St Croix shaker grate rod U bracket fell of Cam?

Hello
Ash started caking in the pot more on this St Croix Hastings. Then I noticed the u bracket on the bottom of the stove and the shaker rod away from the Cam. What make the rod stay in the hole of the bracket so it will not pull out?
Looks like new part may be welded?
See pics

Pic 1 - shaker grate rod next to Cam
Pic 2 - u bracket in front of versa grate motor.

 

On mine, the u-shaped piece is fastened (somehow) to the rod, and the rod itself holds the piece in place on the cam. The bushings that guide the rod are what holds it in position. When I pull the burnpot out, I can turn that rod from inside the burn chamber, and it pivots the u-piece around, about 180º. It works just fine in either orientation. Your picture looks like the u-piece fell off of the rod. Mine is too hot back there right now to see what holds the u-piece onto the rod. It appears, though, that the u-piece is welded to the end of that rod.

Next time the stove is cool (perhaps tomorrow afternoon) I can take a close look, if you like.

 

Thanks for looking. The new part $55 on the web shows the u piece on the end of the rod so it must have been welded. Stove MFD is 2012 and the u piece just fell off!
Looks like a tax weld would fix, if only my Welder from HF came in!
Ordered it 10-31-2017 on HF web site on that weekend sale since the stores were out and now some stores have them but the web store is still out! See
HF new line of Vulcan Welders just went on sale - Good Buy?

 

You're quite welcome.
$55? For that? I hope your welder comes in real soon!

The bushings that the rod rides in are adjustable for height. Before you take it out of the stove, eyeball the clearance between the moving floor and the sides of the pot. I didn't, but when I assembled it I left about 1/16" clearance, and it seems to work out well.

A bit of high temp grease is a good idea for the bushings, also - but you already knew that!

 

ETA: I wonder if the rod is really stiff in the bushings, and the rod weld area gave up from fatigue...

 

I can pull the rod in and out with my hand so it did not seem stiff.

 

So, that is not the problem. Maybe you got one made on a Friday afternoon, or a Monday morning!