Just bought a L175, got scammed

[Farmer Travis]

So I drove three hours and bought this beat up looking l175 for $1000 with a nice box scraper. the owner said that it was ugly but everything worked good and no problems with it other than a few minor things like bad seat and ignition switch problem. I had to drive three hours and the seller only had time to show it to me late in the evening. I looked at it drove it around it seamed to run good. there was a puddle of oil under it that the seller quickly said it was not from the tractor. I bought it and loaded it and headed back home. didn't get home till 2am. went out in the morning and the trailer is splattered with oil from a steady stream leaking and the wind blowing it back. after looking for a bit and cleaning off the oil i can see the axle case broke off where the lower links mount and has been repaired but the gasket surface is not sealing. After some more looking i notice there is a freeze plug missing out of the block. i put a blug back in and the engine seems ok but smokes a little like its burning a little oil.
anyway not sure what to do the seller said they will take it back but its a 3 hour drive in the mountains. thought about taking the axle case off and gobbing ultra grey on the gasket surface. I located the parts at a wrecking yard for $800

 

[Farmer Travis]

here is a pic

 

[Farmer Travis]

Also I have noticed that there are some upper mounting holes that seem to be for the lower 3 pt links. can these be used or are they for something else. ? that might solve some of my problem of re breaking the cast.

 

[Tooljunkie]

I bought my L1501, same machine (grey market) for 2500. No attachments.
Box scraper worth 300?
Considering it needs work i think you did ok.
Even spending money to replace housing.

My biggest problem is parts arent the easiest to come by around here.
But most of the stuff i own is/are orphans.

 

[Farmer Travis]

well I decided to tear into this thing and see if I can come up with a solution. basically the mounting hole for the lower 3 point link is cracked. someone welded it with nickle rod before and puddled some sort of white epoxy on the inside. I thought about brazing the crack and fabricating some alternative mounting for the lower links to attach to, But I dont know. six inches above the lower holes is a set of holes that appear to be for the lower links but they have smaller 3/4 inch holes. I played with it some and it seems like it would work to mount them up there but the range of motion will be slightly different and I am not sure how it would effect the lifting strength. If anyone has an idea please let me know. I have the lower link mocked up in the upper hole in one of these pics

 

[MagKarl]

Seller was not honest, but I also think you made a good buy.

What does the inside look like? I think I'd try to grind it out and re-weld where possible if the mechanical connection isn't sound. If it's sound but only concerned with the leak, brazing could be a good option as well. Can you build up the gasket surface and then true it up?

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

No moving it up won't work!
Your going to run into way too many issues.
#1 risk, when you lifted anything heavy and it did lift the center of weight would be so high you could possibly just flip the tractor right over!

If the weld looks strong enough, and there does not appear to be any new cracks I too would just braze it to seal it up then I would use some good Ultra Blue RTV to seal the housing up.

I would then set out to find another housing to replace it, you could try West Kentucky tractor parts: http://wkytpstore.com/

 

[hodge]

I agree with Wolfman- moving the mounting point up, especially that high, is a bad idea. It wasn't designed that way, it won't function correctly, and it will likely cause more damage than you already have. Get it fixed or find a solid case- use it like it was designed.
You still have a running tractor, and you didn't pay too much- swallow the lesson for what it's worth, and make the best of it. Old Kubota's are tough, and it will most likely give you years of service.

 

[Tooljunkie]

What about building a bracket to tie the two mounts together?
Upper mount can help support lower one. When it quits raining im going to look at my machine to see if it has similar setup.

 

[tjd7869]

scammed?... well maybe on the sales pitch, but lets be honest its a running moving kubota and box blade for only $1000. you could put another $1000 into that thing and still be ahead. especially with the condition it would be in after you put in the extra $1000. with that i am with the others as well, put it back together the way it was designed. if your welding/brazing the old parts i would recommend light weight use of the 3pt until you can get a replacement part.

 

[Farmer Travis]

well after further inspection there was a small hole around the weld area that was leaking. It was a pin hole probably full of slag and held for a while until the slag fell out. I welded it but also there were more fractures around the eyelet for the lower link. I did a little careful mig welding, which i know is not the right way to address cast. I just stitched it without letting the cast build up any heat. It looked ok last night, havent looked at it today might be split open again. As far as the gasket surface goes it is actually nice and smooth where it counts so I think its ok there I am going to put it together and do some work with it and plan on getting a housing somewhere to fix it right when I don't need it as much. hopefully It will hold up to some rototilling. we will see i guess

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Actually MIG welding works very well for cast, you could have even gone with stainless wire and argon gas and got a perfect weld out of it.

I think you be fine as long as you got a good penetration on the weld and it didn't just crack on cooling.

 

[Farmer Travis]

yeah i read about the stainless wire working good but then i didn't try it because i figured i had the wrong gas. I do have a bottle of pure argon but my welder manual said to use a helium argon mix for stainless. I guess its not exactly stainless though. a couple test tacks got some micro cracking on cooling so i started peening it after every tack and it stopped doing that. we will see. i think I might fab some kind of bracket for the lower links to mount on so there is not any pressure on the cracked area.