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| I would take it apart and fix it. If you had a picture of it, it would help to tell you were to start. I tipped over a 8"x63' or 50' something Westfield in 1991 the day my first son was born. I was taking wife to the hospital, and the wind got it. I didn't have insurance on it. I needed to finish my grain so I took it apart. I priced the two tubes, flighting at the time, I just as well bought a new auger.
The flightings are easy straighten, take and roll them on a good flat cenment floor with your foot, when you find the kink, smack it with a sledge hammer. it's real easy to do. Then for the tubes, you can take a cheap car jack the ones that screw open and manfacture curved plates to go onto jack. Then slide jack down tube and press kinks out, you might have to make a longer jack handle. Check with any welding shops around they might already have a hyd. one they will rent you.
If you have spot you can't get the kinks out of, cut it out with a torch, and weld a patch over it. Go to a auger place, and buy some old tube clamps from them, you can spread them open, and weld them in place. The real key to the tubes is the bolt flanges, after you think you have the tubes straight, bolt them together, and eyeball them. You might have to do some cutting and rewelding there.
Then just repair transport as needed. Mine had three different bends in mine, all going different ways. When I thought I had it straight, I bolted it together, I was sick I still had a slight bend in the middle bolt flange ( that's why I said to just bolt tube up and check it). But I left it, I could turn auger by hand easily. I'm still using it today, it kind of looks like hell, but it works. I only auger around 20,000 Bu. a year with it. So I have gotten my money out of it.
If the weather gets better here I will try to take a picture of it with the bow still in the tube. I'm sure you can fix it to use it, if I was closer, I would buy it from you to fix. I'm real fussy about my equipment, I like to keep it good looking, but I learned a good lesson from my father-in-law, he's the one that told me to cut and weld the auger to save me that money I didn't have at the time. I will keep my auger for a long time, I've got one buddy that would buy it in a heartbeat, because he doesn't have auger, he borrows this one! | |
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Santa caught auger last night
