Backhoe Broken backhoe; how to get it back together?

[old and tired]

Not mine but a friend's backhoe; I will be helping to get it back together (hopefully). I can say that the price of this backhoe was affordable. Not sure of the make, it has it's own PTO pump and it tried to move a rock that wouldn’t move. Looks like 3/16 inch thick plate that bent. Piston in ram is twisted.

Would a 20 ton press have a chance to bend this back? Does it need to be heated? Assume the ram needs to be replaced, any chance to bend it back??

If we get this back together, next questions would be to how to reinforce the sides... Thanks for any help you can give us.

 

[hosspuller]

Hydro cylinder seems to be in a bind with the pin. Did the pin break ? Drive the pin out to check the cylinder. The twist is nothing. All rods twist. A bend in the rod is bad. You'll need heat to straighten the plate. I don't see how a 20 T press will work. A oxy/acc rosebud and a hammer will work. A propane torch will not. Get a rattle can of paint to finish.

 

[toolslinger]

Well, a good hydraulic shop can tell you if they could straighten it. If not, they could make a new rod and end for the existing body.

 

[Smokeydog]

It’s hard to tell in the photos if the cylinder or rod is damaged. Normal for rod to turn.

Insight into what happened?

Heat, clamp and beat to straighten gusset. May require some plate reinforcement.

50ton press would work. Thing with any press is having all the associated tooling to safely straighten. The potential energy slipping and being suddenly released requires careful operator attention.

 

[blacktruck]

Gotta be a good story on how that happened.
As said above, drive the pin out of the rod and see how straight the rod is or isn't. The stick is gonna take some heat and a really good press or big hammer to make it right but I would still have to go back to what happened? Pretty sure this should have been apparent to the operator as it was happening.

 

[WranglerX]

Think this is one for heavy eq. repair shop.... Simple for them, difficult for you...

But if you insist, I would get the ram off the pin first then reevaluate...

You have two issues here...Possible bent ram (almost certain unless it goes straight when pin removed) ..

Double bend in sheet steel of arm where pin bosses are, if you don't get it right (alignment) its just going to be a bear to fix...

 

[old and tired]

....Insight into what happened?

Story from him: "...A puzzle story. I was pulling up roots, took a break, and walking back to tractor found a lock washer and a regular washer on top of dirt next to backhoe. Looked all over the backhoe to find where they came from and completely missed seeing the bolt missing from that retainer bracket. I actually pulled up several more roots before tackling the rock that wouldn’t move that caused the damage. Can’t figure out how the missing bolt caused the failure since the pin bracket stayed flush with the bent metal. The bolt just held the bracket retainer in place. It didn’t move..."

Thanks to all that have replied...

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

You may can put some big all thread through the pin holes with washers and nuts, to pull as you heat. A machine shop can straighten the ram.

You can cut those plates a little so you won't have to bend as much steel. Only if you can weld back later.

 

[old and tired]

....You can cut those plates a little so you won't have to bend as much steel. Only if you can weld back later.

Yes I did think about that, wondered if that was an option (since we don't have a torch) and yes I can weld it back.

 

[toolslinger]

That kinda explains it...
Retaining bolt fell out. Pin backed out of the far side. Near side bent, and as the ram extended, it bound on the pin and pulled it back up against the near side plate.

 

[old and tired]

That kinda explains it...
Retaining bolt fell out. Pin backed out of the far side. Near side bent, and as the ram extended, it bound on the pin and pulled it back up against the near side plate.

That makes sense... Thanks. I could not figure how it was flush but yet it pulled out from the other side...

 

[WranglerX]

That kinda explains it...
Retaining bolt fell out. Pin backed out of the far side. Near side bent, and as the ram extended, it bound on the pin and pulled it back up against the near side plate.

Ditto's this comment...

Also NOT a great fan of cut and weld process..... Might be time to invest in good set of torches with rose bud tip....

 

[old and tired]

Update, he "fixed" it.... Well enough so that he could move it to the shop:

 

[WranglerX]

Update, he "fixed" it.... Well enough so that he could move it to the shop:

Please keep us updated on repairs...

 

[old and tired]

Will do...

 

[old and tired]

He took it apart and found a machine shop that said that they can repair it... I'll still follow up with it coming back together.

 

[Aquamoose]

I’ve bent back a cylinder rod worse than this with my HF 20 ton press. It requires some oak or other dense wood and creative positioning & blocking (with V groves) to bend it back to shape. If I couldn’t bend the brackets back easily, I’d cut it off and fabricate new ones to weld on. Likely the better option since you can install thicker brackets and you don’t have to deal with getting the holes aligned which is gonna be a BEAR to do.

 

[nyone]

I wouldnt have taken that appart to repair that. A few very strong C clamps or a sledge hammer look like they could have bent that back together. If not get the torch out and heat it.

This is the bad part about pins only held in on one side. How ever that does look like a prety new machine so I would go over every nut and bolt you can.

 

[Vigo327]

Yeah, I would have tried to fix that while the arm was still on the tractor. Some combination of large c-clamps, heat, and a big hammer would get it done. If i DID take the arm off, i would just feed it through my 20 ton shop press and fix it there.

I think what really needs to be said though is not how to fix the bends, but that a longer pin should be used this time with some kind of pins/bolts on BOTH sides. That simple design change would have prevented this from happening in the first place.

Something i've done is just get a shaft collar from tractor supply or whatever, weld it on the outside of the other bracket, drill a hole through the pin starting from the setscrew hole in the shaft collar, out the other side, and then put a big cotter pin, lynch pin etc through it.

 

[WranglerX]

Yeah, I would have tried to fix that while the arm was still on the tractor. Some combination of large c-clamps, heat, and a big hammer would get it done. If i DID take the arm off, i would just feed it through my 20 ton shop press and fix it there.

I think what really needs to be said though is not how to fix the bends, but that a longer pin should be used this time with some kind of pins/bolts on BOTH sides. That simple design change would have prevented this from happening in the first place.

Something i've done is just get a shaft collar from tractor supply or whatever, weld it on the outside of the other bracket, drill a hole through the pin starting from the setscrew hole in the shaft collar, out the other side, and then put a big cotter pin, lynch pin etc through it.

Along the lines of longer pin concept, how about some sort of cross strap to keep "ears" in line as long as it does not interferer with ram and movement.... If it bent once it may do it again...