Mess with the bull, sometimes gets the horns.

[CliffordK]

I quit digging out tree muffins long ago. I stump grind everything now and call it good. Tree muffins never burn well anyway. Come to think about it, I have a whopper on one of my rentals that needs converted to wood chips, maybe when the weather warms up, maybe.

Years ago we had a CAT clear the back pasture of nasty scrubby pear trees. They pushed trees, roots, everything into about 10 big piles.

It has been a while but I think we would burn the piles once. Then take a Pulaski to the root balls. It really wasn't that bad to chop the dirt out. Then re-pile, and re-burn.

Two or three burns for each pile, and it was all gone. With a little drainage, it has made a nice hay field.

Although, for big stumps in our oak grove, we generally cut the firewood and leave the stumps to rot away. They don't hurt anything, and become uniquely weathered drift-wood like over the years.

My brother and mother tried to move an old brush hog with her brand new, at the time, Kubota BX2380 and front end loader. Something slipped and they turned that brush guard into a pretzel pretty quickly. It took a bit of work to get the guard straightened out, and a few dents in the hood. Those guards just aren't strong against a lot of abuse. Yet, I will admit that the damage to the hood and front grill was minimal.

 

[etpm]

During my career as a machinist I straightened many shafts. I had to get them to less that .0005" runout over 2 feet. So I will tell you how I did it. You will need, for your shaft, a 1 inch travel dial indicator. And a way to mount it under the shaft. A good magnetic base will work. you can get the indicator and magnetic base from Harbor Freight.
Get some 3/4 inch or thicker aluminum plate and saw it into a couple vee blocks. A bandsaw will work just fine. Support the vee blocks on plates in the press and lay the shaft in the vee blocks. Rotate and move the bent shaft back and forth until you find the high spot. Make this high spot as zero on the dial indicator. Now you will need to start bending. Like the vee blocks you need to use an aluminum block to apply pressure. So the ram presses on the aluminum block and the aluminum block presses on the shaft. Apply pressure and watch the indicator. Make it move about .020" and then release the pressure. See if zero has changed. If it has note how much. Now apply more pressure while watching the indicator. Make the indicator move a bit more than the first time. Maybe .020 more. Then remove pressure, rotate the shaft to see if it has less of a bend.
Repeat the process until the shaft starts to get straighter. Once the shaft starts to bend back you will need to be careful. it may take .100" to get the shaft to start to move in the first place but then only .120" to get it to move a lot.
When you first start to bend the shaft the vee blocks will start to deform and will take on the shape of the shaft. That's why aluminum should be used. It is soft enough to deform and take on the shape of the shaft instead of denting the shaft. So at first the dial indicator will move a lot because the shaft is deforming the aluminum.
Anyway, once the shaft starts to bend back to straight you will see that only a little more movement of the indicator will move the shaft. So it may take .150" initial movement of the indicator to make the shaft get straighter by .005" but then .160" will move the shaft .007" more. So be careful once the shaft starts to bend back to straight.
If you over bend the shaft don't despair. Just apply pressure to the new high spot. But don't make the indicator move very much. This is because the shaft will bend back much easier.
It takes practice so move slowly. Don't try to get the shaft straight in one go, sneak up on it. Even though it takes some time even a first timer should be able to get the shaft straight within .001" over 2 feet. The high spot may move so rotate the shaft often to find the high spot as well as move the shaft back and forth.
Finally, make sure that the shaft can't get loose and if it does you won't be in the way. I have had a shaft with over 30 tons of pressure come out of the press. It came out fast. There was no way I could have gotten out of the way. That's why I would always position the shaft and myself so that if the shaft came out it couldn't hit me.
Good Luck,
Eric

 

[Smokeydog]

