Tear Up An Anvil ? ( Drawbar )

Well as you can see someone got a little rough with the drawbar on my D2 and bent the crap out of it . Not sure yet how I will straighten it but open to ideas . The pic shows it tucked under my winch . I am also missing the drawbar swing and in need of one .

Hi, ric44.

A VERY capable Danish mechanic once showed me a trick for straightening a SEVERELY bent hydraulic cylinder rod. He left it in the sun for several hours. Then he put it in his homemade hydraulic press, built from an old B24 Liberator landing gear leg.

He did not try to take the bend out in one push but kept taking small 'bites' at it, moving the rod back and forth under the press ram until it was fit for duty again. I stood there and watched carefully, helping where I could, mostly by holding the rod steady under the press while he applied the pressure.

The sun's warmth and the 'bit-by-bit' part were the secrets and that cylinder worked without problems for the at least the next 12 months, which was when the machine it was in was sold and left the district.

Other than the sun and the hydraulic press, the only other tool we used was a 3-foot steel rule which was used as a straight edge to check for straightness as we got closer to being finished.

Give you a clue?

Hope this helps.

Just my 0.02.

If I had a way of chaining and anchoring the business end I could apply a hydraulic jack under the bend and probably straighten it without even taking it out . I have the concrete slab but no anchor point .

Why risk damages, remove it. Cts

Hi, ric44.

I'm with cts on this one. You would need a VERY good anchor point and probably a jack that would lift the whole tractor off the ground and I think you would also need some warmth, not a lot, but some - too much would weaken the drawbar - and if you are in the U.S., you're heading into the wrong time of the year to get that from the sun that, especially up North.

Just my 0.02.

Ouch. Mess up a crowbar in a sandbox too (whoever it was). With the swinging bar missing, that still took some skill. Best bet (IMO) is remove it from the machine, lob the bent section off and add a new piece if you are handy with a torch and welder/source a replacement. Also, remove the bracket that holds the pin for the drawbar; those pins do not come out as easy as some think. I heated one with a rosebud repeatedly, quenched, soaked with loose juice etc., and my 30 ton press struggled. Have fun. JM

If you take the draw bar and turn it over you can block up the hitch and use the blade to raise the tractor up.

Maybe put a piece of plate between the bar and case.

Might want to leave the bar out overnight in the moon light before you bend it.

Why are your tracks on backwards?

Bob

Wow Bob I never even noticed the shoes being backwards lol . I guess that's gonna be yet another project in the making . I suppose I can get a slew of new bolts and take the shoes off and turn them around ? Would take a while but I know them being backward isn't good . Thanks for pointing it out .

Why not just turn the track around?

Bob

Bob I'm not sure I'm up to that . Sure would be less costly but that would be quite a undertaking for me at 71yo and a bad back . Especially with limited tools . I have a few floor jacks and a tractor with a boom pole thats about it . Don't even own a cherry picker . Besides the track tensioner bolt is so rusted it would have to be cut off and replaced .

Hi, ric44.

As I understand it, the way that the tracks are fitted is not just about the grousers being backward. It MOSTLY has to do with the bush turning in the sprocket tooth as the track enters and leaves the sprocket.

Hi, bluox.

If your comment about leaving the drawbar in the moonlight overnight is aimed at ridiculing what I said about leaving it in the sun to warm up, I'll just say that you WERE NOT there to witness the event and so perhaps you should NOT be making any judgements about it.

Just as an aside from the above, I used to know a small haulage and earth moving company some years ago whose owner would to reset his truck springs using just sunlight onna hot day and a railway Jim Crow rail bender. See the attached link:

https://victoriancollections.net.au/items/586c67efd0ce1a27f08b9c97

Just my 0.02.