Don Young wrote:
"Christopher Tidy" wrote in message
...

wrote:


A radiator shop will probably 'dip' it for you, or maybe a machine
shop with a hot-tank.

A high melting temp solder can't be that hard to find- maybe some
'lead free' for one and 'lead' solder for the other?

We just don't give up here- but hey, you knew that when you
posted...

I'll go and look at it again tomorrow. If it looks any better than I
expect, I might have another go.

Chris


Others have pretty well covered the basics. Don't give up yet. A piece of
copper wire formed into a ring can bridge the gap around the pipe. Do not
use 60/40 or 63/37 solder if you can help it. Radiator shops generally would
only use these for tinning the surfaces. The 63/37 goes directly from solid
to liquid and the 60/40 is almost the same. If you get some 50/50 or 40/60
it will have a pasty or mushy state that is easier to control. Warm up the
entire area but do not try to melt all the solder at once. Using a soldering
iron (or copper) is easiest but a little practice with a small torch will
enable you to solder a small part of the area without the rest coming
unsoldered. It just takes a little practice to get the hang of it.

I have some plumber's solder. Not sure of the exact composition, but it
has the "mushy" state as it's intended for making wiped joints in lead
pipes. It might be suitable for this. I'm not optimistic that I can
repair the radiator myself, though. The joint is quite highly stressed,
so it needs to be done right.

(One of my current projects is repairing the severely broken, welded,
reinforced, and rebroken frame rails on a 1962 Super Major with Ford 712
Loader and 723 backhoe.)

I'd be very interested to hear how the project progresses. My machine
has suffered a number of cracks where the frame rails are joined. I
wouldn't describe them as severe, but they were noticeable enough for
someone to weld in the past. For the most part, they were reinforced
competently and the cracks haven't returned. But there are one or two
joints which need welding. I don't think I'll do this myself, but I'd be
interested to hear your experiences.

Overall I don't think the chassis has performed badly. I think it's seen
about 20,000 hours of use, and it still works fine. I did a quick search
for pictures of your Ford machine. I think it's a bit more compact than
mine. Here's a picture of my machine:

http://www.mythic-beasts.com/~cdt22/jcb.jpg

I'm also looking for a six-bladed Fordson engine fan (mine has lost two
blades). Apparently the six-bladed fan was only fitted to Fordson
engines used in diggers and in hot countries, so they're fairly rare. If
anyone has one they want to sell, or knows of a source, please let me know.

Best wishes,

Chris