I have a h34 and the pins that hold the marine eyes in the spreaders are frozen. I'm trying to remove them but tapping them with a hammer is just flattening the edge of the pin. Anyone had success with adding heat to the ends and then tapping them out?
H 34 rigging pins frozen
- Thread starter hunter healer
- Start date
The mast must be on ground if you are removing pins on spreaders ; well I guess you could do 1 at time because hanging there you'll put stress on other side stays but anyhow stay light on heat because aluminum expands fast and has low melt point conpaired to the stainless heat just the pin but I'd use pb blaster first and maybe vicegrips try twist to break free and a punch to hit center to keep flare down
Thank you for the quick reply. I tried vise grips and pb blaster.! The vise grips kept on slipping off So I guess I'll try a berzomatic torch on the pin only and center punch and hammer to try to move it! I think I need a better pair of vise grips!
The aluminum only expands about 20% more than stainless, so trying to keep the stainless cool and heating the aluminum very carefully will give ya a better shot at un-marrying the parts. (aluminum expands twice as much as regular steel, so general heating of steel on aluminum is more likely to release, but stainless is a different animal)
use a flat end punch (drift punch ) not a center punch ...that will mushroom the pin
I never could get mine to press out. I didn't want to risk breaking the cast aluminum spreader tip by banging on the pin even after heat or PB Blaster. So I ended up taking the spreaders off the mast and coiling up all the rigging. My friend has a mill in his garage. We drilled enough of the pin on each side until it was very thin. Then we could collapse the pin away from the hole and drive it out. My replacement is a 1/2" SS bolt with enough shoulder to bridge the gap. I cut the excess exposed threads off leaving just enough for an Acorn nut. After installing my new rigging I used Loctite on the nut. So far it has been 20 years and it hasn't come loose. With the bolt I should be able to put a wrench on it and break it free. The other advantage is with the smooth Acorn nut I have no cotter pins or spreader tip boots or even tape. Perfect for inspecting.
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As Allen did, I drilled mine out but by hand in the back yard. Had new ones made from round stock. Re assembled with plenty of Lanacote. Its a job alright
First post ever !
I used a flat punch with pb on mine to get 3 of the pins out but the fourth fitting snapped. RigRite had the replacement part in stock.
I used a flat punch with pb on mine to get 3 of the pins out but the fourth fitting snapped. RigRite had the replacement part in stock.