Loader Bent loader arm at sleave for pin

[KWentling]

A couple more perhaps stupid questions: What is cold rolled? I am assumeing it is a 1" round bar that is not as straight and as a precise diameter as a pin?? What is shim stock and how would I use that?

Cold rolled is the finish the material gets at the steel mill. It is smooth and usually .002 or .005" under the nominal size. Lots of pins are just cold rolled cut to length. It can come in all grades of steel. Shim stock is just sheet metal of precision thickness. It can be had in thicknesses of .001 to at least .060" and in a variety of materials from plastic to stainless steel. I would look for brass shim because it is easy to cut and will hold a shape better than others. Get the closest size cold rolled that will still fit through the bore in the arm and than wrap shim stock around the cold rolled to get a tighter fit. If you have a buddy with a lathe, have him make bushings to take up the slop instead of the shim stock. That would be much easier to work with.
Your loader arms are made of thin metal tubing, probably about 1/8" thick, and it wont take a lot of heating to do this. You'll want to be careful that you don't melt a hole in it. Expect it to move around a little when it cools, so what you have when it's hot probably isn't what it will be when cooled off. Small movements can be had by heating a spot about the size of a dime or quarter and quenching it with water. It will take some trial and error.

Kim

 

[jsranman]

Thanks again for the help.

All I have is a little hand held propane torch and I assume I need something bigger. What sort of torch will work. Do I need the oxy/acet torch or just a bigger one that can run off a propane tank?

 

[KWentling]

Oxy/acet would be best.

Kim

 

[jsranman]

I bought the 1" bar about 6 or 7' long. Havent figured out where I am going to get the torch yet. Bar fits nicely. maybe a little loose as one of you stated. Here is a better pic of my problem:

 

[KBL3830]

Even though I am the king of "I can do it myself" I have found it surprisingly hard to heat up any significant amount of steel enough to bend it even with a small oxy acet rig. You should probably bite the bullet and have a pro come out with a big a** rosebud to heat this up so you can straighten it. Otherwise you'll spend waste hours of time and lots of gas. A decent sized rosebud requires big tanks because of the way acetylene is concentrated. Alternatively you may be able to rent a rig but I'd still bet the a pro would be worth the money.

 

[devildog1]

Listen I don't want to discourage you but I do not believe you will be able to repair this because you will not have the correct torch and or other alignment tools needed to compleate this job.Do your self a favor and save time and effort have the pro's do this job, bit the bullet and have it repaired correctly.
DevilDog

 

[Don87]

It can be straightened with the regular tip on the oxy/acet torch, but you gotta have 2 people to do this. And zero wind conditions, on a hot day in full sun.

But I agree with KBL3830, the 'rosebud tip' will do a much better job(and faster), but I would still recommend 2 people for the task...........one operating the torch, the other bending and lining up the arms.

 

[jsranman]

I have this two burner propane cooker that I bought to boil sap for maple syrup that I though I might be able to heat this thing up with. The burners are huge and the flame would consume both sides of the arm and would heat from the bottom if I positioned the loader arm over it. It might take a while to get red hot but I might give it a shot. I was reading eslewhere about using a propane weed burner to heat and form steel so I thought these burners that I have would be similar. Other postings that I have read elsewhere have said the propane/atmospheric air flame wont get it hot enough and that I would need oxygen.

I have doubts that I can do it but I am not going to give up yet. I will keep you posted.

 

[KWentling]

Thats going to be a tough one. I think it's going to take a rosebud to get it hot enough, and in the right places. I have gotten steel red hot using a weed burner but I don't know if what you have will be enough. You'll want to get the metal below the pin boss where it's deformed extra hot so most of the bending will occur there. Good luck.

Kim

 

[KBL3830]

Chiming in again, propane without 02..... Just a waste of time and gas. A pro with big tanks and big rose will take minutes instead of hours, bite the bullet. Ps get the loader bucket out if the woods first so you can make sure its aligned before he leaves