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A frame and quad repair.

3K views 18 replies 7 participants last post by  jomama45 
#1 ·
Thought maybe some of you would be interested in seeing this. My a frame was cracked all over and the pivot hole was broken out and worn way oversize.


I made a slice in the crack at the front with a cutting wheel and pounded it back together to close up the hole a little. Here it's all ground clean ready for welding.


This the first build-up. This was ground down, examined and built up 2 more times until I was satisfied it was good.


This is the final grinding flat. The biggest drill I have right now is a 5/8ths so the hole is still undersized. The plate had been welded on both sides and had cracked again thru the welds because they didn't have any penetration. I ground all that crap out and refilled again. The arc at the back is where the quad slides back and forth and it was worn down a lot too. I filled the depression and ground it flat again.
 
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#2 ·
Here's the bottom side hole. It's worn countersunk from a non flanged bolt wobbling in the hole.


The hole was oversize too, so I filled it a little at the same time I filled the depression.


Here it is all filled and ground flat. I actually moved the hole to the rear a little so there is more material around the front side. The quad wanted to bind on the square corner of the angle brace, so I ground the corner off that as well. Again, the hole is 5/8ths for now. When I go for new mounting hardware tomorrow, I will get a 3/4 bit.
 
#3 ·
Here is the bracing. It's cracked at nearly every joint. Seems cheap that Western would only weld 1 side of these joints. I got into all the corners as best I could with the mig gun and put welds on all sides. It's probably stronger now than when it was new.



 
#7 ·
I didn't get far on that today. I got the inner bracket tacked on the sides with the mig but the nozzle won't fit in far enough to weld the top. I quit then to go in for supper and will dig out the buzz box tomorrow and use the long rods. More pics then...;)
 
#8 ·
I think this is a fairly common failure point on older Western Pros, although it takes MANY years to fail IMO. Be careful with moving the hole back in the A-frame: there isn't much clearance with the quad, & if it binds, it will fail even quicker. (Don't ask how I know this! :dizzy:) I went crazy beefing-up a quad & A-frame for my skid plow last winter, there's a few pics in my album if you're interested.

Also, if your quad is a C-channel, you can gain some serious strength by continueing the pin thru both legs of the C-channel. Just make sure you clearance the hole for the pin so there is some "slop" & not too tight.

Best of luck.
 
#9 ·
After my "A" frame was welded (what happen to Just me happen to me), and I was putting the quad and
A frame back together, I read the following

A) Coat pivot surfaces, flanges of the bolt, nut and washer with anti seize compound
B) Install the flat washer and 3/4 flange nut onto the bolt and tighten as follow
C) Tighten pivot bolt until the A-frame will not move
D) Loosen the pivot bolt ¼ turn at a time until the A-frame moves (A-frame should move BUT NOT LOOSE)

I would say there should be no "slop". It should move with out any "wobble"...

I did mine following the directions, and it is snug and firm.
 
#10 ·
A little slop is good so that the plow will move to follow the contour of the ground. If it is too tight, there will be undue stress put on the a frame where it was bolted, and you won't get as clean of a scrape on uneven pavement.
 
#13 · (Edited)
Quad and a frame assembled and adjusted for snug fit. I ordered the correct flanged bolt and nut from Western along with the spacer and washer. The spacer was way too short, so I called them. The early 3 spring pro's used a longer spacer, like the chewed up one I took out, and the newer 4 spring models used the short spacer like the one they sent me. It is 3/8ths inch too short so I put a 3/8ths thick nut under it instead of screwing around waiting for the right spacer.


There's no slop anymore and it moves freely, but the A-frame and quad are bent so it still sags to the right side...:mad:

 
#15 ·
My pivot hole had the exact same problem when I bought the plow. Mine was messed up because the guy I bought it from owned a junk yard and he would hook a chain on the plow in order to pull out other trucks. I fixed it the exact same way.
 
#16 ·
M.S.P.M.;891626 said:
My pivot hole had the exact same problem when I bought the plow. Mine was messed up because the guy I bought it from owned a junk yard and he would hook a chain on the plow in order to pull out other trucks. I fixed it the exact same way.
That may be part of what happened to mine too. Both outside edges are all bent up like from a chain or hook on them....:rolleyes:
 
#18 ·
dealswithidiots;892238 said:
this is a very common problem on these i work at a western dealer as a snowplow technician and i have probably seen 6-10 plows with this same problem already this year
Yeah I know a few other people who had the same exact problem but since I use the back drag edge alot theres always going to be wear on the pivot hole.
 
#19 ·
just me, it looks like the repair should work well for you. I was going to say, with the way you have the chain hooked, you probably want to tape the bottom together to keep it from getting hooked on the lower chan bolt. Then I looked closer & saw that it was already done. Good luck. :salute:
 
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