Bending square u-bolts with shop press

[howardjohn]

They sell benders at harbor freight/northern tool that will bend solid round stock. They have a bunch of round dies to roll the steel around. I made up some stainless steel ubolts for my tractor implement tool bar. I got some 1/2" ss rod and bent it with a 90 degree on the top and then a 45 degree about 2 inches down from the point. It was not easy to get them uniform but with practice it worked. Then I taped the ends for a bolt

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

There are online, and phone app calculators, for marking out hydraulic tubing, tah would probably work to help determine the layout of the rod to get a finished U-bolt. It is two nineties, and pretty seating to calculate even by hand.

 

[UncleW]

Could you just use an upper plate and a lower plate with two regular bolts?

That’s what I did when I rebuilt an ancient disc harrow. I tried using the plates made for leaf springs, but they bent when I tightened the grade 8 - 1/2” bolts. 3/8 plate was just fine. If it’s on a highway trailer, I’d try to find one from an online supplier of trailer leaf springs. I did find some that were the 2 1/2” x 8” that I needed, but they were $24 each and I needed 10 of them I’d guess anything you can bend is going to be too soft to get enough tightening torque without hardening the threads. And then it will break somewhere else

 

[zzvyb6]

I've made them from round stock using a fire wrench to warm them up to dull red, then using a vice and a mandrel to shape them. No cracks, no failures, not brittle, used cold galvanizing 'paint' to seal them. Probably not military grade, but my hay elevator axle is now nice & shiney, and I can get on to other things without the delays from a discussion about U_bolts.