The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

So I have a problem with the stool hitch on my Dexta, similar to the one pictured in this ad; https://www.adverts.ie/tractors/complet ... le/7626462

When I got the tractor, the stool hitch was attached, but it was hanging on by a thread and the four bolts that secure it underneath the backend of the tractor were loose and had been badly welded on. The bolts have all subsequently fallen out. The holes left behind are now very oversized and uneven, I would guess some of them are roughly 20 mm in diameter.

Has anyone had success welding bolts at the backend underneath the dexta. I presume it is made of cast iron. I have some all purpose welding rods but I'm not sure if these would suffice or if I need to get cast iron rods. And then reading up on cast iron welding there's a lot of talk of specialist techniques to avoid cracking, preheating etc.

The backend is a fairly big lump so I was kind of hoping I might get away with tacking the bolts on and just gradually building up the weld in short bursts and letting it cool down. Has anyone any experience of welding the castings. The block on my tractor has been welded at some time by a previous owner.

I believe from reading previous forum posts that some of the parts on the Dexta are made of cast steel, so any further information on which parts are cast steel or cast iron would also be appreciated.

Thanks

As far as I know it's cast iron. I don't know much about welding, as I've only done a very wee bit and it's not very good.
Sandy

Thanks for the reply Sandy. As far as I know it's cast iron too. Maybe someone else may know for certain and give a definitive answer.

Also I presume when the tractors were originally supplied, they were supplied without the stool hitch (optional extra) and that the backend had four threaded holes to accommodate the attachment for securing the stool hitch underneath.

The two factory options were a swinging drawbar and an automatic pick-up hitch that works independently of the 3 pt linkage.
Sandy

I very much doubt that Fordson used Cast Iron in their tractors. It's too brittle, doesn't take threading and is liable to crack. With cast steel you can add the required alloys to give it the characteristics you want for different parts. Steel is after all Iron that has controlled amounts of carbon etc added.
IMHO
Jerry

Thanks Jerry. That's sounding ever more promising, I may have success in that case, using the arc welder with the all purpose rods to weld the new bolts in place to hold my stool hitch in place.

Having found an article via Google it might be that while some parts are alloy steel cast, grey iron is used in Cylinder heads and engine blocks!
I guess a simple test would be to touch the piece in question and note the pattern/appearance of the sparks.
This is an interesting and useful guide https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spark_testing.
Hope this helps.
IMHO
Jerry