Straightened Bent RFM Wheel Fork

[chim]

One of the wheels on my LandPride RFM snagged something and I bent the shaft part of the yoke. It looks like a 1" diameter shaft and since Uri Geller wasn't around, I needed to find a way to bend it. Back in the 70's our company had a silent auction / garage sale affair to get rid of outdated tooling. A hydraulic pipe bender was mine for cheap. Since then I've only used it a few times, but it came in handy last night.

By inserting the shaft through the bender frame and using the ram without any bending shoes, it was the perfect hydraulic press. The bender can do up to 4" SCH 40 pipe, so it handled the shaft with ease.

 

[hawkeye08]

I've straightened several of mine with press, not sure what is bending them though, I am guessing it is backing up without raising mower.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I don't have a bender but I find that the hydraulic thumb on my backhoe works well for bent T post .

 

[chim]

I've straightened several of mine with press, not sure what is bending them though, I am guessing it is backing up without raising mower.

The wheels on the deck seem happy to swivel in any direction the deck is moved. You can see it was bent while the wheel was travelling forward. Pretty certain I bent mine while swinging a turn and catching the edge of blacktop road in front of our place that stands taller than the yard.

I've never had a press, so the bender was Plan B.