Pitted rust in loader bucket

[mongobird]

On a tractor bucket which has lived outside for 40 years, there is some pitting at the rear of the bucket where there is a stitched seam. (Bucket for Ford 770B loader, 60") There is no perforation that I can see, and when I run a pressure washer near the seam gaps I get dirty water out. What probably saved the bucket is that generally I park the tractor with the bucket tilted slightly down, so there is not usually standing water in it. However dirt and snow will stick in it, and I don't or can't always clean it out after every use.

I would like to paint the bucket, and will straighten out some ripples in the top, but first I would somehow like to add more material where this pitting is.

I was thinking of using 7018 (MIG, likely with CO2) to spot fill the pits, after wire brushing them, and then grinding it smooth(er) prior to painting. That would add material. The worst part is within 4 inches of the end of the bucket. If that doesn't hold up, I figure at some point I can cut and patch.

Any ideas or suggestions?

[ryanjones2150]

What kind of wire are you planning to use?

I'd say 40 years parking outside and it's still useable then it's served you well. Repair it the way it was. Don't over think it, it's not a piano.

[mongobird]

7018 0.030 or possibly 0.023 if I need to go smaller to fill the pits.

I am motivated to repair it because even though buckets aren't horribly expensive, I don't think I can afford one.

Also, where the stitching is, I have considered upping the coverage. It is 50% now, and I thought I could make it 80%, leaving just a few gaps which were not welded shut.

[Willvis]

I think your confused. 7018 is SMAW (stick) rod not GMAW (mig). Sound like a job for 6010 / 6011 to me. Even then you may find your first pass pulls up a lot of crap and gives you major porosity. You may need to weld a pass, grind it out, then re weld to get a decent bead.

[mongobird]

I could be confused. I will have to look at the packaging. But it is GMAW fluxless wire, and I use it for sheet metal repairs, normally with an argon CO2 mix. For the rusty bucket I would use straight CO2.

EDIT: Checked receipt...ER70S-6 wire. Sorry, it has been a while since I have had to specify the wire. I have the -3 and the -6, several 10# spools.

[ryanjones2150]

Ya man, about as close as you can get to a low hydrogen rod in a welding wire is a dual shield.

I agree with with 6010 recommendation. Welding on old, rusty steel with bare wire will be an exercise is grinding. You'll have to get that surface rust off, that's for sure. Put post up a few pictures, that will help us give you some guidance.

[mongobird]

Here's a view of the one side of the loader bucket. Whiel looking at it tonight, it occurred to me that if I were to seal up the "stitches in the bucket (the absence of which you see some water leaking from, then I might reduce some of the rust. In this case the water that you see came in through the back side of the bucket, which I am thinking should also be stitched up.

I have included one picture of the backside of the bucket. If I leave it parked so that it doesn't fill with rain, then the backside gets water in, and it still passes though, as you can see in the first two photos.

Would there be any reason for only having 50% coverage on the stitching, and not 100%? Both on the back and on the inside of the bucket?

[ryanjones2150]

Minimize the warpage. Cheap fabricator. Lazy weldor.

You're gonna spend a month grinding rust off to weld that with solid wire. Stick weld it. Cut out the bad spot and patch it up.

[Aeronca41]

Man, I second the stick welding! 6010/6011 all the way. At my age, I'm too old to start a job like that with mig. I might not have time to finish. That is just not a MIG job. Ugghhh!

[tackit]

This is an interesting heavy equipment repair shop. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtNaCzE5hY409

[Franz©]

Looks like an 80s vintage Woods bucket from a machine under 30 HP.
Cutting edge don't need to be solid welded on the back side, the front edge is solid, and will begin popping at about 30 years of age. Rattle the crap out of the space between pieces with a .401 gun, squeeze back together, and weld up concentrating heat on the cutting edge. Cool slowly before removing clamps. Work in sections to prevent warping.

Woods buckets were only 10 ga to start, no point trying to build up. Prebend patches, clamp in place and run a plasma cutter thru the sammich around the hole. Grind as needed, clamp patch in place and MIG in place with a copper backer clamped up so you can go full penetration without blowing holes.

While you're there hunt up some leaf springs and weld them onto the bottom of the bucket for heal preservers and a cented skid plate.

[mongobird]

[email protected] thanks for your thoughts. The cutting edge weld is actually cracked across the front of the bucket. I was planning on power washing out the dirt, grinding out the weld and redoing it. The good news is that I don't have a lot of digging projects right now.

The two skid plates are barely depleted. I tend to be conservative using it.

[ryanjones2150]

In Mother Russia, we fix with hammer. If no work, we fix with bigger hammer. If still no work, you get pleasure and sent to Siberia to work on railroad with very small hammer. Best to make work first time.

[Franz©]

In Mother Russia, we fix with hammer. If no work, we fix with bigger hammer. If still no work, you get pleasure and sent to Siberia to work on railroad with very small hammer. Best to make work first time.

Methinks you discount Mother Russia far too much. They are smart enough to purloin skills and technology that works and disgard the bulls#!t.

Mongo, my hunch is if Woods or whoever manufactured your bucket added skid plates to the heal of their buckets they didn't give the weldor an additional 5 minutes to do the job right, so the cutting edge suffered for want of time to weld it on. I own a MIGHTY Yanmar 240D with a Woods loader, and my experience with the cutting edge has been broken welds on the back side of the edge. It's the nature of the beast given I've seen a few buckets with similar failures.

Dealer repaired buckets tend to be easy to identify by the holes in the floor of the bucket the highly trained dealer punk blew thru the floor attempting to hot glue it together.

They pound back to shape fairly easily, and there is sufficient overlap to get a decent weld there.
I'd recommend complete drying after pressure washing and before welding in case any small stones remain between the steel.

[ryanjones2150]

Not all cutting edges and wear plates are created equal. It's important to find out what kind of steel it is so you can use the proper alloy to avoid those dreaded cracks along the back of that edge.