[AT] repairing radiators

[charlie hill]

John I sent a recommendation in another reply but I think
I can tell you why no one fixes them locally.  In order to
properly clean them you need acid and you are removing
lead solder.  The resulting sludge is serious environmental
waste and most folks don't want that in their shops because
of the EPA and OSHA.

You can't solder it effectively until
you get it clean and dry.

Talk to the folks I mentioned in the other message and see what they say.
http://websterinc.org/

-----Original Message----- 
From: jtchall at nc.rr.com
Sent: Saturday, December 06, 2014 6:32 AM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: [AT] repairing radiators

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
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