort, I think you learned a lesson and allowed many others to learn the same. Another great video with excellent narration considering it's all as you go along with no script. Keep them coming my friend, I really look forward to watching and learning.
Hey Mustie, I just retired from being in the automotive business with exhaust shops and we mig welded a lot of cast iron manifolds and they held!,,, You did such a great job on the preparation that I swore it would have worked!
In 1964 Dad had a1953 AC tractor with a cracked block and we took the engine to a man that heated the whole block, then welded it and buried it in sand for several days to cool it slow and it's still holding. Catapiler sent engine blocks from Wisconsin to Texas to get blocks welded, that's how good he was.
That is an excellent tip. Do you happen to know if the sand has to be dry? I would assume any moisture in the sand would contradict the intended goal of cooling the engine block slowly.
I had understood that cast iron is very complicated to try to weld. If you heat it up unevenly, it will crack. Sounds like this guy knows what he is doing.
Probably talking "Grey" or flake cast iron. You would be looking at >3% carbon and 2% silicon...not an easy combo for welding. The part where he heated it up was pretty cagey...iron mongers of the last 500 years would heat it up and hammer it together... Best way to achieve fusion if it is feasible.
When my grandfather and I were building 327 Chevy we had a few blocks that were destroyed from the corvette fuel pumps being drilled crooked the blocks are from the 60s and we wanted to use them. We took a old oven we had in our barn and got the oven up to 500 degrees. Took a torch heated up the block and brazed the block. Still runs and we still have 4 spare blocks
My uncle has a FARMALL that was abandoned by the city of my town. They said he won't get it fixed and it will never run. I told the worker it's a FARMALL made in USA. I watched and assisted him when he was working on it for a few days then eventually got it running! They are soo simple high quality products and your rig is a testament that they don't make'em like they used to!
Thing was cracked all over yet still started up and purred like a kitten. Good old reliable tractor. It's too bad that both the mechanic shop and the owner failed to check for antifreeze. You'd think that to be second nature in New England. Heck even down here in Dallas I check the coolant on everything at least every fall. And we may or may not see any below freezing temps for more than a few days during any given winter. My father was no mechanic but as a shade tree do-it-yourselfer one thing he taught us was to always check the fluids, filters, hoses, and belts.
What a hoot to watch you tinker! Same thought on that broken pulley. Things like that make one wonder how many surprises are awaiting on the rest of the tear down. Can't believe the rebuilder didn't put coolant in right off the bat where cooling systems rust up so fast without or at least - make it well understood to the owner that just water was used.
Awesome job Mustie1, watched the dismantle n rebuild.........................its so satisfying when everything goes back together and no bits left over and it goes well !
I have a 1955 chevy 235 cu in a 1949 GMC 1/2 ton pickup that I have been driving for 24 years. The engine has a cracked block that was repaired with JB Weld. still running without a leak.
A suggestion: whoever drilling into a place where you dont want shavings, grease up the flutes of the drill. Most of the shavings will stick to the grease and not fall into where they are not welcome.
A few shaving in the water jacket will not harm a 70 year old engine. I promise. It is not like shavings were going into anyplace where they would matter.
I remember they did an experiment somewhere where they made a solid steel ball have water in it, and it broke through it. I know that's an old comment, but wanted to add my 2 cents, lol
I bet the last people who worked on it lost two of the head nuts and replaced them with regular hex nuts. Prior to WW2, nuts were made a larger hex size than the same size bolt. In order to save material for the war effort, they started making them the same size. You can still buy them today sold as "heavy hex nuts". When we come across them in the field we just refer to them as "WW2 nuts".
What a great video!!! (well, ALL of your videos are awesome). I learned to drive on the same McCormick Farmall Cub when I was 5yrs old, haha. Farm Life, I guess.
Heating the cast iron around the area to be welded is your friend, I had a friend that was a VERY good welder and we ( I ran the rose bud torch as he welded) Would heat the area to be welded with a rose bud and he then welded up a cast iron block on a John Deere tractor and it worked like a champ. Not trying to be negative it worked for us. Great video!!
Subd! I appreciate that you shared how you approach fixing things. You probably learned so much by trying to weld that crack and probably know exactly what doesn't work the next time you try it.
