Abstract: A system including a rod shaped and configured to be formed into a U-bolt, the rod including a body having a pair of opposed threaded ends. The system further includes a blackening coating on an outer surface of the body, and an anticorrosive coating on the blackening coating.

Abstract: A frame supports an interchangeable mandrel or die which receives the center portion of an elongated metal rod having opposite threaded end portions, and the rod is clamped to the die by a locking bar actuated by a hydraulic cylinder. The frame also includes a set of vertically spaced cross members connected by a pair of parallel spaced guide rods which support a carrier bar for vertical movement. The carrier bar pivotally supports corresponding end portions of a pair of arms each formed by parallel spaced plates, and each pair of plates defines slightly angled aligned cam slots. A pair of bending rollers are supported by the opposite end portions of the arms, and a hub member extends between the plates of each arm and supports rollers which engage the corresponding cam slots to provide for moving the arms and bending rollers along non-parallel converging paths for overbending the rod around the die.