Broken Shaker Grate Post

I'm hoping I might be able to get some advise on what to do for a temporary fix for my grates. The handle fits onto a small half inch square cast iron post that I rock back and forth to shake with. While shaking today I done broke that little post clean off! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...

If it were me & i knew where to get another grate, I'd get it. but temp--can't really tell w/ pix, but could you get a pair of needle nose vice grips( not crappy cheap ones) on that little tit??( needle nose entering the stove) then take an adjustable wrench & gently rock her. Bottom line--you are going to have to shut her down & put the different one in--if you can weld the old one real strong, you'll have a spare, although I don't realistically see that happening.Just one old farmers thoughts. Sorry that happened my friend or if it's sticking out a tad, put regular vice grips (not crap ones) to it & gently shake.

There is no temporary fix. The original was too flimsy to begin with; should have been 3/4 .

To make it stronger than original you have to fit a collar over the stump held in place with a pin drilled all the way through and fitted tight. the other end of the collar takes maybe a bushing and your old stub again fitted with a pin to hold it. It is going to need some machining to fit it tight so is doesn't work loose. Any play and it won't last.

you might have to poke from top and underneath untill you locate a new grate, Usually welding cast iron in that situation of having too much torque on the post will only break again.

Replacement grate first

As Fred says it is hard to tell from the pictures but I myself would consider grinding both pieces flat and welding it back on, If that didnt work I may drill and tap a hole for the size bolt head that fit the shaker handle, if a bolt head fits the shaker handle and it needs to be longer add nuts to lengthen it enough for the shaker handle to grab. Maybe the shaker handle only takes something 4 sided and a bolt head will not work and a keyway would ?

Just trying to give ideas not sure if they would work.

echos67 wrote:Replacement grate first

As Fred says it is hard to tell from the pictures but I myself would consider grinding both pieces flat and welding it back on, If that didnt work I may drill and tap a hole for the size bolt head that fit the shaker handle, if a bolt head fits the shaker handle and it needs to be longer add nuts to lengthen it enough for the shaker handle to grab. Maybe the shaker handle only takes something 4 sided and a bolt head will not work and a keyway would ?

Just trying to give ideas not sure if they would work.

Drill and tap it like echos67 says. and weld a bolt to fit the hole to some half inch square steel stock. put bevels on all four sides of the steel and the cast if you can, then thread the square stock up in the cast and use silica bronze to mig tig or braze it where the two bevels meet. It should hold! you may brake it somewhere else though after that. I have had to weld a lot of cast stuff up on old tractors and a few older stoves because you can't buy new parts and it has to work! This is all to say if you have access to any of this fabrication tooling or knowledge. Whatever you do, do not try to weld cast with steel rod or wire, because it will break again.

Whichever method, you're going to have to shut er down & pull it out. I like the sleeve idea myself. even if you have to drill that exit hole some.

Wow, thanks for all the fast replies!! I've had a few ideas too. I got looking underneath at the grates themselves and noticed they have pill shaped holes about 3/4 inch long and about 3/8 inch wide running down the center of them. Seems like if I had a bar with a 90 degree bend with an end that would fit into one of those pill shaped holes in the center, I should be able to rock them. That said, I found a piece of angle brace and pounded it into a tool to attempt this. I wasn't successful in actually rocking the grates BUT I did discover that I could push and pull on the grates, giving them a "horizontal shake", and was able to get ash to fall. It takes a brute amount of strength. I was a sweaty mess in a matter of a few minutes lol and I'm sure its something my wife won't be able to do. It may get me by until I attempt a better remedy or replacement.

Must be a design flaw, seems like they should have used something bigger to put that handle on instead of a 1/2 inch cast iron nipple

Thanks again for all the great ideas!!

Heres a picture of the grate.
There is actually 2 of these in line with each other, positioned one in front of the other.

The left end is substantial. Why the hell couldn't they have done the same thing to the right?

Can you smack a smaller sized junk socket on the end tempoarily and shake with a breaker bar, I guess a ratchet would work but you would be flipping from loosen to tighten an awful lot.

Sounds like Smokeyja has the best long term method short of a replacement grate.

Yeah right on franco b, I can get a new one from US Stove CO. for $59 plus shipping.. Thats probably my best route.
Maybe I can fix the boken one to use as a spare like suggested by one of the other awesome coal burner guys....

If that grate is substantially thicker than 1/2 inch then the best course would be to drill and pin with maybe a 5/8 piece of steel.

echos67, not a bad idea! I wouldn't wanna do it as is though - I would be afraid of breaking something further down the grate system. Maybe take it off first, smack a socket tight on there, put it back.. I bet that would do it. I have a buddy with an arc welder. Would that work??

franco b wrote:The left end is substantial. Why the hell couldn't they have done the same thing to the right?

Because the right end fits into the left end, 2 grates.
Welding that thing is best left to a real pro. It would have to be heated to about 800*, welded and then cooled very slowly for any chance of success. $59+ freight is the way to go here. Buy two, then you'll have a good spare.