Cast iron repair on fork lift tansmission?

[weldonwelding]

Thats good to hear man. I know that cast can be a headache.

[weldonwelding]

Well guys, the repair is done. I ended up putting the front of the machine up on 12? blocks to pool the last little bit of oil away from the crack. I then cleaned everything thoroughly and veed out the crack. I drilled the ends of it with a 3/32 bit and also drilled 2 holes along the length. I then pre heated to around 275-300(any hotter would have caused the ATF to flame up). I stirched about an inch at a time and immediately peaned it and jumped to a different spot and repeat. I had one small pinhole to fill and that was it. I post heated it a bit and then covered it with a blanket and let it cool. No pinging, no cracks. I used Ni99 for the whole procedure. I reassembled and did a test run in 3rd gear over lots of rough stuff and no leaks so as of now it's good. Thx for the help guys. Dave

I attached a pic of a cast pot i tigged with 308.

[Tryagn5]

I own my own heavy equipment repair business, previously have worked for 2 dealers and have over 15 years in the business. Unless the cracked was caused by impact, it is going to crack again, and it will be soon. Cases do not just crack, there is a reason for it, no matter how good of a welder, unless the issue is found the case will crack again. I would be looking for vibrations in drive line, worn bushing, misalignment, something, Or internal. Did a shift fork bend, something let loose or ready to let loose. Cast iron cases are extremely strong, they only break when something is wrong, or very early in the life of the machine.
Kevin