Anyone know how I can harden home made skids?

BayouMan · Jun 23, 2009

Hey guys,
After reading Dave's post, it might make sense to just replace the 3/8" flatbar runners every few years. However, I did buy a 10 lb box of hard facing rods today, before I read today's comments

. They cost about $10/lb

. Since I already have them, I figure I can experiment. I read the articles and it seems that some type of waffle pattern is the way to go. I would normally think the way JJ does otherwise.
Thanks for all the input.

Mike

BayouMan · Jun 23, 2009

JJ,
The bionic blade is designed to let the runners run flat on the ground. That is the beauty of how it works. For leveling driveways or spreading dirt in an area, you can end up with a very smooth and reasonably level surface. On the final passes on a dirt job, I will let the front ride up higher to keep from loading up the box so much.

My tractor is about 70 hp at the pto and with cast wheels and loaded tires, I can easily reach a point that all I am doing is spinning my tires.

Mike

Scooby074 · Jun 23, 2009

Id go with waffle pattern. THe "pockets" will trap more fines and act as a better cushion. The stringer style is better for larger aggregate that cant penetrate to the base metal.

Frosty2 · Jun 23, 2009

I work for a place that does flame hardening.Although I drive a truck for them I've watched how it is done on gears and such.I agree that cheap steel doesn't harden as much as say,41/40 but you can harden any steel harder than it was.Get a small torch and make small circlular passes on the face of what your trying to harden.Get it red hot.After you finish the pass take a rag with quench oil on it and wipe the length or go ahead and let it air cool.Like I stated it wont be as hard as good steel but it shouldn't be as brittle either.

jmc · Jun 24, 2009

BayouMan,

Maybe that original runner suffered from rust as much or more than from wear, sitting flat on the ground like it probably did. It seems that deep, scaly rust would wear off pretty quickly. That would be another reason to use plain mild steel and then store the implement on blocks.

Also, if you make another set out of prehardened steel like AR400 or used blades, it may be hard to drill and countersink all those mounting holes.

John

BayouMan · Jun 24, 2009

Hey John,
You ae exactly right. I was guilty of storing the box on the ground and it did rust a great deal. Only started setting it down on a couple of 4 x 4's last year and I will continue to do that. I also plan on coating the whole thing with burnt oil to slow down corrosion.

I did look at a factory made bionic blade and noticed they just tack welded the skid plate on. May be a consideration later on.

Mike

MikesTractor · Jun 24, 2009

I know that this isn't a blade and I don't know if 1/2" more in height would hurt anything, but here is something that worked for us.

I worked for our local County Public Works Department for a few years as one of their mechanics. We kept plenty of 1/2" x 2 and 1/2" x 3 flat bar just for repairing skids on the right-of-way mowers.

When we would get a new mower in, we added a piece of flat bar to the skid as a wear plate. We would just tack weld the flat to the skid with short 1 inch welds about every 12 inches. When the flat bar was about worn out, we would cut the old flat bar off and weld on a new one.

By doing this, the original skids never wore out, and the 1/2" extra in height didn't matter on the roadsides.

This worked so well on their mowers, I did the same thing to my rotary cutter.

Mike

BayouMan · Jun 24, 2009

Hey Mike,

Thanks for the idea. I think in the future, I will just keep some 3/8" x 2" flat bar around and replace as needed. After buying those hardening rods and welding all those beads in 98 degree weather today, I am looking for the simplist repair possible.

Mike

BayouMan · Jun 25, 2009

Well guys,
I finished the repairs to my bionic blade. Attached are some pictures after I put hard face beads on the skids.

The last photo shows the old blades installed. Had to flip them over due to extensive wear. I finished putting burnt oil on the lower portions of the box this morning.

Thanks for all the great ideas.

Mike