Straightening ice scratchers

[freeride73]

Backed up yesterday and one of my scratchers must have came down. Got back to the trailer and noticed that my ice scratcher was bent. Any advice on how to straighten these thing back. Just wondering if I need to heat it or just bend back without heat?

 

[the_real_wild1]

I would use heat. All the ones I see bent are always broken off afterwards.

 

[TDR]

I changed all of mine to the reversible ones since we kept forgetting and backing over them. They have saved me a lot of $$.

 

[250mark1]

I bent mine when I left them down going up the sled deck ramp I put one foot on the rail and one on the scratcher at the bend and pulled hard and bent them both back

 

[retiredpop]

I have straightened them and they have not broken afterward. I put them in a vise between two pieces of 3/4 inch plywood about 4" x 12". Position them so the part you need to straighten is at the center of the plywood and then just tighten the vise until you get back to the original shape. The plywood prevents you from biting into the scratcher with the vise jaws and also helps it from turning while tightening. I figure the jaw marks would likely cause it to break with use.

 

[imdoo'n]

have had very little luck bending them back, they seem to break at or near the bend.

 

[SavageCanuck]

Just buy a new replacement less than $20 with tax and keep on hand with 15mm wrench as it will break soon.I have replaced lots.

 

[teeroy]

heat the piece up until it's red hot, let it cool a bit and then bend back into the shape it was. quench it by dropping into oil, then re-heat until red and quench again. good to go

 

[snopro]

heat the piece up until it's red hot, let it cool a bit and then bend back into the shape it was. quench it by dropping into oil, then re-heat until red and quench again. good to go

Where did you learn that Tee?

 

[teeroy]

Where did you learn that Tee?

my pop. he is a welder/fabricator and HD mechanic. he says "if I can't fix it, it can't be fixed" lol. trying to think of exactly what it is he repaired that involved spring steel, but that's what he did. after you bend it the first time and cool it, you have to repeat the process to release the stress of bending, so it will retain the strength and not become brittle and snap. he's a pretty smart dude when it comes to metallurgy

 

[catinthehat]

Just buy a new replacement less than $20 with tax and keep on hand with 15mm wrench as it will break soon.I have replaced lots.

Where do you find them that cheap? I would keep a spare set in the shop at that price.

 

[SavageCanuck]

Where do you find them that cheap? I would keep a spare set in the shop at that price.

My local dealer M@M performance kelowna.just the spring

 

[rizzman]

I just bent mine this weekend. First time I've ever backed up with them down. I just bent them back on the trail as I had no choice. Everything seems fine so far, but I know if I do it again, the chances of them breaking are pretty good.

 

[jhurkot]

I have a dumb idea... how about inventing a reverse button lock out cover when you put your scratchers down? Seem to back up once every year, and it's always when I stop and get doing something else and forget about them.

 

[Teth-Air]

Why don't you guys just run reversible scratchers. They also throw about double the amount of snow as a regular scratcher. These are available on our online store and ship out of Calgary.

 

[skinnybitch]

These have worked well for our crew!

http://betweenthelinesdesigns.com/?page_id=368

 

[BILTIT]

Why don't you guys just run reversible scratchers. They also throw about double the amount of snow as a regular scratcher. These are available on our online store and ship out of Calgary.

They do throw much more snow which is good, i have however already bent one of mine. I don't know exactly how or when i bent it but it only slightly bent so i bent it back and still use it (it was not bent during loading/unloading). Can i order just a replacement spring?

 

[Beels]

Why don't you guys just run reversible scratchers. They also throw about double the amount of snow as a regular scratcher. These are available on our online store and ship out of Calgary.

I have those and they work great, other than I had one pop down last week when I was unloading off my deck at home in -32 and I didn't notice it until it was jammed in the cross members of the ramp and bent all to crap. Think I also flat spotted a belt at the same time.

Edit - Just got looking at your pic closer and mine didn't come with any of the stop brackets and I was just hooking them over the rail. That would solve that problem completely.

 

[BILTIT]

I have those and they work great, other than I had one pop down last week when I was unloading off my deck at home in -32 and I didn't notice it until it was jammed in the cross members of the ramp and bent all to crap. Think I also flat spotted a belt at the same time.

Edit - Just got looking at your pic closer and mine didn't come with any of the stop brackets and I was just hooking them over the rail. That would solve that problem completely.

Yup, the new ones come with brackets. You can buy just brackets as well but probably just as easy to buy them from a local hardware store. Mine came with open eye bolts like this:




Only issue i have had with the brackets is when putting them back into the bracket, it is usually covered in snow and ice and you have to beat it off first.

 

[Teth-Air]

I have an order going in so I will see if I can order some springs separately.