Bent my Bucket! Can it be fixed?

pauld · Jan 28, 2007

You know what it's like cruising the yard and being able to stop on a dime...
I was doing just that, on my MF GC2310, approaching the house about to let off the pedal when I was horrified that I was not stopping!
My choices were simple, 1. destroy my car, or 2. hit the house!
So I avoided the car to strike the door jamb of the garage door.
The bottom of my bucket is probably bent 6-8" in the center.

What happened was the flashlight I had under the seat slid down under the accelerator and I didn't notice! It's never happened before and no matter how hard I jammed on the reverse side of the pedal it wouldn't slow down at all. It happened to quick to think of anything else, knowing you can usually "stop on a dime".

Birdman253 · Jan 28, 2007

Sorry to hear about your misfortune, but all is probably not lost. Without a pic to see, it is hard to be sure, but if you have a crease in the bottom of the bucket, it can easily be repaired by a good welding shop. Exactly what needs to be done would depend on the nature of the damage, but it is certainly possible. A bucket is simply shaped steel plate, with reinforcement in some areas. Bent portion can either be straightened, or simply cut out, and replaced with new material.

Post a pic, and you can probably get a more detailed description of what needs to be done to yours.

Doc_Bob · Jan 28, 2007

Post a pic when you can.
Bob

john_bud · Jan 28, 2007

pauld said:
You know what it's like cruising the yard and being able to stop on a dime...
I was doing just that, on my MF GC2310, approaching the house about to let off the pedal when I was horrified that I was not stopping!
My choices were simple, 1. destroy my car, or 2. hit the house!
So I avoided the car to strike the door jamb of the garage door.
The bottom of my bucket is probably bent 6-8" in the center.

What happened was the flashlight I had under the seat slid down under the accelerator and I didn't notice! It's never happened before and no matter how hard I jammed on the reverse side of the pedal it wouldn't slow down at all. It happened to quick to think of anything else, knowing you can usually "stop on a dime".

Get friendly with a sledge hammer. May need to give a caress of warmth with an Oxygen/Acetylene torch too. Sometimes it's hard to smack the dent. In those cases you can put a big piece of angle or square tube on the concave side. Drill a hole on the top of the dent (convex side), run a large diameter threaded grade 5 or 8 rod thru the hole. Then run a bolt down over a large hardened washer to bring the dent down. You may need to use a large patch to spread out the force. Heating with a O/A torch or a large propane torch (like used to burn weeds) to heat the metal up to near red hot. Not where the hole is, where the outside edge of the dent is and work your way in. You'll know when it's hot enough - the force to pull it down will be much reduced. Either leave the hole or weld it shut.

By the way, how's he house?

Next time:
Does your tractor have a clutch? Putting in the clutch and stomping the brakes usually works. Not as abruptly as smacking a house, but usually good enough (wink). Now you know why us old folks go so slow around houses and cars...

jb

BTDT · Jan 29, 2007

What was the door jamb made out of? If bucket bent that easy, seems like it might be time to just upgrade to a stronger bucket. I'm sure the one you have can be repaired, but as the others have said, a pic would be nice so we know where to start. Might also search for a tool box to mount somewhere for wayward flashlights, tools, etc. You never know what might cause the next accident.

thingy · Jan 29, 2007

Get that bucket over to John Buds fix all shop,,he'll have that thing squared up in no time,pretty reasonable rates too,,,,,forgot to add though,,,John is a specialist,,cheap, but a specialist none the less,,,he only works on the most challangeing cases,,,so, if alls you got is a dent,,,he probably won't be interested,,,now if there is a few cracks,,a lotta rust AND the dent,he might be interested,don't know,,,,,thingy

john_bud · Jan 29, 2007

thingy said:
Get that bucket over to John Buds fix all shop,,he'll have that thing squared up in no time,pretty reasonable rates too,,,,,forgot to add though,,,John is a specialist,,cheap, but a specialist none the less,,,he only works on the most challangeing cases,,,so, if alls you got is a dent,,,he probably won't be interested,,,now if there is a few cracks,,a lotta rust AND the dent,he might be interested,don't know,,,,,thingy

If you really want my interest, just slap on some welding rod --> leave the slag <--- and bring it on over!

Actually, I'm between tasks right now. My bucket is welded up and the shop still has most of the hoe.... Couldn't take too long to straighten out. We could even slap on some teeth, maybe a re-enforcement bar across the top, 3-4 hooks and even a tool box to hold a flashlight. Heck, ditch the flashlight -we'll put on auxilary lighting on the lift arms, LED's across the top of the bucket, maybe even an LED sign inside the bucket. It could flash out the word "DANGER" or "KEEP BACK". Yeah - cool.

jb

JerryG · Jan 29, 2007

pauld,
If the bucket is bowed into the bucket, put a floor jack or a blocked up bottle jack inside the bucket. Then jack the bend out. You will have to jack it out farther than level so that it will come back to straight. It will be trial and error. Jack it some then let it off to see how straight it is.

john_bud · Jan 29, 2007

JerryG said:
pauld,
If the bucket is bowed into the bucket, put a floor jack or a blocked up bottle jack inside the bucket. Then jack the bend out. You will have to jack it out farther than level so that it will come back to straight. It will be trial and error. Jack it some then let it off to see how straight it is.

Jerry, that will work, but I would want to weld or place a re-enforcement across the top before using the jack. There have been a few smiling buckets turned into gaping "O"'s. My guess (and without seeing the bucket - it's a guess!) is that the bucket is pretty thin from top to bottom. The only thing I have found that is easier than messing up in the first place, is messing up fixing the mess up. But, that's just me!

jb