RK24 Cracked frame - Can it be fixed? // E126 

As an armchair welder, myself. I raise my bowl of potato chips to you sir. 👍

Wow I've owned 14 tractors since 79. Kubota, Ford, jd, branson etc. AND Worked them hard. Never saw one break like that. Get rid of it immediately!!

You should really weld those two plates together on each side instead of simply face welding that. You're only putting a bandaid on it if the new plates are allowed to move. Weld at the top and bottom seams should be good enough. Ideally, the piece of 3/8" that you replaced on the right side should also be welded from the inside at the cut point as well, but would require a ton of work to remove the backhoe and the trans. Nice job on the repair and on the turn signals. They look very clean!

Proud of you, Jon! You have come a long way with your fabricating skills!

Hi autumn 😊

Steel hose clamps will chafe your hydraulic lines. Black zip ties from NAPA are made to be outside and will last much longer than regular zip ties.

For some reason I keep thinking you should have put blue dots on those turn signals.😁Great fab job! it definitely looks 'factree'!👌👍👊🤙

Seeing that this is a common issue and that even the RK25 is seeing it's fair share. Thinking I need to proactively perform this repair. Thanks for sharing!

A "Great, near MARVELOUS " Repair. All these ( under 2500lbs-raw-no-loader) so-called "tractor 's" with Aluminum 2 speed hydrostatic-slip-o-howl-o-whine-a-matics "trams-missions" are just "one-step" ahead of a shovel & wheelburo. Maybe time for an "Upgraded Unit" with some MORE Heft ! Thank you Sir for the Excelent vidio and happy safe tractoring. Best wishes with all your endeavours.

Great bush fix, Jon!

Great job on the repair...although I am disappointed in the RK24/TYM tractor for having that weak spot. I hope their engineers were watching your video! Most likely the tractor frame can't handle the heavy backhoe use...which it should be able to. But, your skills are top notch and essential on a homestead. Well done!

Just found your channel. Very impressed with your lifestyle change. Will enjoy going back to the beginning. Love seeing young families get out of city life. Location is beautiful.

That’s why there should be an additional subframe for a backhoe mount.

You break Rikky 😞You fix Rikky 🙂Make STRONGER ! All the heavy work you are doing I think it has lasted a LONG time. Glad you were able to sort it out. Well done, yet again.

I'm not a pro, either, but I sure would invest in a stick welder, that gets better penetration and comes in very handy for farm-type equipment repairs, for sure. I've got a 200+ amp gas/flux-core mig, but on the machinery, nothing beats the root pass with 6010/6011 rod, with a 7018 rod cap. Also, the suggestions for beveling from both sides of a butt joint, and welding from both sides would be my thought, too, although access is limited. You really did a great job with the flux-core mig, though, on the vertical weld. Those (along with overhead welds), are the hardest to master, IMHO. Good job on the fabrication, Jon. EXCELLENT editing on this video, too.

Those city folk would hang around until the dealer's mechanic came out to swap out the frame. But not wonder welder Jon. The machine is up and working in no time. And if after another 3 or 4 years it breaks, just glue it up again. Love your work!!😊👍 cheers, EJ

Keep doing things the way you do them, love looking in from the outside at how you both cope, keep happy, and laughing love from the 🇬🇧

Much better to just replace your plastic zip ties than use metal ones (vibration will cut the hoses fairly quick)... . Also.. it's worth extracting that sheered off bolt.

I can't thank you enough for posting this video! I pulled my RK24 up to the garage this afternoon and looked for that condition on our tractor. No cracks on the frame but some of those bolts were lose enough to get about a 1/4 turn on to tighten. I went through it all during the 50 hour maintenance, we now have about 200 hours on him. I think a feller just needs to tight fasteners on these little tractors about every 50 hours of operation and everything should be alright. Thanks for all the good content you are putting out there for us all!

John that was a pretty cool fix you did on the tractor frame, good job!

John, that was really some fantastic work, great episode! Thanks so much Meg for all your efforts as well!!!

Dude, impressive repair!

Great video! Glad you accepted some of the blame. Have seen you work that little tractor pretty hard. Have a great day.😊

Cool video. Love the way you go about doing things. Your approach and your hustle....hats off!

I am on the spine of a West Virginia mountain and I can say I have a massive rock collection 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

Mr. Fixit is the winner today! His wife is the Master Manipulator of RK for sure! Impressing work done here...

watching all youre vlogs, love the interaction between the both of you, great ! greetz from the netherlands, Europe.