During my career as a machinist I straightened many shafts. I had to get them to less that .0005" runout over 2 feet. So I will tell you how I did it. You will need, for your shaft, a 1 inch travel dial indicator. And a way to mount it under the shaft. A good magnetic base will work. you can get the indicator and magnetic base from Harbor Freight.
Get some 3/4 inch or thicker aluminum plate and saw it into a couple vee blocks. A bandsaw will work just fine. Support the vee blocks on plates in the press and lay the shaft in the vee blocks. Rotate and move the bent shaft back and forth until you find the high spot. Make this high spot as zero on the dial indicator. Now you will need to start bending. Like the vee blocks you need to use an aluminum block to apply pressure. So the ram presses on the aluminum block and the aluminum block presses on the shaft. Apply pressure and watch the indicator. Make it move about .020" and then release the pressure. See if zero has changed. If it has note how much. Now apply more pressure while watching the indicator. Make the indicator move a bit more than the first time. Maybe .020 more. Then remove pressure, rotate the shaft to see if it has less of a bend.
Repeat the process until the shaft starts to get straighter. Once the shaft starts to bend back you will need to be careful. it may take .100" to get the shaft to start to move in the first place but then only .120" to get it to move a lot.
When you first start to bend the shaft the vee blocks will start to deform and will take on the shape of the shaft. That's why aluminum should be used. It is soft enough to deform and take on the shape of the shaft instead of denting the shaft. So at first the dial indicator will move a lot because the shaft is deforming the aluminum.
Anyway, once the shaft starts to bend back to straight you will see that only a little more movement of the indicator will move the shaft. So it may take .150" initial movement of the indicator to make the shaft get straighter by .005" but then .160" will move the shaft .007" more. So be careful once the shaft starts to bend back to straight.
If you over bend the shaft don't despair. Just apply pressure to the new high spot. But don't make the indicator move very much. This is because the shaft will bend back much easier.
It takes practice so move slowly. Don't try to get the shaft straight in one go, sneak up on it. Even though it takes some time even a first timer should be able to get the shaft straight within .001" over 2 feet. The high spot may move so rotate the shaft often to find the high spot as well as move the shaft back and forth.
Finally, make sure that the shaft can't get loose and if it does you won't be in the way. I have had a shaft with over 30 tons of pressure come out of the press. It came out fast. There was no way I could have gotten out of the way. That's why I would always position the shaft and myself so that if the shaft came out it couldn't hit me.
Good Luck,
Eric

Thanks a lot for good experienced advise. Have much of the material and tooling to do simple straightening. Aluminum angle to line V-blocks. Cargo ratchet strap around cylinder to press just in case. Always stand clear when much pressure. Any press operation is a potential grenade. Cheap 50ton press is sloppy but has helped bend and straighten many repairs. Is my first cylinder rod. Did order a tall pipe stand to help support the extended cylinder for setup.

Flopping the stump muffin over to roll, starting low, lifting, pushing, raising the FEL high while curling put too much pressure on the extended lift cylinders. Have a 10,000# digital gauge on the lift circuit but didn’t have it turned on this time. Eats batteries in cold weather. Have seen where pushing and curl force can double what pressure on a closed lift circuit than the tractor can pump to the lift circuit. Soft ride was valved in and maybe prevented more serious damage.

Ordered $32 set of body hammers and dollies for the bonnet. I’m more of a blacksmith than body man.

 

[ultrarunner]

I was able to use my large hydraulic conduit bender to safely true up a small día. shaft...

 

[MTGreen]

I've also taken a tractor hood to an automotive body shop. When they were done there was no way to tell it had ever been damaged. $300 iirc I thought was a pretty good deal

 

[5030]

I'm sure my Dake hydraulic broaching press would straighten any cylinder rod as it develops over 30,000 pounds of ram force, but I'd still take it to a competent hydraulic shop and have them do it and save the grief.

 

[Smokeydog]

Decided to take the cylinder to get professional repair. Might be able to straighten. They have a guy who specializes in that.
Head/gland nut had a crack but not thru. Seals looked good. Ordered new head nut and seal kit from Messicks.

After 30 minutes of beating on the hood.

 

[dodge man]

Looks as good as new.

 

[AuCivil]

Been nice spring like weather for several days and really catching up on some outdoor projects including some that included clearing trees. Rain expected to start in a few hours so time to deal with a big stump from a large oak that fell last spring beside an animal shed. Have worked off and on clearing tree, sold saw logs, digging stump and whittling it down to size. Much too big for the M59 to lift. 8-9’ diameter with a 40”+ butt cut. 5-7ton wood muffin. Plan was to roll it about a 100 yards into the tree line for a final resting place. Got to 10 yard line and had it roll back.
View attachment 853882
Crunched the hood even with the bonnet protection.

Tried again for the last push. Hydraulic oil squirted from right lift cylinder. Rod looked bent.

View attachment 853883View attachment 853884

Sux when your best player is injured. Have to evaluate for repairs.

Cylinder rod has about 1/2” bow. No leak with no load. No chrome damaged. Might be able to straighten in press? First experience for straightening a cylinder rod.

Can beat the bonnet straight. Going to look again after sleeping on it. Like to learn new things just not this way.
Whole brush guard is pushed back some. I’ll start there.

Where did you get that hood guard?

 

[Smokeydog]

The bonnet protector was optional equipment for the M59. Listed on WholeGoods pricing list. Not available from local dealer but Messicks had one. Like the added protection and shelf for maintenance like oil change.

https://www.escnj.us/cms/lib/NJ02211024/Centricity/Domain/318/Section%2006%20TLB%20Series%2003-06-2019-Updated%20JJ.pdf

2019 pricing list. Order from sales, not parts department. Good to see all the options and pricing available. Don’t see it available for the M62.