Advice on straightening bent shaft yoke/ears

The-Boss · Mar 28, 2020

My buddy broke the joint on his chromo stub. It completely took the ears out on the stock inner and bent and beat the ears up on the stub. He was wanting me to try and bend them back out for a spare.
My question is if anyone has advice on the best way to do it. I'm sure it will be weaker but he just wants somethingto keep him riding when he breaks another new one. It will be a little difficult to position on the press. So im thinking heat the ears and pull them with a pipe wrench or something a little then grind the rest for clearance.

jeeppoor · Mar 28, 2020

You could also make a jack screw out of a couple of bolts and nuts.

baldduck74 · Mar 28, 2020

The-Boss said:
My buddy broke the joint on his chromo stub. It completely took the ears out on the stock inner and bent and beat the ears up on the stub. He was wanting me to try and bend them back out for a spare.
My question is if anyone has advice on the best way to do it. I'm sure it will be weaker but he just wants somethingto keep him riding when he breaks another new one. It will be a little difficult to position on the press. So im thinking heat the ears and pull them with a pipe wrench or something a little then grind the rest for clearance.View attachment 117453

Heavy all thread and a couple nuts maybe, use nuts to push ears out. While applying light heat

The-Boss · Mar 28, 2020

Great ideas. Definitely better than what I mentioned. I have used that method in the past for lots of other things but it didnt immediately come to me for some reason.
Any other suggestions are welcome too.

EddieHall · Mar 30, 2020

there prolly heat treated which I'm sure they are.using heat is gonna weaking them, taking the tempering out. but if it's just a spare lite the rose bud up.. one thing to keep in mind, if it broke it would cause more damage, taking the spindle out hub or locker if it bound up..
Just a thought
If it was me I'd use a duck bill and a porta power to

The-Boss · Mar 30, 2020

Update.
I tried heat and a 1in all thread with grease and it couldn't handle it unfortunately. It bent one side decent but not the other. Lot tougher than I thought. I ended up using heat and a big cheater bar. I got it 95% there and will grind the rest. My first thought was a porta power with duck bill but I dont have one unfortunately.
I did use heat to help not be so brittle bending it back, then heated them back up and dipped in oil to treat a little. I never had them visually red though.
I think it's still pretty strong to wheel without beating on. I am just going to put a spicer in it.
The last couple time he broke he was dead in the water in 3 wheel drive so this is just to keep him in the woods especially if we start running out of seats in our group as rigs are down.
This is a 35 spline stub on a 04 SD axle I bored the unit bearings out for, so I agree letting go at the yoke is a bad thing, especially with ball joints they can take out.

squeak12 · Apr 5, 2020

If it bent initially, that means it has been over stressed. Bending it back made it slightly weaker, think of bending a paper clip back and forth. It will probably still be suitable for regular use, but if you do whatever it took to bend it the first time, this time it will bend further and will break eventually.

The-Boss · Apr 5, 2020

squeak12 said:
If it bent initially, that means it has been over stressed. Bending it back made it slightly weaker, think of bending a paper clip back and forth. It will probably still be suitable for regular use, but if you do whatever it took to bend it the first time, this time it will bend further and will break eventually.

I am very familiar with the stress/fatigue concept and that is a good analogy for bending them back which is why I heated them to help not be so brittle.
The cause was he broke a new spicer non greaseable U joint (not stronger than stock shafts).

He is now running all chromo shafts with 300m joints. Thankfully the stubs are now the fuse.

Markrobinson · Apr 17, 2020

The-Boss said:
I am very familiar with the stress/fatigue concept and that is a good analogy for bending them back which is why I heated them to help not be so brittle.
The cause was he broke a new spicer non greaseable U joint (not stronger than stock shafts).View attachment 117538
He is now running all chromo shafts with 300m joints. Thankfully the stubs are now the fuse.

Damn, I thought the lifetime spicers were supposed to be at least stronger than stock shafts.

The-Boss · Apr 17, 2020

Markrobinson said:
Damn, I thought the lifetime spicers were supposed to be at least stronger than stock shafts.

We had our fingers crossed they would be. Their is the potential that a cap tried to walk out since they were not tack welded on. However, I think it just broke.

sandw · Apr 17, 2020

Toss them, good stub's are cheap compared to the damage it will cause when it breaks.

jeeptj99 · Apr 17, 2020

sandw said:
Toss them, good stub's are cheap compared to the damage it will cause when it breaks.

This x1000 or spend the money and upgrade to rcv

The-Boss · Apr 17, 2020

sandw said:
Toss them, good stub's are cheap compared to the damage it will cause when it breaks.

Yeah good advise. I told him that before but he just wants it to cruise around on if all else fails. We are going to try and warranty the last one he snapped at the splines. If so, he will have a new spare like he started with and this one as backup.
He is saving pennies for 4 linking the front and ORIs and may be going to and 05+ SD 60 I have laying around. Doesn't want to put too much into this axle until he decides. He doesn't have stickies yet so definitely going to need shaft upgrades when he does.