TMIB Posted February 8, 2013 Share Posted February 8, 2013 I just had to replace the drag link and tie rod in my Jeep, and like most of us, I can't bear to throw anything away that might be usable. The tie rod is going to be kept as a spare in case I ever break the one I've got installed now, but the drag link is no longer usable. I was thinking of using it to make some hardy tools or struck tools. I'm curious what kind of steel it might be. Of course I'll do a spark test and try and harden up a section of it & test it with a file, but I'm curious if anyone knows what I should expect. My guess (with no other information other than knowing the function of the part) is that it's probably 1040 or 1045. I've seen aftermarket ones made from 4140, but this is the stock Jeep part. Any thoughts? Does Chrysler ever publish this information anywhere? --Tracy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swedefiddle Posted February 10, 2013 Share Posted February 10, 2013 I am not sure what the material actually is, I think something like 4130. I use it quite a bit for top and bottom tools. I have quite a bit that is still new but has some kind of blemish from the manufacturing process. I use it for my material choice when I am teaching a Blacksmith Tool class. It takes a licking and keeps on ticking. :) Neil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TMIB Posted February 11, 2013 Author Share Posted February 11, 2013 I am not sure what the material actually is, I think something like 4130. I use it quite a bit for top and bottom tools. I have quite a bit that is still new but has some kind of blemish from the manufacturing process. I use it for my material choice when I am teaching a Blacksmith Tool class. It takes a licking and keeps on ticking. :) Neil Sounds good. Do you do any normalizing/hardening/tempering on the tools you make with this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swedefiddle Posted February 11, 2013 Share Posted February 11, 2013 Yes. Get in the habit of always treating steel with care. Costs nothing but a little time to normalize (I use a bucket of garden lime). If you get in the habit of heat treating the cutting edge, it is good practice. Yes, sometimes when using the tool it gets hot enough to alter the temper, if it starts to deform just re-do the heat treating (there is no limit to the number of times you can re-heat treat). Quite often you are working hot material with cold tooling, the hot material will move before the cool tooling. Don't get caught up in, "what kind of material is it?". Try it and see if it works for your job at hand, if it does, perfect!!! If it doesn't, change your heat treating process. Neil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator51 Posted February 11, 2013 Share Posted February 11, 2013 Just to be consistant and provide the best information in the forums we need to be real carefull of the terminology we post. Smiths of all levels read these and they stay on site forever. We do not need a product like garden lime for normalizing. It may be that you meant you use that for annealing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swedefiddle Posted February 11, 2013 Share Posted February 11, 2013 Thank You for correcting me, I wrote that wrong. You don't need any medium to normalize, to normalize let it cool naturally in still air. Don't quench with anything until cold. Neil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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