Welding Up M Drawbar

big a · Jul 7, 2013

Swinging drawbar on my old M is getting wallowed out pretty bad. Thinking about making a bushing and welding it in place. Don't have a heavy enough MIG welder for this, so have to use my old Lincoln portable stick machine.
Never tried to weld up a drawbar, but plenty of welding experience. Any thoughts as to how to go about this?

Janicholson · Jul 7, 2013

Make the bushing a press fit at about .002" interference. Press it in then weld it with about 150 amps of E-6011 (no grooves). Grind it flat and there you are. You are not trying to hold pressure with the weld, so grooving is not needed. Jim

gene bender · Jul 7, 2013

Make a new piece from rite under the roller between the holes. Drill the desired holes round the end and then v-grove other end and weld it up. Splice will be under the fixed part. You wont be able to get a bushing to fit the worn hole and in that area drawbar is worn thin. It will look like a new one when done.

mkirsch · Jul 8, 2013

When someone says he's going to MAKE a bushing, he has a lathe.

Never tell a man with a lathe that he can't get a bushing.

But yeah, I would bet the MIG would get plenty of penetration to hold the bushing in place... That's all you need to do.

Phil Tibbetts · Jul 8, 2013

Remember that the bushing hole needs to be bigger than the pin to allow for some movement. If I remember right a new one is 13/16" for a 3/4 pin.

Harold Hubbard · Jul 8, 2013

If you make a bushing, step it out on the top, so
it will about cover the width of the drawbar, make
the top thick enough to bring it up as high or
higher than the unworn surface of the bar, then
just weld around it. When I did mine, I turned the
body of the bushing to fit the long way of the worn
hole, then ground the sides of it until I could
pound it into the hole. I was afraid that if I
tried to bore the hole in the drawbar out, there
would not be enough metal left on the sides.

Andy Martin · Jul 8, 2013

Well I just weld the hole up going round and round leaving a hole in the middle, then drill it back out to the size you want. Takes lots of rod but like JN said you can't get a busing to fit tight unless you drill out the hole and make the edges of the drawbar thin. The factory drawbars are high carbon so you need to preheat before welding and keep it hot. Drill the first time through with an end mill with everything clamped good going slow to get a round hole started. Done this several times with good results.

rankrank1 · Jul 8, 2013

I do not have fancy tools like lots of people on here so making fancy bushings and the like is not an easy option. My method is to simply put some weld beads in the hole to build it back up and then shape it free hand style with a carbide burr in a electric (or air) die grinder. I prefer my $24 HF electric one over my air die grinders.

6013 cuts very easy with a carbide burr. I am not really a 6013 fan when it comes to stick welding but for parts that I have to build up and then reshape with only hand power tools then I actually like 6013. Even lowly 6013 is much tougher than mild steel and cuts like butter with a carbide burr so easey to reshape free hand style.

Your mig will work excellent for this too and even a little mig unit works fine for building up worn holes. The mig welds will be harder to grind though but still quite workable with a carbide burr.

Welding Up M Drawbar

big a

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Janicholson

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gene bender

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mkirsch

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Phil Tibbetts

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Harold Hubbard

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Andy Martin

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rankrank1

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