Broken In Half! Making a New Cylinder Rod for CAT 18M Grader

This cylinder rod was snapped clean in half! So it’s time to make a brand new one. Here’s how we repaired this CAT 18M Motor grader centershift cylinder rod. First step was salvaging the ball socket end off the broken rod. We set it up in the lathe and used a 12mm button insert on one of our own shop-made extended holders to machine a spigot and prep it for welding before parting it off. After a clean-up in the parts washer, that part was ready to go. Next we started on the new rod. We used 2.5" induction hardened chrome bar and got to work on the lathe. We machined the piston end first — that meant turning through the hardened layer, and drilling and tapping for an M30 bolt. Then we flipped it and machined the rod to length, drilled a 20mm hole for the spigot, and machined a clean weld prep. Finally, we welded on the rod end using our welding rotator, with some seriously clean welds and a few extra tips from Kurtis along the way. It’s been a while since we filmed a customer job like this — but it felt like old times. Only now with better camera gear, more experience, and plenty of satisfying machining and welding footage to share. Let us know what you think in the comments and don’t forget to subscribe if you enjoy this kind of work. Thanks for watching! Join our channel: We upload new videos every Friday at 5pm AEST! If you want to see more of our videos click LIKE & SUBSCRIBE! You can subscribe to our channel here: https://bit.ly/ceesubscribe Want Early Access & Ad Free videos?? Join our Patreon Community: https://www.patreon.com/cuttingedgeengineering Official CEE Merch shop: https://www.ceeshop.com.au Check out our CEE Amazon store and explore our favourite finds that we use in the workshop: https://www.amazon.com/shop/cuttingedgeengineeringaustralia To see more follow us on online here: TikTok: https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSdHhtN4h/ Instagram https://instagram.com/cutting_edge_engineering Facebook https://www.facebook.com/cuttingedgeengineeringaustralia/ About Us: We're a down-to-earth real life machining and fabrication workshop in Australia. We specialise in helping business in mining and earthmoving to keep their machines running smoothly. We love working on broken parts and the bigger the better! We upload new videos every week showcasing machining, welding, line boring, honing and all the other awesome stuff that goes down in our workshop. Learn how we tackle different projects and see the satisfaction of creating something useful. Subscribe to stay updated on our latest jobs and projects! Follow us on Patreon for even more content and behind-the-scenes glimpses or find us on Tiktok, Facebook and Instagram for a chance to connect with us. #australianmachinist #machineshop #machinist