Ricky's frame broke? I'm shocked!

As usual he amaze me with your skills! Duane & Joanne were here and we watched an episode, they were very impressed. By the way they say hello!

Greetings from the BIG SKY. The only fix I've heard of being tried was a total welding of the frame where it's broken. That didn't hold long. Your fix is what I'd do. too. Should kinda work.

Mine just broke on my RK 25 Thanks for the video!!!!

Meg your excavation skills are amazing! I think you need a mini excavator for Christmas lol one just a little bigger and with a longer reach! You rock!

I’m so happy to see you guys back great job John and Meg and hi Autumn

In truck and car fab they say to never weld vertical on a frame as it work hardens the metal and creates a brittle line, how ever, without more fabbing this fix looks stout enough, liking your videos

Run weld along the top, when you were welding you could see light at the top (space) put weld on it 🇬🇧🇬🇧👍👍

Great job! Great video! You guys are doing it right! Cheers to you! I’m getting close to pulling the trigger on an RK 25. This was a good video to see.

Great job on the tractor, and great video!👍🏻👍🏻

You're turning into a real renaissance man.

Good job! Onward and forward!

Hi guys good to see you 😊

Looks good and was much faster than taking him back to the dealer to wait 6 months. I've got a stock pile of steel laying around now just for stuff like this.

All plastic cable straps are not created equal. Panduit makes some really high quality cable straps. You can find wide ones that are UV protected. There are even ones that can be used with hydraulic hoses. "If It touches don't let it move. If it moves, Don't let it touch."

Tack weld the plates together, find center and step drill. The final size will follow the original holes

UPS to my friend Tim's place I guess goes to the fence over his road in the Bull mountains north of Billings.

Hello Autum from Sweden !

Great job on the repair! I don’t know if there’s any room between the frame but if you can get some of the stock that you used to make the blinker brackets or something similar and weld that or bolt it on too stiffen frame. I work on heavy equipment and have seen this quite a bit.

lucky you. mine snapped at the front. Whole engine, loader and other stuff had to come off. I'll go check the back now!

Cool moonrise and fire. Subtle tune use too. Miss seeing the sprogs (kids); probably growing like virginia creepers!!??

You can always put two or three hose clamps together to make a larger one

That sucks big time. But doing what you're doing there will be more. Ask me how I know. lol.

Good fix at least until you break it again. Such happens when a machine is used to the max.

For full thread engagement, studs should be used, loctite in, you really can't tell with a "blind" bolt. Flange or nylok with flat washers should be used, lock washer should be avoided, as they tend to splay or crack and fall off leaving fasteners loose

Maybe Meg could put some pillows between the seat when she has to use the back hole instead of having to turn around the seat when she needs to move forword. .It looks painful how you both twist around. It makes my back hurt watching you do it.😢

good job. I have a tym 264 wtih 200 hours wtih cracks on the bucket side of the frame because the bolt holes are to close to the edge and plate not thick enough. Mine broke in the same spot on both sides and now I am trying to get the dealer to give me the new frame so it can be beefed up before being put back on. It is a lot of tractor for that small of a frame could be made with larger frames.

That is definitely a weak point in the frame. Adding depth where the holes are drilled was a good idea. You could have added a lot more strength to those two plates by welding them together top, bottom and sides. It may hold like you did it, but that single face weld could crack along that weld line, because of sheer force. By welding top, bottom and sides, you great increase the sheer force required to fracture the face weld.

The older tractors had the motor bolt to the belhousing with5/8 or 3/4 bolts and had no frame. Of course they didn't come with front-end loaderson them.

Awesome Repair! The 75 on the loader is the lift height 75" not weight. My RK24 loader says it will lift over 900 lbs. I'm dealing with a rear hub seal leaking. There aren't any part numbers in the manual. A local TYM dealer is trying to see if the TYM parts are compatible because RK is over an hour away.

ouch!! at least you have the takeuchi as well.

Now that you know how to fix the right side of Ricky . You should do the same to the left side. Make him. STRONG 😮.

In the drone video of you two digging, you can see the tractor torqueing significantly when there was a hard pull. That should not torque like that. I thought these little tractors had a sub frame added that ran the length of the tractor to stiffen it up to take the loads for the back hoe.

Backhoe on tractors and the power of the loader for the size of newer tractors is way this happens. Too much stress on the frames.

6 inch ribbons!

