[AT] repairing radiators

[jtchall at nc.rr.com]

I think you are the third person to mention adding a patch over the crack. 
How thick of shimstock are you guys using? I've got access to a pretty good 
variety of brass shim. The area to be patched is relatively flat so I don't 
have to worry about conforming to varying contours.

John


-----Original Message----- 
From: Gene Dotson
Sent: Monday, December 08, 2014 7:21 PM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] repairing radiators

John, no real trick to soldering. Mainly have the area sparkling clean. I
repaired a similar crack on my Case 700 radiator. Clean the area down to
bright brass with emery cloth. Any dark spot is corrosion and will not hold
solder. Tin the area with a heavy coat of solder. Get some brass shim stock
and clean it real good and sweat it over the crack with light pressure as
you heat it. Some solder around the outside of the patch will indicate a
good bond.

Gene
On Dec 6, 2014 6:47 AM, <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
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