|
I strongly suspect that to find that cast piece you would have to buy either
the tranny, the OD or the whole works.
When you slipped the feeler under the flange, did you have nuts on all of the
studs and ALL of them torqued down, or had you left the one off where the
crack is?
When I worked for the Air Force the magnesium jet engine air intakes had a
flange about 5 feet in diameter with maybe 80 bolt holes around it. They
would allow continued use WITHOUT REPAIR of items with a certain number of
cracked holes (maybe as many as 20 as long as there were not two adjacent
cracked holes) and however many if they were repaired. Since weld repair
required heat treatment we avoided wherever possible.
My metallurgical and mechanical opinion is that you should NOT leave any
bolts off, and that you should not worry too much about the crack as long
as it is only between the bolt hole and the OD. If it progresses across
the bolt hole and into the body of the adapter that is a different matter.
I would put a fairly sturdy flat washer over the stus, one that fits snugly
around the stud, torque it all down good with a good gasket and I'll bet it
will last the rest of your life. In order to get a washer that fits right,
you may have to drill out a smaller size washer, unless you have a good source
of several kinds. Most hardware store washers are almost big enough to fit the
next size larger bolt and would be unsuitable in this case.
I would avoid welding if at all possible because that opens the door to
warpage which is pretty hard to deal with in a part like that. Flanges are
not so bad but bearing bores, etc are a real problem.
--
George Downs, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, Central US
|
