MT352 Grill guard

[Bobrown14]

I bought a grill guard from broken anvil metal works and it doesn't fit right. They told me my grill is bent which it was like that when I bought it. Can someone please confirm my grill guard is bent or not bent - take a look at yours and see if its like mine please.

I'm ok with adding a bunch of washers on the upper grill bolts but I'd like to know if my grill guard is bent - sure looks factory to me - there's no stress cracks in the paint and the bend is symmetrical on both sides??

 

[ptsg]

It's clearly bent. That plate should sit flat against the frame of the tractor. You can see the bottom still sits somewhat flat.

So bent it may even come way too close to the loader, I would imagine.

EDIT: You can see a little bit of paint cracking at the bend.
Hard to tell on the picture from their page but you can see a flat bar with not bends. You can also see that the guard should bolt there and you can't do that with thoses bends there.

 

[Avenger]

That does look factory. But I can tell you that mine is flush up against the frame.

 

[Avenger]

You could heat it up and bend it back flat (if you have the ability, and it doesn't interfere with the hood). Paint it blue again, and see if your aftermarket guard fits. It looks symmetrical, and your right, there really is no sign of it being non-factory, but I'm not sure it is. It doesn't make sense to have it bent out like that, unless it interferes with the hood somehow.

 

[Bobrown14]

Thanks guys yeah it "looks" bent but there aint no way it was bent on the tractor. There would be stress cracks in the paint and that steel is pretty thick I think at 1/2" steel I cant imagine the amount of force it would take to bend the guard??

Its not in the way of the FEL either it looks like it was done on purpose but I'm not sure why its like that and as mentioned the force to bend that steel probably would have broken the bolts off Im thinking.

 

[KCTractors]

I bought a grill guard from broken anvil metal works and it doesn't fit right. They told me my grill is bent which it was like that when I bought it. Can someone please confirm my grill guard is bent or not bent - take a look at yours and see if its like mine please.

I'm ok with adding a bunch of washers on the upper grill bolts but I'd like to know if my grill guard is bent - sure looks factory to me - there's no stress cracks in the paint and the bend is symmetrical on both sides??

View attachment 830873


View attachment 830874

Yes, it is bent. I bent mine also just like that. I straightened it out with a press and added another half inch plate on it.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

That is bent. Not factory

 

[ptsg]

Thanks guys yeah it "looks" bent but there aint no way it was bent on the tractor. There would be stress cracks in the paint and that steel is pretty thick I think at 1/2" steel I cant imagine the amount of force it would take to bend the guard??

Its not in the way of the FEL either it looks like it was done on purpose but I'm not sure why its like that and as mentioned the force to bend that steel probably would have broken the bolts off Im thinking.

It would bend very easily actually without snapping any bolts but it's clearly bent. You can't even bolt the grill guard (the dark grey part) to those bolts because it's bent.

 

[m5guy]

Agree, it's bent, mine sits flush also.

 

[5030]

That is bent. Not factory

You sure the loader bracing wasn't jig properly when welded. Been running into that with Kubota implements lately, especially new loader and backhoes. Pretty easy to fix when new and a repaint and the purchaser has no inkling that I did anything to them.

Especially prevalent on new backhoes where the assembler didn't jig the components properly and the pin bosses were skewed so the pins cannot engage the bushings. A simple line bore and new pin fixes that issue or just turning the end of the pin slightly to allow it to engage the bush works too. better that my dealer having to order a new one and pizzing off a customer. Customers never know what I did and usually don't care anyway, just want their unit promptly.