Trailered my M38 for the first time. Unfortunately, I forgot to put the windshield down on the hood. After driving about 100 miles at 60 mph I realized my mistake, strapped it down, and continued on my merry way. Upon arriving back home, I realized that air pressure had bent the windshield frame arms and now the top of my windshield is about 2" closer to the steering wheel as determined by the mounting of the front snorkel support rod. So here's the big question - Do I bend the arms back cold (slowly and carefully), or heat them up and then bend them? If heated, should I do an oil quench or just let them cool naturally? I figure I'd use a 4 foot long piece of pipe over the end of the arms to bend them with the frame laying on the ground.
I've spent too much time watching Forged in Fire and realize there are pitfalls out there I would rather avoid. Anyone have any inputs?
Scott
Windshield frame arms bent
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Re: Windshield frame arms bent
Wait. I’m still trying to figure out how the frame arms bent?! I guess I would assume that they were stronger than that.
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Re: Windshield frame arms bent
Bend them back; do not heat them, and quenching low carbon steel does nothing except make a mess. You can only harden steel with a carbon content of over about .2 or if you add carbon, as in case hardening. If you break them off, get some new ones and weld them back on.
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Re: Windshield frame arms bent
Thanks for your inputs guys. I have successfully bent the arms back (cold) to where they should be by using a 4 foot section of 2" pipe. Place the top of the windshield against something solid and have it rest on either 4x4 or 4x6's. Slip the pipe over the end (about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way down the arm, not all the way), stand on the corner of the frame near the bend and gradually apply leverage. Measure from the center of the mounting hole to somewhere near the frame top (there are several references, pick one) to ensure the arms have an equal bend. Interestingly, and this is obvious in hindsight but I was ignorant initially, the bend is critical to fitment of the canvas top and how the windshield frame latches fit. If the frame leans to far towards the driver, the canvas top will have a lot of slack and the windshield latches will be loose. Too far forward and the canvas will be a bit tight (possibly bad) but the latches will fit nice and snug minimizing leakage between the windshield rubber and cowl. Hope this helps someone else out there, a smart person learns from his mistakes, a wise person learns from the mistakes of others. SO DON'T TOW THE JEEP WITH THE WINDSHHIELD UP!
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Re: Windshield frame arms bent
The first time I trailered mine I quickly noticed the huge drag (wind resistance) behind the tow vehicle. The windshield frame sat a few inches higher than my tow vehicle. I put it down and continued the trip. Much more pulling power! Lucky for me, I did not bend the arms. One side has quite a bit of rust in it and I was afraid of snapping it off!
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