# Back Drag snapped in half



## DrakeSabitch (Jan 20, 2010)

Well, we had a mess of a storm yesterday. Glad its over, until the next one in a couple days. Anyway, here are some pics of my backdrag blade i had made with my old cutting edge, which snapped in half while backdragging a drive yesterday. Anybody have this happen to them before? Any ideas on what i should do to reinforce the next one i'm going to have to make in the next 2 days? Thanks


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## mycirus (Dec 6, 2008)

My welder told me thats what would have happened to mine if he made my backdrag out of the cutting edge. He said the way they treat the cutting adge makes it brittle. He made mine outta reg steel. Its helf up so far.


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## DrakeSabitch (Jan 20, 2010)

mycirus;1203571 said:


> My welder told me thats what would have happened to mine if he made my backdrag out of the cutting edge. He said the way they treat the cutting adge makes it brittle. He made mine outta reg steel. Its helf up so far.


yea i've heard that as well, but the supports i had put on to cushion against the springs i thought would help alot. Didn't think mine would actually snap. Oh well.


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## mycirus (Dec 6, 2008)

He showed me how brittle it was by welding a bracker to it and hitting it with a hammer and it takes a ***** right out it. Try it with one of your tabs on your broken one. You will see.


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## jmbones (Jun 17, 2009)

If they're so brittle why don't they break from the normal abuse of plowing?


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## 09dieselguy (Nov 18, 2007)

some steel turns very brittle after heat from the welder is applied to them. ar500 plate is very strong steel and next to impossible to drill through. takes a long time and sharp bits. the steel is very strong but its heat treated. once heat is applied it turns to garbage.


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## mycirus (Dec 6, 2008)

jmbones;1203595 said:


> If they're so brittle why don't they break from the normal abuse of plowing?


The 8 bolts that attatch it to your plow keep it from flexing therefor it doesnt break. But when you use it as a backdrag there isnt as much holding it together.


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## sweetk30 (Sep 3, 2006)

i just was waitin for that design to fail. sorry you wasted your money on that idea. but cant say you didnt try . live and learn others . 

the others work a lot better and swing under more to not hit the trip springs and scrap better.


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## vinnys (Mar 9, 2007)

Is it possable to weld a piece of 1/4 angle to the side braces and bolt your cutting edge to the angle?? Dont know if you will have the room. Could use a piece if 1/2 inch flat stock and bolt to that if you need more room. No heat to the edge and angle will stiffen things up a bit. Just a thought.


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## Oxmow (Dec 6, 2006)

Everything said about the heat treating is correct. Even a small area of heat will change the temper of the material being heated. You will notice that the break comes off of an area where there is a weld at the top. That's most likely where the break started then one hard pop and thats all that was needed to make it break. Kind of like hitting tempered glass on the edge.


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## CharlieE (Jan 5, 2011)

When you weld there is always a "heat effected zone" it makes a crack propogation point. If you use a steel that is not as hard it will flex more and not crack quite so bad. The only problem with this is a mild steel will wear out faster. By looking at your picture it seems like you had some undercut along the edge of the weld that failed. That means you are burning into the metal and not putting enough filler into the weld making a weak spot. You also should check to make sure that you are using the correct alloy filler wire/rod if in doubt alloy up and use a higher alloy.


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## JohnnyU (Nov 21, 2002)

Grind in a v-groove, burn that one back together and add a secondary support that runs along the entire length just below those add-on brackets. 1/2" x 1" should do, just to act as a stiffening rib and better distribute forces.


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## DrakeSabitch (Jan 20, 2010)

thanks for all the input. I already need a new cutting edge, so i'm probably going to use the old one again and use it for the new backdragger. But this time I will try a reinforcement the entire length of the edge. Also, i've seen some other BD's on the site where they are notched out to pass through the springs where it will rest against the backside of the trip edge. Hopefully that might work better for extra support? and also might reduce the rough shaking of the whole plow when i BD? I'll post some pics when it gets done.


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