Fixing a junky plow.

[Diamondpilot]

Thanks. I have used it once as is in a pinch but I felt unsafe. That is why I want to build a purpose built foot to put in place of the wedge.

Chris

 

[gemini5362]

The problem may be what kind of press we're talking about. I just assumed a typical shop press would be too small for this sort of thing. I'm sure the Kubota shop has a press for bearings and such, but in my imagination I was picturing something more....industrial. Even my brother-in-law has a good sized press in his shop. No idea what the rating is, but its a good 6-8 feet tall, 'I' beam frame and all that.

How much press would you need to straighten something like this? I initially said it was 3/4 inch thick and I tend to overestimate everything, but in reality I bet it is at least an inch thick.

Come to think of it, it wouldn't take much for a machine shop to make something like this. If the stock was the right thickness, all it would require is a few holes drilled.

actually 20 or 30 ton press will do a lot. At the very least if you have access to one I would give it a try and see if it will do it. I straightened the mounting steel on the ripper for my box blade that is fairly thick steel and a 20 ton press straightened it pretty easily

 

[N80]

Here is a report on the old plow. As mentioned, the shank is the part that was bent and man was it ever bent! I've got some pics of it but the photo gallery isn't working properly and I can't get it to upload. I'll try again tomorrow. In any case it was twisted down its length and this thing is an inch thick! However, it is also bent slightly front to back!!! Its 3" wide in that dimension. How it got bent and twisted like this without bending the frame or damaging the shares etc I don't know.

In any case, I took it to a metal shop and asked the guy if he could straighten the twist, which is what caused the point of the plow to kick out to the right. I didn't bother with the front to back bend since it was very small and didn't affect the engagement of the point to a significant degree. He looked at it for a while and estimated 30 minutes of work at $30. I told him to go ahead and do it. He said he could make a new one for even less if he had any stock that size, but he didn't.

So my wife picks it up for me and he's got the twist out of it and it looks perfect. But he charged her $70! At first I was mad. I don't mind paying for the work but I hate when someone misses an estimate by more than half. But, maybe he had a hard time with it and $70 to get a plow in workable condition isn't bad. And in this economy he may need it more than I do.

I went down to my place today and bolted it all back together and gave it a try and it works so well. It was so hard to get it to work right before and now I just hook it up, eyeball it to get it lined up and it works perfect. So $70 in repairs and $15 in new bolts and I got a plow that works. Not too bad.

I had a very pleasant afternoon of plowing and even though I'll never win a plowing contest, the field below may cabin looked pretty decent when I was done. Got pics of that too but they won't upload either.

The only thing I worry about is if the heating has weakened the shank to much. I hit a few rocks and dug deep enough to stop me and it didn't break or bend again so I hope it will hold up.