slightly twisted bucket arms.

[rScotty]

As far as shrinking or stretching, it is common to do with light sheet metal. However, it may well be different to do with heavy box steel.

If one can predict how metal moves with welding, perhaps one could control stretching/shrinking with heat.

However, I'd probably try to straighten it cold. A car body shop with a frame machine could likely either straighten the bent side, or bend the other side to match (which may avoid the length issue).

I think the problem here is simply definitions. We all shape metal when we need to. Metallurgy looks at the chemical structure, and metalworking at the physical shape.

Bending metal until it yields causes it to stretch in the plane of the bend - there's no getting around that. But as several posters have pointed out, there are some practical ways to deal with the stretched metal so that the stretching and thinnng is controllable to get to where we want to go.

For example, if bending has caused a box beam or loader arm to become too long in the plane of the bend, it is common to "shrink" the beam lengthwise by forcing it to become thicker in a plane at right angles to the original bend. So what posters are saying is that metal worker can compensate for the original change in length by forcing the metal to thicken in a different direction. That works of course - we all do that in the shop. The exact same thing works in sheetmetal - you flatten (shrink) a dent it in one plane by pounding it to make it flat - but it grows in the other plane so it is larger. A bent washer is easy to flatten on an anvil, but it becomes a slightly larger diameter on the outside edges.

The metal didn't "shrink", it can't. Without huge atomic forces we can't make it much more dense. All we can do is remove voids, and steel doesn't have many of those. What we do is bend it around to become thicker in a different plane. We "shrink" it in the direction we care about by making it stretch in a direction that doesn't matter.

The art of metalworking is moving the metal around so that it is right in the dimension that you care about and it bulges in a direction that doesn't matter.
rScotty

 

[gravelman]

great explanation...thanks much

 

[big bubba]

OP: very likely just your torsion bar connecting the 2 arms is torqued so one side is unequal to the other. the arms themselves may not be bent. as suggested, do a forum search on the subject. it happened to my rig when one of the qr levers came undone. there are a few methods to correct w/o having to replace the bar itself. regards

 

[gravelman]

as a matter of fact i did twist that torsion bar....heated it up and got it as straight as i could. Might need another looksee thanks for that

 

[Mike1955]

I think the problem here is simply definitions. We all shape metal when we need to. Metallurgy looks at the chemical structure, and metalworking at the physical shape.

Bending metal until it yields causes it to stretch in the plane of the bend - there's no getting around that. But as several posters have pointed out, there are some practical ways to deal with the stretched metal so that the stretching and thinnng is controllable to get to where we want to go.

For example, if bending has caused a box beam or loader arm to become too long in the plane of the bend, it is common to "shrink" the beam lengthwise by forcing it to become thicker in a plane at right angles to the original bend. So what posters are saying is that metal worker can compensate for the original change in length by forcing the metal to thicken in a different direction. That works of course - we all do that in the shop. The exact same thing works in sheetmetal - you flatten (shrink) a dent it in one plane by pounding it to make it flat - but it grows in the other plane so it is larger. A bent washer is easy to flatten on an anvil, but it becomes a slightly larger diameter on the outside edges.

The metal didn't "shrink", it can't. Without huge atomic forces we can't make it much more dense. All we can do is remove voids, and steel doesn't have many of those. What we do is bend it around to become thicker in a different plane. We "shrink" it in the direction we care about by making it stretch in a direction that doesn't matter.

The art of metalworking is moving the metal around so that it is right in the dimension that you care about and it bulges in a direction that doesn't matter.
rScotty

I enjoyed that post. Informative to a man who has worked with metal a lifetime.

 

[rScotty]

I enjoyed that post. Informative to a man who has worked with metal a lifetime.

Glad you enjoyed it. I was a self-taught metal worker for 25 years. Then went to school and learned about metals and materials from a whole different perspective.
Both equally good.
rScotty

 

[J33per]

I had this issue with my used BX when I got it. Backstory was the owners kid crashed into it with a car. Dealership replaced the loader but still had a teak to it. I had to put washers on the loader brackets on the bottom bolts for one side and the top of the other side. Now it sits level and doing good for the past 3 years. I think the fram was tweaked when it got hit.

 

[NoTrespassing]

When I first bought my slightly used tractor the dealer had it in the shop on concrete and I noticed the bucket wasn't flat on the floor. They adjusted the rear tire air pressure slightly and got it within about a 1/2 inch or so. Personally, I don't really care, if it's within 2 inches left to right on a 6 ft. bucket it's good enough for me, I just use it.

 

[Len B]

I am by no means as knowledgeable as any of the previous posters but I will add my 2 cents. Stupidly, I was moving some dirt with my B2301 and failed to lock in the quick attach levers. After a couple of bucket loads, the bucket came off one side and twisted the loader. The two sides were noticeably out of sync. Searching this forum, I found someone’s post that directly applied and followed the directions to twist the loader back into position. My torque tube was not cracked so no cutting/welding was needed. Before I “fixed” my issue, I put in a call to the service department (closed of course at the time). When he called me back on Monday, I had already gotten things aligned and he told me that this was a common issue that they frequently took care of by taking the tractor out to their loading dock and pressing the quick attach plates against it to bend things in the opposite direction……long story short, the bucket now fits better than it had when I got the tractor. One side had always been harder to lock in than the other. I am keeping a close eye on the tube connecting the two arms for any signs of cracking but so far, all is good. Granted this is a small tractor and is not called on for the loads a bigger tractor would be so it will probably be OK for some time.

 

[P113565]

as a matter of fact i did twist that torsion bar....heated it up and got it as straight as i could. Might need another looksee thanks for that

My L525 torsion bar twisted when one of the QR brackets unlatched w the grapple on. I had a full load of brush in the grapple and one of the limbs hit the QR arm when I was unloading, completely user error for not having a clean grapple load.
I man periodically ‘recalibrating‘ it, without the loader, against a tree. So far I have gotten 2” of the 5” resolved. I can still get the QR to attach with the uneven arms, it just takes some persuading.
I may file an insurance claim with Kubota just before I get the machine paid off. I hate to lose use of the L2501 while waiting for it to get fixed.