Another thing to consider about the cracked block. I had a Farmall B that had the same problem. Was not cracked but rather had a hole rusted through. These tractors are 70/80 years old now and the internal corrosion over the years leaves the block thin. I fixed mine by making a 4/4 inch flat plate and centering over hole I drilled 8 1/4 inch holes in block and tapped them. I installed the plate which looked like an inspection plate. Lasted for at least 4 years then I sold tractor. I had tried to weld mine with brass before but never would hold. My 2 cents
Must've. I found a free 1968 camaro. Gonna try to get it running after 25 yrs. love your vids and outside the box thinking. That's missing in 90% of our youth.
awesome video mustie. i purchased a super c with a cracked block pretty close to same position. i used a arc welder and nickle rod together with torch and air chisel. i pre heated welded an inch and then hammered the hell out of it with chisel. preheat and repeat. i got really lucky though. pain in the butt. keep them coming:)
I think that pully is cold fitted i;e heated then put on the shaft and cooled down to make a perfect seal and the bolt in the end has gone in a field yrs ago. Great work and much respect for trying to repair that block Mustie1.
My Dad was a welder for 40 years. He was one of the old school guys. I've seen him braze up allot of engine block with a gas welding tip and brass rod.
I grew up on a dairy farm my dad had an International 400, had a cracked block, my btother in law tried tig weldin it, it kept cracking also, before you even started preppin it to weld, i already knew you probably were not going to succeed, im a union pipefitter, and so was my bro n law, we worked in nuke plants and all over the country making exray pipe welds, those blocks are hard to repair, all their is to it, you do a great job on all yr videos though 👍👍👍
good day. In the 80's we bought a allis WC for $65. it had a patch bolted on, everytime we worked it alittle harder it would foul up a spark plug. The top of the block was probably cracked on inside like the A. anyways it was learning experience for all of us. Thanks
You could always practice fixing the crack once you have the old block out of the tractor. Be fun to try anyways, just a thought. Great video as always.
Wow, that brings back memories. I worked my rear end off every spring/summer along with all my male cousins running a tractor just like that. Those machines are fantastic, simple, reliable work horses for those that know what they're doing with one. Grandpa was a great teacher, so were my older cousins.
All your video's are great! Even keel always (no screamin' or breakin' stuff) very nice! It's neat how you think about things before jumpin' to the point of no return. Please keep 'em comin'...
Sperry welding in Capac, Michigan used to weld engine blocks by heating the whole block in a furnace. They welded a 9n Ford with the same type of crack for me in 1980. It worked, but ‘sweated’ very slightly. They are long gone now.
Brian!! (I have never met him, but he is a friend and confidant of Mustie. You know he's good.) I met Mustie once. We are acquaintances. Really nice man.
Watching you weld that block, made remember watching my Dad do the same thing on one of our tractors. He always would use nickel rod with a stick welder. Get me your address and I'll send you a tube of nickel rod ,which seem to work well for this application. Great video, you should have kept going I think you could have saved it. I really enjoy these video,s keep making them.
I wouldn't even show this, you didn't even re wire wheel the shit out of it before trying to weld it and ya don't tig cast iron and please accept my apologies for sounding like a bitch session.
Always been partial to the nickel rods for Cast Iron, very manageable, but you need to peen the bead after laying it. skip beading an inch at a time also helps a bunch, keeps the heat from soaking up too much.
you have all kinds of neat project's laying around Thierry. that place is like a thinkers heaven keep it up I enjoy seeing your videos I just joined if your wondering..
Farmall. American classic. I love international harvester. I would clean it grind a v shape drill a small hole on each end of crack to stop spreading and weld it. The difference between you and all the trolls is your actual doing and not sitting at a computer. Your doing fine.
Too check the oil, open the bottom valve under the carb on the oil pan. Fill until oil comes out. If you open the top valve and oil appears it's over filled. No dipstick on any A' s I've ever worked on. I used to restore antique farm equipment and tractors in Colorado. Loved them old ones.
