metal alloy for old dozer repair part opinions

What's wrong with the original? Are you preparing the tractor for work or show?

Paul

The original is cracked and has been repaired very poorly many times in its 60 year life. in addition it was welded in place as a half effort fix for loosiniing bolts. I cut the bar inorder to remove and repair broken bolts and frame cracks. I should have mentioned in my original post that the bar is 3" in diameter and reduces to 2 3/4" on the ends to fit into the tracks. this tractor is for use around my hobby farm, not for show, mostly its a rebuild project for fun and to ensure i have a usable and reliably repaired peice of equiptment. dpn

What brand is the 1010C? I found this one

Anyway, I'd suspect that the old shaft is ordinary hot rolled steel,

dpn wrote:

Roy, its an old John Deere as in the add you posted. General concensis is that 1018 would be suitable. Given the need to machine and weld abit during fabrication, the 1018 working properties seem to fit its use. One person pointed out that being this machine is 60+ years old the alloy would not have been very exotic and the high carbon contant could prove problemeatic as far as brittleness. seems that ability to absorb shock is the characteristic we are looking for. John Deere also favored

dpn