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bent drawbar

L

larry cook

Member
in a rush and couldnt find the drawbar for my mf1085 so used a cat. 1 off of one of my fords. used it to pull up an old angle iron stake. bent the drawbar, chain was about 6" from the lift arm, bent it a good 2-3 inches. whats the best way to straighten it? was going to buy another but i only use the drawbar (normally) on a ford 640 for pulling a trailer.
opinions and/or ideas
thanks
larry
 
"i only use the drawbar (normally) on a ford 640 for pulling a trailer."

Have you even considered what COULD happen if your straightened drawbar broke while pulling a trailer?

I'd toss it and replace it.
 
actually yes i have considered it, then i considered tossing it. breakage by usage is probably unlikely. i pull an old pickup bed trailer on the ranch to pickup firewood once in a great while. we are talking 1st gear which isnt very fast and also a small trailer with hardly any road.

will give some more consideration though to tossin the bar.

thanks for the input
larry
 
I don't claim to be a metallurgist but I'll bet that drawbar will be a LOT more likely to break after having been bent and straightened, even if NOT overloaded.
 
I used to work on railroad freight cars and the approved method is to heat it & beat it; jack it or pull things back to shape with a come-along to get them straight. Railroad safety appliances are grab irons, ladders, steps that people rely on for their lives. AAR rules say it's ok to heat and straighten, perfectly safe, no special controls required. If it's gouged or cracked, that's another story. Can they be welded? AAR says you cannot weld them. Under controlled conditions they could be repaired by welding and be perfectly safe but there are no controls over the welder so the rule is no. For the non-believers, you best sit at least a half mile back from railroad crossings because any car that's been repaired has been heated and straightened. A rose-bud and a sledge are a carman's tools. If it bent one way it should bend back. Good luck- joe fabregas
 
Larry, I wouldn't worry for a second about loss of strength. I don't have a press so in this kind of situation I have used a backhoe or an excavator.
 
The cost of annealing and reheat treating to the original strength would be prohibitive, unless you know someone with a furnace.
Since you'd most likely never be able to bend it again with a Cat 1 size tractor, use it for it's intended purposes, and you'd never have to worry about it.
I'd heat it and straighten it, that way it's stress relieved. If no visible cracks are found, it should be ok.
 
the old farmers round hear claim after you heat something to straighten or whatever coll it off in old motor oil supposed to keep it from lossing its temper done it several times nothing has ever broke but we also didnt have a control in the experiment so dont know if it would have broke with out the oil either
 
Junk it, Un less Being Killed or Mamed for life, I might be you or a friend or a Close Loved one !!!JUST THINK OF SAFTY FIRST !
 
Straighten it the same way you bent it only in reverse. In other words turn it upside down and anchor it to something rigid in the same place you hooked before.
 
Just straighten it out heat will help and won't hurt the bars strength. Bending it over and over in the same place will work harden it and then it will break other than that its just made from mild steel and can not be heat tempered as it does not have enough carbon in it.

Learned all that in machinist school in the navy.
Walt
 
interesting you say that for when I replaced a bearing in the gearbox on a VW, the procedure said to boil it in oil then slips on to the shaft.,,smells though.
 
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