Oooh I used to drive one , with the mower deck! :) great little tractors! and a Hoot to drive! I don't think it was an "A" though started differently .. had a spring loaded foot pedal that would hit the ground lug on the starter to get it to start :) :)
I don't know about welding engine blocks but I remember Dad welding a crack in the final drive on our Farmall Cub and he used nickel rod and just welded a section at a time and let it cool off good between times,it was still holding good when we sold it 24 years later.
I watched an older man fix about a four inch crack in a B Farmall block back around 1970. He drilled the holes at both ends and veed out the crack almost to the bottom to give it a lot of surface area. Then he built a small fire and built a bed of coals and put some bare lead battery terminals in a tin can and melted them down. He them put some sulphur in it for a flux and it brought all the impurities to the top and poured them off. He then took a piece of yardstick and paddled the clean lead into the crack. He let it cool to the right consistency and paddled it on. I raked hay with that tractor for several years after that.
I was taught to always keep the push rods matched to the same rocker. Just make a simple piece of scrap lumber with appropriately sized holes numbered to match the engine.
when doing cast iron,you drill 1/4 " hole at each endnof the crackthen grind a bevel ans drill a 1/4" hole every inchheat up the area to be welded weld each inch after arc welding then tap witha chipping hammer until warm to the touchnif the casting is of good quality when done there will be no leaks,job done .
Our up north church had one of these for a mowing tractor. The engine had been replaced with one that was used on a combine. It operated OK but the oil fill was now in the wrong place making adding oil difficult.
A bit late now but the answer to a cracked cast steel block or transmission is the use of an arc welder and Duralloy 5283 low hydrogen high tensile welding rods. The idea is to run a single continuous bead along the entire length of the crack followed up by lateral one inch long "stitches" across the bead every inch or so to aid in holding the welded sections together under load. The procedure worked for me on a Belarus tractor with a cracked block and again when the same tractor literally snapped in half across the gearbox section. In that case the tractor was set up with jigs and clamps to pull the two halves together before welding. Afterwards the tractor returned to full service.
I was given a Ford 8n Tractor with a cracked block. They had brazed it and epoxied and still leaked. I bought a parts tractor for less than a block and just swapped engines. Mine was tired and this one seems much better.
There's A company that makes several kits to replace N series engines with other Ford engines including flat head and ohv V-8's. You can see some of the conversions at awesomehenry.com
I weld cast frequently with Arc. Preheat in a small forge then place it back in after the repair and turn the forge off to cool, or place the part in a sand bucket and cover. Have a pretty high success rate.
Amazing how all these people replying I on Your videos with the perfect way of doing your job aren't there offering their expertise! I think you did the right thing trying to weld the crack, if it had worked you would have saved several days and a lot of money. As for the crank pulley, noone has anyidea what the last guy did to it.
I owned one of these tractors and I rebuilt mine and it had a frost damaged area on the side of the block for which I made a sheet metal patch and attached it with small bolts into drilled and taped holes around the hole in the block...lucky these engines don't have a pressurized cooling system...I didn't have another block...pretty sure this is a sleeved engine so the cylinders are easily replaced
I bought an old 1939 John Deere A 2 cylinder tractor years ago and it had froze and busted the head right around the drain plug for the water. I took it to my neighbor's and he welded it up with 7018 welding rods. He was going to use Nickel rods but was out of them at the time. I ran that tractor for several years like that.
Back when I was 16~17 - 40 years ago, I fixed a cracked block on a Buick Gran Sport 350 from common sense I had very little knowledge of doing such a thing, but I thought if I drill a hole on each end just past the crack and it would find its end then I got some 1/4 inch plate steel and started to heat it up and shape it, when it fit as I wanted I drilled hole in the plate then the block and threaded it. I cut out some flexible high temp gasket and bolted down, cleaned out all metal and I filled it with water and it held so I drained it and filled it with "anti freeze". My friend was really happy because he couldn't afford a engine, but worked for years until he got in a major accident. The engine was fine, but a monster truck drove over the car doing 60mph and ripped the knuckle and all off the truck, both my friends looked in bad shape picking glass out of their faces. It's a good thing they ducked because it crushed the roof down and he wound up using the engine and transmission in another car from a junk yard.
Reminds me of my Grandaddy's old B Farmall except his had a foot button starter and the battery was often dead so I remember using the hand crank on it more often than not.