Hi Autumn :)

I believe that is caused by not having a subframe for the backhoe

My cousin dug his foundation with a three-point dirt scoop.

If you put steel clamps around hoses or wiring, the put a piece of rubber or something under it, or you'll end up cutting through.

Here is an idea and something happens with another plate break because of not having enough meat around the holes get a bigger or wider plate instead of the same size only if you have the room for a bigger plate

Awesome work on the fix! Just bought a 24 myself and trying to be proactive. Any way I can get a copy of your template for the plates and a link to the extended bolts you bought? Thanks for your videos, y’all have a new subscriber from our homestead.

When you drill even with a press, use thick oil as you can. Used motor oil is good to use. wd40 is better than nothing but the thicker the oil the less you'll damage your bit, and better it'll bite into the metal.

the skid steer sound a bit ruff is the hydrolic oil full and grease points greased

You are turning into a good welder. TYM should have never put 3 bolts in a row like that, it made a weak spot.

You’ve got a good skid steer now you need to find you a mini ex same brand if you have good dealer support

Your wife broke it! She owes you a new bigger tractor! :)

Could you put a close-up camera on the repair when your using the back-hoe. It looked like when you dropped the leg for the back-hoe all the weight for the tractor moved back 30 inches putting all of that extra pressure on your repair... Luv ya's from Kentucky!!!

Hey guys ! Greetings from Ohio . Good looking fix on the tractor. Just an idle thought here.... With the super abundance of rocks you've unearthed so far , have you considered using them as a thermal mass in your heating/cooling plans?

The manufacturer will have to change u $60.00 More for one of those metal zip ties 🤣🤣🤣

What happened to the 8 year warranty?

👍

Sir, I haven't run through all the comments. So if you have already answered this I apologize. I have the exact sale crack on my 3 year old RK24. I just got word back from Rural King that they will not cover the repair or anything. Did you try to contact them or TYM to see if they would do anything for you? I was actually surprised they would not stand behind their product. And now seeing you had a crack in the exact same place shows there is an issue with material or design.

So you were going to tell us about the titan attachment?

Meg has been way to rough on it. Let's just hope she doesn't brake you Jon..... LOL

I think I would make the plate as long ahead of the crack as the crack is long. Not criticizing just telling you what I would do from experience.

Does your backhoe mount to the 3 point hitch? If so, those are notorious for putting a lot of leverage on the frame and causing this exact issue.

Love your videos but this makes me nervous because I have a rk24

I've got to say, having mentioned how close the bolt holes were to the edge of the frame, why didn't you get a wider steel section when you created the replacement thicker bolt on section? Regards Robin.

I thought they had a 7-year warranty

What did titan say about the stump bucket?

Are these the stock tires?? they look much taller than what I've typically seen on this tractor.

field modifications Been doing them all my life on everything I have ever gotten The kids doing the engineering have never run a machine in their lives All they do is say men r all 6' tall so make things to fit a 6' man Then make it as cheap as they can When their test driver says this is not working they tell him he is not working it right and do nothing to make the error right b/c they know what is best Makes no dif how many yr the test driver has the 26 yr old kid knows best b/c some PhD told him he did By the way the PhD has never run a machine in his life either.

How old is the tractor? Just past the warranty I'm guessing? I'm not trying be an a-hole but that's why it's worth paying the extra for a Deere or Kubota or even new Holland, tried and true and been around for 100 years. These new tractor companies like summit or bad boy that come out , yes they are usually less expensive and all but who's to say 15 years from now those companies are still in business and you can get parts and service.

Hold old is that tractor and is it still under any kind of frame warranty?

You need to get the bolt out of the hole and replace it. You can drill it and easy out it. That bolted joint will not stay as tight with only 4 bolts. once it the bolts loosen and the joint starts sliding it will fail. The added spacer plate will increase the bolt stretch which should help keep the bolts tight, but you definitely need the five bolts.

No not poor ricky

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I want to know what logs they jump and dont video them so we can see the fun that broke it...😉 nice fix nd lets hope it stays that way.

Do you have a video of your front winch set-up?

Did this tractor not have a warranty?

I won't tell you about how or what, just say that it works and that is the goal, to make it work. There are engineers I learned from a podcast of men who engineer stuff for the big names stuff. One engineer is to do nothing but make everything fit under the hood, in other words of my poor explanations... put a large banana in a small banana skin. Yep, makes sense to me... what could go wrong with that

another reason not to buy tym how many hours u at on your tractor?