Has anyone ever had the cast steel ear welded on the barrel of a cylinder bend? A few years ago when I was trying to dig a drainage trench in semi frozen ground with the backhoe on my 931B, the machine slid backwards on the frozen ground and kind of slammed to a stop. One stabilizer had the weld crack and the cast steel ear on the cylinder got bent. I got the stabilizer pulled back and welded in place but would like to straighten the ear on the cylinder. Being a stabilizer cylinder it isn't the most critical but I'd like to straighten it if possible. The bushing around the pin appears to have broke and I think a piece fell out. I don't know if I can disconnect the rod end and try pulling on the cylinder to straighten the bend cold or if it's better to heat the ear up? Wondering if anyone has ever had to straighten the cast steel ear on a cylinder before?
Good luck. Nope, sounds tricky.
Here's the mounting ear I'd like to straighten.
I don’t think that would be worth screwing with Dave. It looks like it’s got 3/16” on each side for play anyway. The best bet would be to have another one made and cut off te bent one and replace but honestly, if it’s not hurting anything, I would let that one go. You could take the rod out and weld one one side and take a mill and face off both sides to get it straight but no idea what the tolerance is in bore.
The mounting ear on one side is bent out. That's why there's gaps on either side. I think the ear is bent in the middle of the pin hole. I'm wondering if there might be a way to pull the cylinder the other way to straighten the ear. Maybe reinforcing the mounts so they won't bend I could pull the cylinder the other way to straighten it?? Not sure how or if it could be set up to straighten in a hyd. press. If I figured out exactly where the bend was heating it red hot might be fairly easy to straighten it. The hose connection is also part of the end cap/ear. I'd try straightening it before cutting it off and having a new one made. Welding it wouldn't be an issue.
If you try to pull the cylinder the other way, you may cause other damage. I would move it lower on the priority list and carry on for now
It's not a top priority but I'd like to fix it if it's not too involved or expensive. I know it's readily weldable which would make it cast steel. If I do try to straighten it, heating on both sides of the hole I think would be the best option. Part of the bushing appears to be gone. Just getting it so a new bushing will go in is the main priority. Perhaps a machine shop could bore it as is for an oversize bushing. Then the bend wouldn't be a factor. I guess the 1st thing to do is take the cylinder off and inspect the bore to see how much it's out of round and/or out of square. I was hoping someone may have seen something similar happen on a Cat cylinder.