Straightening Ripper

Oct 04, 2007 2 Replies

My BIL's tractor has a bent ripper arm. The whole thing is 5/8" thick x



2.5" wide flat bar, and is about 17 inches long, slightly curved. It has a hardened tooth on the end held on by a pressed in pin, looks like. Along it, it has notches to adjust the cutting depth.

He has bent it, but not too bad. It's going to take some serious heating to straighten. My question is: Once I get it hot enough to bend, and bend it, what do I do afterward? Let it cool gradually? Quench in oil? Keep in a hot oven for a time?



I don't want to soften it so that it bends easier. It probably was hardened in some way from the factory.



Thanks in advance.



Steve


He bent it cold---you straighten it cold---5/8" X 2-1/2" is not hard to straighten in a good press.

Before I took heat to it I would try to determine what kind of steel it is. The maintenance manual will list the parts that are not mild steel. Failing that you could do a spark test. A ripper blade is going to be some tough stuff if not mild steel so I wouldn't worry to much about cracking. Just tell your boss that it's broke anyway so if the fix doesn't hold its not your fault.

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