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9630 John Deere scraper tractor broke

450 Bron

Active Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2012
Messages
29
Location
Ontario
Just curious if anyone has seen the large casting at the articulation break. Ours broke Christmas eve approx. 6" behind lower articulation hinge point. Waiting to hear back from Deere warranty dept as to them possibly covering under the powertrain warranty. None of the local Deere construction or Ag dealers have seen anything like this, as far as I know there aren't many of these scraper tractors in our area.

Surely we cant be the first to have this problem?
 

d9gdon

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2010
Messages
1,517
Location
central texas
That is the dealers first line of defense: "We've never seen this happen before". I'm sure Ford salesmen were telling '71 Ford Pinto owners the same thing about exploding gas tanks.

It doesn't matter what brand of equipment it is either. Start with your salesman and then climb the ladder. Try to stay civil and present the facts. It helps if you're a big customer. Your dealer is gonna fight you tooth and nail, so you need to get the names of people at Deere who can help you. Pressure your salesman to get those names and be prepared for a long fight. Time is not on your side so expect to fix it out of your pocket while you take it up with them. If nothing else, maybe you can get a goodwill fix out of it. Use your maintenance records to back you up, and don't throw the old parts away or give them to the dealer without documentation, pictures, etc.

Might not hurt to buddy up with one of their big customers' employees, you know just to bend the dealerships' ear about what's the latest development on your problem as time goes by.
 

Maurice Muenks

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 30, 2010
Messages
85
Location
Taos, Missouri USA
Occupation
Owner of an independant heavy equiptment repair bu
Just curious if anyone has seen the large casting at the articulation break. Ours broke Christmas eve approx. 6" behind lower articulation hinge point. Waiting to hear back from Deere warranty dept as to them possibly covering under the powertrain warranty. None of the local Deere construction or Ag dealers have seen anything like this, as far as I know there aren't many of these scraper tractors in our area.

Surely we cant be the first to have this problem?

Check for pre existing cracks. It didn't just break over night, look to see if there is some rust or smooth places along the edges to see if it has been working for a while. Take lots of pictures of everything that is removed, and make sure not to contaminate the fractured area, no scrapers wire brushes so the pictures show how it looked when it happened. Then start cleaning and take pictures as you go. make sure the date is on the picture. It is hard to dispute pictures. You may have to get bull nose about. But I would think that would be an unusual break. I have line bored one of those tractors and from what I can remember it was pretty stout there. Good luck
 

hargrove

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 16, 2011
Messages
65
Location
Perryville,Ar
The company I work for has a 9630 and 2 9560's and 9420's before them and know of several others and have not heard of this. We have had our share of egr coolers and other problems been pulling 3 21 yard pans with 9560 and 3 18's with 9630
 

450 Bron

Active Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2012
Messages
29
Location
Ontario
We had a very close look at it minutes after it broke the was a small rust spot in the bottom no bigger than the nail on your baby finger..... looked as though that had been there for a while. The rest was fresh cast metal break. It was pulling loaded 20ton vgm dump wagon when it broke. Our simple fat guy logic is the dump wagon would put down pressure on hitch point witch would push lower articulation point together. Besides the fact that pulling dump wagon would be like a vacation day to pulling bowls...... this is all just our pea brain logic though.... still waiting on warranty dept.
 

Greg

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2008
Messages
1,175
Location
Wi
Occupation
Excavating Contractor
Since it is a Deere I am going to assume that it is made of Ductile Iron rather then Cast Steel. Take a piece of it to a good lab. Tell them you want it analyzed, hardness test, polished and a photomicrograph of it done. The chemistry will tell you what grade of material it is supposed to be. Assuming it is Ductile Iron have a nodule count done on it also. This will determine if there are metallurgical problems with the piece. If Ductile Iron is not poured quickly enough the nodule count will begin to deteriate. Could also be faulty treatment of the Base Iron with Magnesium also which is how Ductile Iron is produced. If the metallurgical properties are off you should have Deere by the short hairs.
 

vapor300

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2010
Messages
382
Location
St. louis
Yup i have seen it! John deere 9630 broke in half and front end took off, trying to find a pic of it now. Also have had the rear axle break and back outside duals pass me
 

D&GExcavating

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2010
Messages
341
Location
Minnesota
When it gets stuck, if it ever has, where are you guys pulling on it from? I've seen two newer 9630s pulled apart when they get stuck. One was pulling a scraper and the other was on a tile plow. they need to be pulled underneath from the back half of the tractor. If you're pulling on it from the front, like the two I have seen, they will split right in half.
 

450 Bron

Active Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2012
Messages
29
Location
Ontario
Only ever pulled on from factory tow cable. Got word the other day warranty is going to cover 100%
 
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