have a surplus half of a land rover con rod ( and may have more in the future ) and was wondering if it will be any good to forge.

will try it tomorrow and will let you know how we do.

what would you suggest making from these, piece is about 5 inches long ( 127mm ), maybe something useful to land rover owners.

am using the big end for something else that will be seen soon

A heavy bottle opener lol. 

They would be great for scrap art. Don't know if they are costing you anything, but I'm sure a bit of imagination could yield more ideas. 

they cost a little but are worth it for the other use

the big end is being used on my new press

Would you need the larger end on the other ones or would they be keeping the large end on em? 

I could see those spiraling up a mounted shaft with the large ends holding glass cups or dished metal as candle holders. 

the big ends are what I need for another job

they are about 2 1/2" diameter, small end is about 1"

 

Just have to see how the cut end forges. Could do the same thing as some sort of holder or hook.  On the art side of things I get all sorts of crazy ideas. Just that it's hard to explain them.  Any way of finding out the kind of steel used?

always the question cast or forged?  could be easily investment cast.

Conecting rods are typicaly forged...

will let you know tomorrow

They're forged, it's probably 1/10 what a casting would cost not counting the added heat treatment.

One of the guys at our last club meet the 17th. brought his new propane forge which had connecting rods for legs. I'm thinking a little bronze plating and a couple gears would've made it a fine steampunk forge.

Frosty The Lucky.

I've seen video of them being forged on large presses and hammers but I can't quite remember the alloy or manufacturer being shown. 

Landrover uses the old buick nail head castings, crank etc. GM sold them the molds and all, then relized they screwd up and tried to buy them back no dice. 

land rover engines have changed a few times since 1948, these are from a modern 200 tdi engine

Honestly, if you can leave them semi-identifiable, you'll have a marketable product.  LR afficianados can be a bit insane when it comes to anything with the Land Rover name on it.

I'd forge the cut end into a bottle opener and start posting them on Rover forums.  Or, as someone else mentioned, draw the cut end out and split it to form an open ring that will accept a wine glass.  With the loop fastened to a post in the ground, they'd probably do very well as a glass holder for the next Cricket or Polo match.

Or draw the cut end down to make a loop that will grab the wine bottle's neck so you can make them into wine racks.

As legs, they'd be pretty nice and the round eye makes leveling relatively easy.  Bend then 90º and you'd have a dandy coat hook fit for any man cave or garage.

As stated above, crank rods for this size of engine, 2.5ltr turbo, are typically forged, (smaller, engines could be cast, and some exotics are machined from billet) so should take a beating well be conducive to manipulation. In fact I've witnessed a few being reforged in situ.......water doesn't compress apparently!

Knowing what ID has been up to recently I had already been pondering what use these 'off cuts' could be turned to for some time now, but as yet i've not managed to come up with a novel idea. I generally stack such items away somewhere and wait for something to suggest itself.....by which time I'll have forgotten where I put them!

Two saw cuts on the wrist pin boss creates a Bottle Opener. Simple and identifiable.

Neil

A shop towel bar would be cool! I'd buy one! I would try to keep the HRCXXX code on the bar to keep it identifiable, the others don't really mean much. The TDI rods are really hard so that may be tricky. I've built so many 200/300tdi's and beat the crap out of them - never have I seen a bent rod!

Pat

Try deeper water....!

Hi Punkin racer, are you in the UK?

was at a landrover event not long ago where I took the forge for people to have a go

Try deeper water....!

Are you suggesting that when the radio is wet and stops working the water is deep enough? did someone forget the snorkel?

Ha Smoggy is right, seen some of the Toyota guys twist them up like pretzels when you feed your engine water! That is why I have a snorkel! Don't need to worry about the electrics in a land rover - they never work anyway!

I'm actually on Vancouver island in Canada. We did not get the 200/300tdi's over here in our Rovers, but it is a common swap for anyone left who still drives these things on a regular basis. Every part has to be brought it from the UK, but they are super reliable so that doesn't happen all to often.

Pat

Who woulda thunk it? Land rover and reliable in the same sentence ? Usually you can rely on them to leak and/or break down.They have a good 'feel' and a certain "presence" .

I think Clarkson summed it up with" the up side is, it's a Land Rover and the down side is, it's a Land Rover "

Jeremy is the MAN! Yes it is true - they are great when they are working that is!

Pat