Bent bucket

[alansz400]

Bought a bucket for my B7500 yesterday at a auction. When I was loading it in my truck I saw it was bent. Anyone got any idea how to fix it? Better yet how does someone bend a bucket like that? The rest of the bucket is in good shape.

 

[85Hokie]

several ways TO bend it - as there are several ways to UN bend it .....the unbend part is a little slower process.....

looks like PO slammed into something - or placed chain over and snatched like hell.....
doesnt really matter how it got bent - fact is ....it is bent!

now the hard part ....you are bent on TWO planes ......the bucket is bent back and bent down.....looking at the second picture....do you have or can get a large BAR clamp or a come-a-long?

I think if you take the lower left corner and upper right corner and bring them back together it might being the bucket somewhat in line again.

We have one in the AG shop right now, looks a somewhat the same.....they are using a rose bud tip and a BFH to get the bend out....bend is on the side of the bucket however.

Might need to take it to a shop and pay someone to "work" the kinks out....

 

[Tooljunkie]

To me it looks twisted. Like operating it without lock pins and lifted and twisted it. Needs to be chained to a caterpillar D6 and somehow twisted back.

 

[Diydave]

weld a temporary tab to lower left and upper right of bucket. Tab should have about an inch hole in it. position them, so the holes line up. insert a length of 3/4" or 7/8" rebar, and tighten till the bucket looks square. you might have to repeat, and tighten a little past square, as when you release the nuts, it will want to spring back to bent. As long as you get the cutting edge flat to the ground, on a flat surface, or nearly so, looks won't matter as much as functionality...

 

[Tooljunkie]

Dave has it close, could add a porta power jack to push in opposite direction.

 

[MagKarl]

I'd pull it with a chain comealong, across the diagonal from lower left to upper right like Hokie suggested first.

If that doesn't work, you might need to weld on some long handles, one on each end, to twist the two end plates relative to one another.

 

[alansz400]

The more I looked at it the more I figured I would make it worse if I tried to fix it so I dropped it off at the fab. shop. The guy that came out to look at it didn't seem to positive about them being able to fix it. Said he never saw one twisted like that. The owner was at lunch and is going to call me when he gets back. If he can't fix it hopefully he will know who can.

 

[ShaunRH]

Yup, looks like it hit the top right corner (from the front view).

For my $0.02 on the subject, I'd leave in on the tractor and weld a large bar or pipe 2" or so in size and 6-8' long down the right side plate from the top to the bottom along the back angle of the bucket. Put the left side down on a 4x4 block at the bottom from corner.

Then start bending downward with the bar, warping the bucket back slowly into place. You can use the weight of the front of the tractor to help by putting full force down on that 4x4.

If the cold steel won't budge, you'll have to disconnect it and put the entire thing into a bonfire, get it hot, reconnect it and try it again, same process.

 

[alansz400]

Well the guys at the fad shop chickened out and didn't even try to fix it. So I loaded in back up and took it to a guy south of town that has a body shop he came out and looked at it and didn't act like he knew what to do. He said he didn't know how to hold it to pull on it. I said it looks twisted to me and then the light turned on in his head. He looked at it for a second and went into the shop. Came back out with a air powered porta power. He put the one end in the lower right hand corner and the other end in the upper left. Started pushing and the next thing I know the cutting edge is laying flat on the bed of my truck. He went a little more a few times and when it sprung back the 3rd time it stayed flat. Pretty amazing how easy it bent. I will for sure be more carful with my bucket.



Next problem is the new bucket has one inch pins and my old one has 7/8 pins. That should be a easy fix. The new bucket is also 3 inches wider.

 

[gpreuss]

Good to know -- THANKS!

 

[85Hokie]

It aint peeeeerfect - but damn - it looks mo better now!!!

Glad to see you got it fixed ! Ok - peeps wanna know .....what did he charge ya to fix it?

 

[alansz400]

It aint peeeeerfect - but damn - it looks mo better now!!!

Glad to see you got it fixed ! Ok - peeps wanna know .....what did he charge ya to fix it?

FREE. Yea I was surprised myself. I have known the guy for a few years and might call him a friend. Hes the kind of guy that you wave at if you see him but if your truck breaks down in the middle of the night your not going to call him. Plus it only took him like 10 minutes to fix it.

The new pins for the top holes and bushings for the lower holes should be ready to pick up at the machine shop tomorrow. Hopefully those guys are in a good mood.

 

[alansz400]

Picked up my pins and bushings today. $11.



Ran out of day light so no picture of the bucket on the tractor.

 

[Tooljunkie]

Pins should work. May be a little soft, better 11 dollar parts wear out anyway.
I kinda figured porta power would work. That bucket is identical to the one i straightened. Top lip,bent down and cutting edge bent down too. Was from one day in the hands of a lunatic. Er, supervisor- i meant to say supervisor. No ,i said Supervisor.

I drilled lower bucket lip, added a caterpillar cutting edge and plated the two strips front to back to level bottom. Should last a lifetime.

 

[alansz400]

Those pins will be in the top of the quick attach. The QA is doing all the pivoting on good pins with grease. I think the bucket will bend before the pins fail.