Tack welding pads to chain links?

I was reading up on track bolts here last night and came across a post where someone recommended welding a track pad to it's link when the bolts wouldn't stay tight. Unfortunately I can't find the post now to link to it.

I'm in the process of replacing loose bolts in my 955L tracks. There are a few pads where all 4 bolts have come loose and the pad is free to move around. I'm expecting them to come loose again pretty soon because of the holes being worn oversize. The tracks are close to the end of their life, I'm just trying to get another 300 hours or so from them before I replace them, which means a year from now. It is reasonable to weld those few pads to their links after installing new bolts to get them to stay in place? I'd like to avoid replacing bolts on them in the middle of winter.

I'm using CAT bolts and nuts, and using the 135 ft/lbs - 120° turn to tighten them. Some stay tight, some don't. The tracks are OEM CAT that came on the machine in 1972. What material are the links made from and how are they heat treated? If I weld them, is it OK to use MIG with ER70S-6 wire, or do I need a stick electrode? can I weld them full length or should I just tack them with a few short welds?

When the shoes move around on the links, nothing is flat anymore, almost impossible to get them to stay put. It's a must to remove the shoe and clean everything, I usually hit them with a mop disk to shiny metal. You can weld, to do it kinda right you should use a modified stainless rod which works well with high carbon heat treated steel and it runs a lot colder than 7018. If you use 7018 or MIG, I would preheat the area, not red but toasty, I don't know enough to give you a suggested temperature. I would just do an inch or so on four corners.

:my2c

Never seen a weld hold anything together on tracks and pads. I've welded the bolt heads to the pads after torquing them down. Lantraxco is right about using the stainless but if you do you can't use a torch to flush off the bolt if you have to remove the pad. Carbon arc is the only way then.

lantraxco said:

You can weld, to do it kinda right you should use a modified stainless rod which works well with high carbon heat treated steel and it runs a lot colder than 7018.
:my2c

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What is modified stainless rod? I'm not familiar with that.

Eutectic 680 is top of the line, lots of brands make a similar product.

https://www.castolin.com/en-US/product/eutectrode-680

I've successfully welded leaf springs with it, in a pinch.

For instance stick rod 308 means for welding stainless.
309 stainless to carbon steel.

309 = or is a modified stainless. ....so is what people sometimes call Machinery rod.
alloys that assist metals mixn' together.

Got it - Thanks.

I now have 309L .045 wire, want to try this on Saturday. Will C25 shielding gas work OK? Any tips for a guy who can weld but isn't a heavy equipment welder?

You can try it, especially as you don't care about the corrosion resistance. Recommended gasses are usually C2 or Trimix, but C25 and lower Co2 mixes are suggested as possible.

Thank you

Here's an experiment called "How much do i need " or "Use what you got." ....

For one thing speaking of stainless 1/8" stick 308 which is a stainless to stainless only rod
Then we have a handful of his brother 309 stainless modified for stainless to carbon steel. .....

For a test you could burn an inch or so of a small bead ocarbon modified ' (stick or wire )
Drive it a head some and see if you can get it to crack some.....or make larger or smaller welds and drive it a little more.
this experiment would give you a good indication of how your stainless wire. ...stick stainless rod....or even how your
carbon 7018 LH 1/8" (carbon rod) (producing a 100 percent carbon weld ) more easily removable *
The stainless welds may want to be positioned in a way to get a four inch zip wheel in there if cutting loose for removing later if need be.

Weather you used fresh 7018 and made a Good hot full parameter (which could be torched out later ) .. .or

The full pass of 7018 should hold it provided....good tight bolts and good surf mating torque and fit.

The much stronger weld the 309 wire after you experiment how much you have or can zip or arc out later
or the machinery stick rod or 309 stick rod these would be more crack resistant

Good ideas. However, I'm laid up w/ a broken neck so my shop manager is going to give it a try tomorrow with the 309 and MIG. We're only welding about 15 pads, and I'm expecting to replace the tracks before any pads need to be removed for any reason so removeability of the welds is secondary. Few will be next to each other, and if they break loose we'll either just reweld them by globbing on more filler or leave them loose until replacement happens.

Sorry to hear that phil....Get well soon!

PhilDirt said:

Good ideas. However, I'm laid up w/ a broken neck so my shop manager is going to give it a try tomorrow with the 309 and MIG. We're only welding about 15 pads, and I'm expecting to replace the tracks before any pads need to be removed for any reason so removeability of the welds is secondary. Few will be next to each other, and if they break loose we'll either just reweld them by globbing on more filler or leave them loose until replacement happens.

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Sorry to hear about your injury. I used to work for a fella that was THE KING of the patch it and get it going mentality. It drove me insane because I would end up doing a "quick fix" on the same issue multiple times before they'd finally let me tear it apart and fix it properly. All that being said, we had a D6 and a 953 on the logging side of the house that we used this fix on and it actually held up surprisingly well. The advice given above is accurate, but I had success with 6010 rods. Cleaned the area off, tightened up the bolt and welded the head to the pad. Both these machines were used in land clearing/logging operations and the 953 was on some rock crushing jobs as well.

rockytopcummins said:

The advice given above is accurate, but I had success with 6010 rods. Cleaned the area off, tightened up the bolt and welded the head to the pad. Both these machines were used in land clearing/logging operations and the 953 was on some rock crushing jobs as well.

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What with of the difficulty of getting the stainless weld off the hardware when you need to get the shoes off the links because it won't come off with a gas axe I think I'd try it first with something like 6010 or 6013.