Bent axle-update

About a year ago I posted a question on this forum as to why the left front wheel on my Ford 641 was bent rearward (as in castor tilted rearward instead of forward) while the right one was straight. I advised at that time that the tractor had been picked up in a tornado and dropped on the left front wheel.

Several of the good folks on this forum tried to help, but the unanswered question was how could the cast iron axle be bent but not broken since cast breaks instead of bending.

As can be seen in the attached picture the culprit is the bolt holding the axle to the radius rod. It broke at the lower axle/radius rod junction causing the axle to bend rearward at the bottom. The spindle, of course, then would tilt rearward.

I was almost too embarrassed to post this as I should have seen that broken bolt. I guess people tend to see what they expect to see.

The reason for this post was to hopefully help others from missing this under similar circumstances. If the top of the bolt had also broken at the wrong time, bad things could have happened.

I buffed if off and looked at it using a magnifying glass.

Appears to me to be casting and incidental marks. What do you think?

The new bolt makes it right.

Thanks.

My guess is that the axle is cast steel and not

cast iron . Depending on the alloy cast steel

is usually somewhat ductile and will weld

with 7018 or similar rod.

george

Thanks George, but all I heard from those with whom I spoke was cast iron. How can you tell the difference?

I may have mislead you a little. I just put in a new bolt and she straighten right out.

The picture is the bolt which I removed.