[AT] repairing radiators

[charlie hill]

John,  I haven't dealt with these fellows in a long time but I'd lay a
fair bet on them fixing it and fixing it right.  Unfortunately they
are a couple of hours from you.  I suspect you could ship it to them
and have it shipped back but if you have a day off it might be
worth the trip.  http://websterinc.org/

Charlie

-----Original Message----- 
From: Steve W.
Sent: Saturday, December 06, 2014 7:19 AM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] repairing radiators

jtchall at nc.rr.com wrote:
> Within the last year I remember we touched on the subject of
> repairing or replacing radiators. I’m of the opinion if the radiator
> is pretty old on a high hour machine, you should consider a
> replacement. Well now I’m faced with a slightly different problem.
> We’ve got a split in the top tank on the radiator on a 454 IH utility
> tractor. This machine is 42 years old and still logs more hours than
> all the rest here combined. So I decided to price a new radiator.
> I’ve checked all over the net as well as CASE-IH only to find no new
> ones available. So, it looks like this one will have to be repaired.
>
>
> Actually the crack is already in a repair that is over 20 years
> old—at least none of us remember having it fixed it the last 20
> years, could be 30 years, who knows? Anyway, radiator repair shops
> here are practically non-existent. I’ve already talked to every
> independent tractor mechanic, dealership, and the good-old –boy
> network, nobody knows of a repair shop they will recommend. One shop
> I have used in the past is over an hour away, the last job we sent
> they couldn’t find the leak, so I wound up reinstalling the radiator
> and adding a can of stop leak. The other shop charged me $90 to
> solder around the fitting for the temp sensor and spray a little
> paint from a rattle can. They never flushed it, the paint job was
> lousy, and didn’t pressure test it as I had another leak show up a
> couple days later that I fixed with stop leak. So I’m still mining
> the network to see if anyone will recommend a different shop, but so
> far no one even knows of another shop, much less recommending one.
>
> If I can’t find one, what kind of success have you guys had with
> soldering radiators. Its rather funny that of all the mechanics I
> know, none ever fix radiators, they just send them to a shop or
> replace. I guess the thinking is a shop can properly flush it and
> pressure test it. Do you use oxy/acty torch or just a propane torch?
> Acid core solder, right? How do you prep the surface?
>
> John Hall _______________________________________________ AT mailing
> list http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at


Propane or Oxy/acty with a correct tip. 40/60 solder or silver bearing
work well, but I've used whatever was handy with no issues.

Being it's a crack I would try to remove all the old solder from the
repair. Then grab a piece of copper or brass sheet, cut it and form it
to cover the cracked area with a 1/2" or so overlap. Now clean the patch
VERY well using steel wool, heat it, flux it and tin the entire side
that faces the radiator.

Clean the radiator the same way. Now repeat the heat, flux, tin over the
entire repair area. Let it cool.

Place the patch over the tinned area. Now start heating in the center
and work your way out to the edge. The idea is to solder the patch down
using the solder you tinned with. Let it cool. Now clean all around the
edge of the patch. Now solder just the seam. Do a small section at a
time so the patch doesn't heat up and come off.

Clean it up. Spray a bit of paint on it and go back to work.

The reason for the patch is that the original area is cracked and you
will be hard pressed to get it real clean. Also the patch will spread
the stresses that caused the crack over a wider area and should prevent
any future cracks.

-- 
Steve W.
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