bent bucket repair

[mkarnesusa]

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?

 

[LD1]

Id go the bottle jack route.

Tring to get enough heat to make a difference over such a wide area is gonna be tough with a torch. And hitting it with a sledge is noisy and more work.

Bottle jack and be done

 

[flyerdan]

That's where the 10 ton HF portable hydraulic kit would come in handy. Put a big wood block or similar at the base so the other side doesn't get bent, should rough it out pretty easy. Use heavy flat bar and big C clamps with heat to get it back to nearly straight.

 

[gstrom99]

Rosette oxy torch (have a helper or two) and the bottle jack or porta power, should work. You may not be able to shrink it enough though, then you'll need to cut/slice and re-weld.

Actually, the more I think about it - the cut/weld idea might be better.

 

[5030]

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.

 

[mkarnesusa]

Bottle jack seems like a good idea....really not sure how this could happen clearing a mudhole. I should have looked it over before he loaned it to me, he said we did it, I am not certain but will man up and fix it...worst case, cut it off ant reweld another plate i guess

 

[rScotty]

Rosette oxy torch (have a helper or two) and the bottle jack or porta power, should work. You may not be able to shrink it enough though, then you'll need to cut/slice and re-weld.

Actually, the more I think about it - the cut/weld idea might be better.

Agree. Metal stretches when it bends. It can't fit it back into the same place it was without accounting for the extra. Plus cut/weld/grind takes a lot less effort.

 

[WranglerX]

Bottle jack seems like a good idea....really not sure how this could happen clearing a mudhole. I should have looked it over before he loaned it to me, he said we did it, I am not certain but will man up and fix it...worst case, cut it off ant reweld another plate i guess

This is why I don't loan out or borrow items.... BUT my father always said if you borrow something always be sure to return it in better condition than when you borrowed it or if you really broke it, replace it....

 

[CoyPatton]

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.

 

[Rockbadchild]

I would weld a temporary cross member, used that as back rest for the bottle jack and with a combination of that with heat and hammer shape it back into place.