Catastrophic failure! when your hydraulics are stronger than your 1 3/4" ram

[qboneus]

Since I hadn't shared any of these pictures here on AK thought some may be interested in what happens when you use a more modern tractor with good hydraulics with a industrial 1 3/4" ram that has been neglected in its maintenance and inspection..
This happened last week as I was operating a tractor and toolbar on one of my family's farms.
The cause of the undue stress on the hydraulic ram was the shearing of a 3/4" pivot bolt.
this bolt attaches the U shaped assembly that sits on the rear tang of the hitch which in the picture has a concrete block right next to it to the toolbar.
This point is an adjustable pivot that can be floated up-or down.
In this case it sheared,... dropping the toolbar into the ground moving at 10 MPH.
The toolbar as pictured in the first picture is not all there is,.. there's another 1 1/2 Foot underground...

So I backed the tractor back up and re-attached the Hydraulics controlling the primary ram and proceeded to try and extend the ram completely to try and float the toolbars position out of the ground. It struggled towards it's full extreme and then said "PING"
what is pictured is what is left of an ill maintained ram asked to lift more than it's share of a load..

Believe it or not this picture was taken less than 2 hours later..:yes:

tal

 

[usedto]

That ram has been broken for awhile - you just finished it off. Notice the dark crescent shaped part on the lower left of the rod. It's been cracked long enough to corrode, where the rest is still shiny.

Been there, done that.

Whatcha growin' ?

 

[jimfet]

Epic FAIL.

 

[jocko_nc]

What he said. That looks like a fatigue failure to me.

 

[whoaru99]

My non-expert opinion, I'd say bending fatigue initated the cracking at the stress concentration area where the shaft size changes. In the root of the thread if the rod end is threaded.

Then the rough, crystalline area is the result of the final, sudden overload fracture.

Failure analysis is very interesting. I wish I was better at it...but we have a whole team of smart guys in the Met Lab to do that for us.

 

[dokblues]

That ram has been broken for awhile - you just finished it off. Notice the dark crescent shaped part on the lower left of the rod. It's been cracked long enough to corrode, where the rest is still shiny.

Been there, done that.

Whatcha growin' ?

+1 on that!
Broke a 2" one on a large water well workover rig for my Dads company out in the middle of nowhere Wyoming. Took a week to get a new one. Man hot hydraulic oil is NASTY! Let alone the force of the broken line whipping around. You are lucky you didn`t have more failure. :yes: