Off road this weekend my rear tire hit the ground coming out of a hole and I think torqued upward and bent the bolts that are attached to the pivot point. The pictures below show where my pivot points are threaded in. I had capped these 1/8" wall square tubes with some 10 gauge I had and that was obviously not strong enough as you can see it warped. Once of the nuts I welded on the inside so I could thread the bolt in busted loose during the hit as well.
Any advice on the best way to cut these caps out while maintaining a straight edge to mount the new cap to? I'm going to cap these ends with 1/4" thick pieces now. I was thinking I would just cut the middle of the old caps out and weld the 1/4" with the new hole right to the top, but I have a safety pin on the opposite end of the swingarm that wouldn't line up if the length changes by 1/4" if that makes sense.
I guess worst case I can fill in the old safety pin location and drill a new hole, but I'd rather not have to do that.
What tools are available to you? what you have will make all the difference in time and straight/square-ness of cut. Your spare carrier assembly is going to be a bugger to hold on any kind of chop saw or band saw table, but that's where I would try and go. Otherwise, you have some quick layout work and nice and steady angle grinder work ahead of you.
There are some crazy blades available for skilsaws these days. Portaband could work. I don't use one very often, so I tend to get cruddy cuts when I do. For me it's usually cutting metal tube closet rods.
There are some crazy blades available for skilsaws these days. Portaband could work. I don't use one very often, so I tend to get cruddy cuts when I do. For me it's usually cutting metal tube closet rods.
cut the square tube back to the right of the double tube part. build new the left section. put a sleeve inside the single tube and weld . The sleeve will give you some allowance for getting the horizontal dimension correct. Fill in the gap with welds and grind smooth. You won't have to worry about making a perfect cut.
cut the square tube back to the right of the double tube part. build new the left section. put a sleeve inside the single tube and weld . The sleeve will give you some allowance for getting the horizontal dimension correct. Fill in the gap with welds and grind smooth. You won't have to worry about making a perfect cut.
I'm probably missing something here but with the length-adjustable ball joint (great idea btw) it seems like you would have some leeway for a bit of miscalculation when rewelding. I would cut off the offending bent end any reasonable way, jig up a thick end cap and weld it in, rather than redoing the whole end. The beauty of welding is that you have some leeway as far as gaps (within reason and paying attention to welding warpage).
I cut it (fairly square) and was able to weld it back on with 1/4" instead of 10 ga. I even got my old safety pin hole to line up. Bottom pic the bolt looks crooked but it looks straight to me when I'm standing there.
I have a bent DOM tubing that will, someday, go right under the spare tire and welded to the bumper. When I have sharp departure angles, this "slider" will hit first and allow me to slide off the ledges vs impacting the spare tire. My worse nightmare is the spare torques back and breaks the rear glass.
^ You can use the hitch receiver to help a bit with that pretty easily, but I do not see one on the bumper in the OP. I'd want that. The whole thing looks fairly lightweight overall. I'd be wary of banging against it much if it is indeed on the thinner gauge side.
