When I contacted Wade Jones months ago about bending my own gear, he offered me this bending shoe that he made to bend his landing gear. It took me about 2 seconds to take him up on the offer, and it's been riding around in my truck waiting for its day in the sun. Tonight I took it out of the truck, polished off the rust you see in the picture, and applied some Ospho to get it in good shape. The bottom of the hydraulic jack will sit on the thick plate on top and apply pressure (and plenty of it) to make the bend. If you have good eyes, you might notice that the guide piece in the middle is bent to one side. That's because the weld is cracked. Must have been one amazing amount of pressure on this thing to crack that weld. I'll straighten it up and weld it in place again. After it's all welded up, I'll put a coat of primer on it to keep it from rusting like crazy. In the Outer Banks, rust like this can form in a matter of a day or two - highly corrosive environment. As a side note, this piece alone weighs about 20 pounds.
This is the "business end" of the rig
Thick steel pipe to make the 3" radius bend in the gear