Steel type?

[DavidR8]

I just picked up a pair of weight distribution bars for a weight distributing hitch.
Any ideas as to what type of steel they might be?

 

[Susquatch]

My guess is spring steel of some kind. Those things are a lot like sway bars and torsion bars.

 

[DavidR8]

Hope I'll be able to machine it!

 

[cjmac]

Hope I'll be able to machine it!

You might need to anneal it.

Chris

 

[DavidR8]

Will the file test tell me if I need to anneal it?

 

[Susquatch]

Yes

Will the file test tell me if I need to anneal it?

Yes, it should. But you might be further ahead just cutting it with a torch or a grinder and then aneal the pieces in your woodstove. Nothing to lose.

 

[DavidR8]

Yes


Yes, it should. But you might be further ahead just cutting it with a torch or a grinder and then aneal the pieces in your woodstove. Nothing to lose.

What is this "woodstove" thing you speak of?

 

[Susquatch]

What is this "woodstove" thing you speak of?

Sorry, I forgot you don't have those out there.....

Might have to pretend.

 

[Darren]

I was able to machine a torsion bar from a chevy truck after i annealed it. But it wasn't pretty. Tough stuff. Might try annealing it more or using it for a big punch or something.

 

[DavidR8]

I'll lop a piece off and see what happens.
I can get it up to temp but I'm a bit thin on ways to slow down the cooling off.

 

[Former Member]

These have to take high loading, have a predictable spring rate, and handle impacts. So I would suspect a forged spring steel.

Carbide and cooling.

 

[DPittman]

Will the file test tell me if I need to anneal it?

Not necessarily, that stuff is springy meaning that it likely hardened to some degree but tempered to reduce its brittlleness so as not to break. That heat treatment process likely leaves the metal softer than a file, but it may still be very hard. At least that's my guess.

 

[Susquatch]

The idea behind using a woodstove is to stick it into a really hot fire and cook it. Wood stoves run much hotter than a regular fire. At the end of the day, you leave it in the coals to cool with them. As the fire and coals slowly die out, the steel cools slowly with them. The next day you take it out and try machining it.

It's not the best method but you use what you have access to. It may or may not work but you have nothing to lose. It has worked for me using torsion bars which are probably very similar.

Don't expect a beautiful finish.

The file test I thought you meant was the hardness test file set, not ordinary files.