bent bucket repair

[sixdogs]

I've repaired a ton of loader buckets, mostly large articulated loader buckets for customers but I have to say, never repaired a side wall but if I was to, I'd cut it loose from the back wall and bottom sheet and flatten it on a heavy duty welding / fab table and then reweld it. Mostly what I have to do is either remove a 'smile' from the bottom sheet or replace grouser teeth bosses and well as the teeth themselves and the 'smile' always entails cutting both side sheets away from the bucket floor and then hydraulically bending the bucket floor back flat but always going a bit past 'flat' to allow for spring back.

Large commercial buckets take big powerful hydraulics as well.

My biggest small bucket customers put smiles in their buckets by using clamp on forks or by using the bucket lip as a lifting point and it's always a light duty material bucket.

Shrinking metal is an art form. One that is largely a lost art. If you put a tape measure to the other side and then measure the total length including the deformed “V”, you will find that you have a longer side where bent. Just pushing on it will not get a straight side. You will also find that the metal is thinner as you get closer to the point of the “V” compared to the wall closer to the top or bottom in that side.
The best permanent fix in my opinion is to remove the damaged metal and weld in a patch the right size snd thickness.
If you want to push it back out and be done. Begin with a cut from just beyond the bottom of the “V”. Then push out your choice of the top or bottom of the bent area. Be sure to protect the opposite bucket wall from bending ad you will likely push against it. You may be able to pull with a hydraulic power pull if you have a strong base to pull against and not risk the opposite wall being damaged Doing this you may not need heat. The to the other part of the damaged wall. You will have dome overlap that will need to be removed. The weld the two parts together, grind and paint.

These guys know what they are talking about. I've bent a number of buckets, tried unsuccessfully to fix a few and then figured it out and took to a metal welding shop that had all the equipment one would ever need. They did it right.

This was the answer. One bent back in shape no problem. A couple of bad bends and a sidewall bend they cut the side out, straightened it and put it back in. I picked it up a couple hours later and it was the right answer. The jobs looked like new, had none of my occasionally bad welds and everything looked right. If I sold it later, no one ever knew or tried to cut my price for an amateurish repair.


So the right answer is take it to someone with the equipment and skill level to fix it right. Devote the time saved to some other project. It's taken me decades to send certain jobs out for repair but it's cheap money spent.

 

[arrow]

Presuming you have skid steer type attachment, I’d take the bucket off, stand it up on hard ground on its bent side or on cement with a wide board or piece of plywood under it and whack it with at least an 8 lb sledge until it straightens.
If it were thicker like quarter or half inch, I’d cut and weld.
Eighth inch stuff bends easily as you know but it also bends back easily as well.

 

[kneedeep]

Just suggesting if it was mine-
Where the side is bent in, cut it with a torch or metal saw.
Use chains, jack, come along, another tractor to pull the dent flat.
Reweld and brace if necessary.

Or-
Take it to the local machine shop (there is a good one in next county) and wait till they can get to it.

 

[ZiggyD]

Check the loader arms. I'd imagine they suffered too.

 

[truegrit]

I would clamp a steel bar on the outside and use a heavy duty forged clamp and tighten until straight. you may need some heat. Maybe a 2" square tube with 1/4" wall long enough to go from top of bucket to the bottom of bucket.

 

[Gord Baker]

New Holland loader, I have a dent/bend in the side of the bucket. Best recommendation to repair? It is the side wall of the bucket, My initial thought is either heat and use a large sledge or take a 4 x 6 wood post and a hydraulic jack to push back out?View attachment 2466681View attachment 2466683

Remove Bucket and stand it on end over a plank or concrete.
10 lb sledge and beat it. You could push out the other side using jacks etc. Doesn't need to be perfect. Done.

 

[ACWSPEEDPATROL]

Remove Bucket and stand it on end over a plank or concrete.
10 lb sledge and beat it. You could push out the other side using jacks etc. Doesn't need to be perfect. Done.

I agree if it were mine, however he mentioned later that it wasn't his tractor. If you borrow it you better return it in better shape than you received it. Has always worked for me!

 

[sixdogs]

I agree if it were mine, however he mentioned later that it wasn't his tractor. If you borrow it you better return it in better shape than you received it. Has always worked for me!

I don't loan things. I'll do the work for a neighbor but won't loan anything. If asked, I will explain that the Man's Rule of Borrowing means that if the borrower scratches, bends, damages or anything, they are obligated to replace any of those parts with NEW OEM factory parts at my option. No bend it back talk. So, I'll do the work for you because you're a neighbor, but I won't loan anything. Nothing personal.

 

[arrow]

I agree if it were mine, however he mentioned later that it wasn't his tractor. If you borrow it you better return it in better shape than you received it. Has always worked for me!

By beating it and then nuancing with a 4 lb drilling hammer against a hard service or dolly and afterward spraying it with a rattle can, it would look as unscathed.
One thing l might add is to not beat the bucket directly. Place a piece of metal plate or a chunk of 4x4 to absorb the blows.

 

[etpm]

The bend is pretty severe. Metal has stretched at the bends. If this was my bucket I would use a bottle jack, a thick piece of steel plate, and a torch. Place the steel plate, maybe 1/2 inch thick, or thicker, between the jack and the bucket side. Apply pressure, enough to get the metal to move a bit. Then apply heat with an oxy/ acetylene torch to the bends. The metal should move enough to relieve the pressure from the jack. Now apply a little more pressure and then more heat. The goal is to have the stretched metal start to move back into place. In essence the bends will be shrinking. The big piece of steel plate is to insulate the jack from the heat as well as distribute the pressure over a larger area. It would be best to apply pressure only at the apexes of the bends, which is where most of the stretching has occurred. Apply heat to the the same places. This may work, I have had it work, but the bends are pretty severe.
Eric