Rear Cross bar

[Dean Wise]

I am refreshing the under carrage on my new 1981 350-C.
The rear crossbar has a groove worn in it.
Can this be welded up, or do I need to replace the crossbar?
I can weld it up, and machine it back down, but did not know if it was something that would need to be case hardened ,or heat treated , and annealed after welding to keep from breaking.
Any help would be appreciated.

[digitup2]

you should be OK welding it if you have to but don't do any more welding on the shaft than you have to .Digitup.

[Dean Wise]

Thanks for the reply.
I talked to a local rebuilder since my question posting, and he re-assured me I would be O.K. building up the wear points on the rear crossbar, and bosses on the crawler frame. He told me that was a common thing on this model that had seen some previous repairs.
Since my posting of my question I have found that the crawler frame had been repaired with a cheap helicoil on the inside floating bolts on the crawler frame. the helicoils screwed into the housing when the bolts were tightened, and allowed the frame to move in excess causing the serious wear on the rear crossbar, and bosses. One of the bolts was only holding by a couple threads. This accounts for a lot of wear I have found on the entire undercarriage on this side of the machine. I am replacing them with inserts that can be staked, and welded. That should make things as close to factory as can be done in my back yard.
Thank you for your reply. It is always appreciated to get more opinions on a rebuild. Nothing speeks louder than experience.

[jdemaris]

I am refreshing the under carrage on my new 1981 350-C.
The rear crossbar has a groove worn in it.
Can this be welded up, or do I need to replace the crossbar?
I can weld it up, and machine it back down, but did not know if it was something that would need to be case hardened ,or heat treated , and annealed after welding to keep from breaking.
Any help would be appreciated.

Welding those things up was our #1 repair job in the winter when things got slow at our Deere repair shop. Crossbars, front and back got built up with weld. If a lot of fill was needed, we started with 7018 and then used a hard-surfacing rod to finish. Buying a new crossbar does not accomplish anything since the hole in the trackframe where it plugs into will also be worn. When you build up the rear crossbar, you try to make it match the worn hole, so it won't be round when you are finished.

As to the rest - i.e. broken and/or stripped bolts? Very common. Heli-coils usually will not work simply because they are not installed properly. To work correctly, the hole needs to be drilled perfectly straight and true - and that is near impossible to do by hand with a hand-held 1/2" or 5/8" drill motor.

All 350s suffer from these wear problems. Early 350s got mounted solid and cracked. Later 350s got "float-mounted" and wore fast, instead of cracking. It's a toss up and I don't think one system was any better then the other. I wish Deere had offered a "rough ground" package for 350s that used a spring-suspension, or pivot, like Cat , Cletrac, and some ACs used. MY Allis HD6 was sold in two versions. Solid mount (like a Deere 350) made mostly for flat ground. And, also a pivot mount for rough ground.