how do you remove a smile from your bucket?
- Thread starter 55mex
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Lil Foot
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Equipment
1979 B7100DT Gear, Nissan Hanix N150-2 Excavator
This is how I've done it in the past. (3 or 4 times)
Work slow, check often. This pic shows two jacks, I used one, with a wood block on top.
I've done it with a 4x4, and also a railroad tie, depends on your bucket size & how bad the smile is.
Work slow, check often. This pic shows two jacks, I used one, with a wood block on top.
I've done it with a 4x4, and also a railroad tie, depends on your bucket size & how bad the smile is.
Usually what occurs when you use a material (light duty) bucket for excavation chores or exceed the designed capacity. I'm rebuilding one in the shop right now from a JD articulated loader the met a similar fate and was flexed but it impacted the side sheets, not the cutting edge. I've had to cut the side sheets out and replaced them as well as the heel of the bucket.. Lots of cutting, lots of welding, lots of metal fabrication too. cannot wait to give my customer the bill....lol
Kubota sells 2 distinctly different buckets for all their FEL's. The light duty material bucket (easily discernable by the brake formed bucket top and no add on (welded) plates behind the cutting edge and the excavation bucket which will have a tubular welded on top, gusset plates behind the cutting edge from the backside of the cutting edge to the bucket heel and heavier gauge side sheets and floor sheet.
Kind of up to the customer to specify which one they want. If nothing is specified, Kubota ships their loaders with the light duty material bucket. I have both styles here and there is quite a difference in construction and weight.
Bill has the right idea for removing a smile or frown but once tweaked, you will never completely remove it....and because of spring back, you have to deform it the opposite way past the 'level and straight condition.
Kubota sells 2 distinctly different buckets for all their FEL's. The light duty material bucket (easily discernable by the brake formed bucket top and no add on (welded) plates behind the cutting edge and the excavation bucket which will have a tubular welded on top, gusset plates behind the cutting edge from the backside of the cutting edge to the bucket heel and heavier gauge side sheets and floor sheet.
Kind of up to the customer to specify which one they want. If nothing is specified, Kubota ships their loaders with the light duty material bucket. I have both styles here and there is quite a difference in construction and weight.
Bill has the right idea for removing a smile or frown but once tweaked, you will never completely remove it....and because of spring back, you have to deform it the opposite way past the 'level and straight condition.
When you do get it back to straight you can have a 1/4" plate welded vertically in the center of the bucket from the back of the bucket and forward at least 1/3 the depth of the bucket to the bottom as a gusset for strength.
Lil Foot
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Equipment
1979 B7100DT Gear, Nissan Hanix N150-2 Excavator
My bucket was bent on the top edge when I got it, so this won't help you, but might help someone else who reads the thread in the future.
My tractor's PO used to get carried away when he mounted the clamp-on forks, and used two oversized ratchet load binders to pull the chains tight, until he bent the top edge down almost 2 inches. I put a large timber (4x6 I think) in the bottom of the bucket & then used a 12 ton bottle jack & blocking to push the top edge back straight. After it was straight, I welded on a piece of 1/4" x 2" angle to stiffen it. It also gives me a great spot to stuff a chain through for lift rigging.
My tractor's PO used to get carried away when he mounted the clamp-on forks, and used two oversized ratchet load binders to pull the chains tight, until he bent the top edge down almost 2 inches. I put a large timber (4x6 I think) in the bottom of the bucket & then used a 12 ton bottle jack & blocking to push the top edge back straight. After it was straight, I welded on a piece of 1/4" x 2" angle to stiffen it. It also gives me a great spot to stuff a chain through for lift rigging.
I posted this info on flame straightening back in April more to inform than as a repair technique for most Ag situations
The metal of the lower bucket edge is stretched and this technique is one of shrinking metal to eliminate the stretching.
