Cracked Block

[Swift III]

Well I was looking at our ol'N thinking about rebuilding her when I noticed a crack in the block. Its on the starter side of the engine and looks like the guy we bought her off of years ago tried to fix,cover it up, with JB Weld, and some now failing paint. I didn't dig it out but it seems to be a small crack.

Can this be fixed? Block is cast iron so what are my options? No water in oil or vice versa, what do ya'll recomend?

 

[JMOR]

(quoted from post at 10:00:15 03/25/09) Well I was looking at our ol'N thinking about rebuilding her when I noticed a crack in the block. Its on the starter side of the engine and looks like the guy we bought her off of years ago tried to fix,cover it up, with JB Weld, and some now failing paint. I didn't dig it out but it seems to be a small crack.

Can this be fixed? Block is cast iron so what are my options? No water in oil or vice versa, what do ya'll recomend?

"No water in oil or vice versa, what do ya'll recomend?"

Nothing. Sounds like it is already fixed.

 

[jack harmon]

lot of options ,I've seen them brazed,welded,patched with epoxie,jb weld,fberglass,even had a a wd that had a plate bolted over a crack down the entire side of block.cotton and water glass will work,as will numerous kinds of block sealers if the crack is small enough,ive even seen plain old course ground black pepper poured in radiator stop them from leaking.thing to remember is that whatever you do its a patch,keep a close eye on it! best way would be buy a good block but ive seen aLOT of them patched over the years.

 

[DallasGa]

(quoted from post at 07:00:15 03/25/09) looks like the guy we bought her off of years ago tried to fix,cover it up, with JB Weld, and some now failing paint.

If you just now noticed it, I'd say he did fix it

 

[Leemo]

I'm with JMOR. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!!

 

[Swift III]

Well I took another look at it... the crack goes from the front of the block to behind the starter. behind the starter the JB Weld is falling out and its a much larger crack with some (whats left of them anyway) sheetmetal screws in it. Not sure I want to put the dollars into rebuilding this motor. Any Ideas where I can find a good block in East Texas?

 

[Swift III]

Yeah if I was going to keep runnin her like she is I would just leave it alone. But if I am going to do a rebuild...lol rather start with a good foundation. Hate to put time and $ into something that looks like it could fail in a bit. Thanks for all the replies!

 

[jack harmon]

i'd be kind of like you,if it runs alright though I believe i'd run it and try to find a complete engine somewhere to rebuild while I use the patched one up.the way the price of them appear to be going down you may find even a whole tractor pretty cheap before long.

 

[jiminoystercreek]

I have a complete engine long block that I will let go, but it is a front mount. Has a non-load bearing section of the block to trans bell section broken off, but several people on this board have said that it is a good candidate for a JB weld repair. The engine has been rebuilt and never fired. If you are interested you"ll have to wait until June to get it because I"m working a start up job in Yemen until then. Email me at [email protected] if you"re interested in this.

 

[Dell (WA)]

Swifty......it takes specialized welding rod and OVEN to successfully weld $$$ a castiron engine block. There is also an overlapping "drill and tap" screwing technique to repair cracks. (looks like half-moons) Infact, the US Capitol Dome is repaired that way. IMHO, J&B weld, applied to a "V'd-out" crack is far superior to any other technique for the water jacket crack on the left side of the N-Engine. $10 (cheap) ......Dell

 

[Anonymous-0]

I'm in the same boat. Mine has a half moon peice broke from behind the starter under the drain plug up and around the oil filter up to the head gasket surface on the top of the block. It was welded previously. Its seaping a little under the drain plug now. Probly less than an ounce or two a week. I've got a good running tractor that I paid $400 for and have spent a couple a hundred on so It'll probly stay that way. I may put some JB or epoxy on it.
If you take it to a machine shop they can likely fix it for you but wouldn't be cheap.