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I need to do some welding to build up a worn area on a hydrostatic transmission cam ring but I can't let the cam ring warp. The cam ring is about 5" OD x 3.5" ID and 1" thick. I need to add about .125" to a 1" square area. I'll take my time so as to not let the part heat up too much but what other precautions can I take?
just a thought, take it to a good welder, someone that uses a tig on a everyday basis is more likely to keep the part cooler by keeping the welding time to a minimum.
That ring is a precision part, get a new one. JB weld won't work either. Make sure the rest of the system is inspected by a qualified hydraulic technician. There are hydraulic shops listed in the yellow pages. Find one that will work on your lawnmower. Very few lawnmower shops have techs qualified to repair the internal parts of the hydrostatic drive. Most are only able to replace the unit if required.
Last edited by Torque1st; May 16, 2005 at 11:32 PM.
I order to build up that cam ring you are going to have to heat it to a melting point to apply more carbon steel, even if very slowly. If you heat it to this point are you not going to weaken it and reduce any hardening that was done by OEM?
Well I did it. I used a mig welder and made about eight or nine passes and I allowed it to cool down between passes. I then went to work with a Dremel and emery paper and got it to where you could hardly tell what was weld. I put the hydro back together and it works like it was new. I guess I got lucky.
There is a lot of pressure on that part so who knows how long it will last. That is why it failed in the first place. I wonder how the mating part looks? The design of some of those parts leaves something to be desired also.
Torque, the cam ring is an internal part and it really see's no pressure applied to it. The reason it needed repair was because of after over 600 hours of use it finally started to wear to the point that I could no longer get any forward motion. As for just purchasing a new part, as someone else mentioned ealier the part would cost nearly half as much as what the whole mower is worth. Besides, I find it to be a lot more satisfying to repair something rather than just buying new.
I was going to try and catch this, but yeah, mig is the way to fix that. Tig puts a lot of heat into a very small area, and you have to keep a decent puddle going to feed the wire into. But, a piece 1" thick, with that small of a repair area, I wouldn't worry much about warping it.
If that is the part I am thinking of it does not see hydraulic pressure but it sees a lot of mechanical pressure and motion which is why it wore out in the first place. 600 hours is not a lot of use for hydraulics. But if you get a bunch more hours out of it before it fails again you are ahead of the game. Check your fluid and make sure it is clean. If there is a filter in the system anywhere change it. All of that metal out of that cam ring and the mating part went somewhere grinding everything up in it's path. Good luck!