Flame straightening is an efficient and long- established method of correcting the distorted parts. Flame straightening is based on the physical principle that metals expand when heated and contract when cooled. ... In practice, an oxy-acetylene flame is used to rapidly heat a well- defined section of the workpiece. The cooling of the defined area causes shrinkage which leads to straightening..
The following link, starting on page 9, gives you a good idea of how the process works.
Flame Straightening
Dave
The metal of the lower bucket edge is stretched and this technique is one of shrinking metal to eliminate the stretching.
Flame straightening is an efficient and long- established method of correcting the distorted parts. Flame straightening is based on the physical principle that metals expand when heated and contract when cooled. ... In practice, an oxy-acetylene flame is used to rapidly heat a well- defined section of the workpiece. The cooling of the defined area causes shrinkage which leads to straightening..
The following link, starting on page 9, gives you a good idea of how the process works.
Flame Straightening
Dave
Better have the right equipment on hand. An ordinary oxy-acetylene torch won't work for an area as large as a bucket floor/cutting edge. You need a large rosebud and some serious oxygen and acetylene to accomplish that.
Have a good friend that arches steel framed trailers and I've watched him do it. He uses ganged oxygen cylinders and multiple fuel cylinders and the oxygen bottles frost up from the gas flow.
I'm up against that with the excavation bucket I'm working on in the shop right now. I have to tack weld it to the bucket body and then run my stringers but on opposing sides and let it cool in between welds or it will warp and that is a no-no.
Thermal expansion and the resultant contraction as it cools apply to all ferrous metals.
Not for the inexperienced to fool with.
Have a good friend that arches steel framed trailers and I've watched him do it. He uses ganged oxygen cylinders and multiple fuel cylinders and the oxygen bottles frost up from the gas flow.
I'm up against that with the excavation bucket I'm working on in the shop right now. I have to tack weld it to the bucket body and then run my stringers but on opposing sides and let it cool in between welds or it will warp and that is a no-no.
Thermal expansion and the resultant contraction as it cools apply to all ferrous metals.
Not for the inexperienced to fool with.
Buy a bigger tractor!
I've seen guys bend buckets on construction equipment too so don't feel bad. It usually takes a lot more effort though.
I've seen guys bend buckets on construction equipment too so don't feel bad. It usually takes a lot more effort though.
If I have it right. The chains go around the bucket and under the steal beam. Do the chains go into the ground and hook on to something? The whole Idea is when you crank up the jack to straighten" go beyond" but that wants to lift the bucket. and you dont want that. If you put something heavy in the bucket on each end, wouldn't that work? thanks. mex.
Lil Foot
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Equipment
1979 B7100DT Gear, Nissan Hanix N150-2 Excavator
Yes.
No.
Yes.
No, it won't lift the bucket, only push the middle of the lower edge up in relation to the ends of the bucket.
No need to put anything in the bucket.
The ends of the bucket are very stiff because of the end plates, The center of the bucket is not anywhere near as stiff. (that's why it bent in the first place)
When the jack is extended, the chains come taught, (you should make a real effort to keep them the same length) and the middle (the "smile") has to bend upwards. Bend it slightly beyond straight to allow for spring back, release tension and check your progress. You might need a couple tries to get it right, and maybe you might ave to move the jack around, depending on how "even" the smile is.
And it doesn't have to be perfect, it's a tractor bucket.
We ain't building a church here.
Lil Foot
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Lifetime Member
Equipment
1979 B7100DT Gear, Nissan Hanix N150-2 Excavator
I should also mention that you can perform this operation on the ground, or at waist height, or up in the air on a step ladder if you want.
But I would keep everything close to or on the ground, in case something slips. Less distance for stuff to fall, and less chance of getting something dropped on your noggin or your toes.
But I would keep everything close to or on the ground, in case something slips. Less distance for stuff to fall, and less chance of getting something dropped on your noggin or your toes.
Lil Foot
Well-known member
Lifetime Member
Equipment
1979 B7100DT Gear, Nissan Hanix N150-2 Excavator