John Deere Fender Pan Cracks

My old 420 has been creaking and cracking more and more lately.  One common problem of these old machines is the fender pan likes to crack where the seat springs mount.  I had an extra bad case, and it's only been getting worse as the years roll by.

This past weekend, one of my seat springs bit the dust and cracked right in half.  So, it was a good time to take off the whole fender pan, and attempt a repair.  I'm sure this cracked fender aided in the break of the seat spring.

Here's the entire fender pan removed, and on the welding bench:

The cracks propagate all over the place

I cleaned up the cracks with a wire wheel on both sides.  

It took about an hour of TIG welding time to stitch it all together.  It sure isn't pretty, but it's much better than what it was.  I'll call this "farm grade" welding.

I didn't get any more pictures after this, but I primed and painted the welded area, and put it all back together.  Sitting in the seat, I can tell right away it is much more rigid than what it was before.