Loading…
9
Showerthought: a two bolt flange job on a Liebherr ate 6 hours of my Saturday because of one rusted pin
Last Saturday I was swapping the jib on our old 90 ton and figured it would be a 3 hour job at most. The lower pin on the mast section was seized solid, so what should have been a quick pull turned into a whole afternoon of soaking it with penetrating oil and yanking on it with a 6 foot cheater. I bet we cycled that pin 40 times with a port-a-power before it even thought about moving. Around hour 4 my helper said the thing I should have thought of at the start, that we needed heat, not more force. Once we got a rosebud on the boss and let it soak in the heat cycle for 20 minutes, the pin slid out like it was greased yesterday. Six hours gone on a job I quoted at three, and the worst part is I knew better and just wanted to save the drive back to the yard for the torch. What is your go to when a pin is rusted in solid, heat first or oil and patience?
2 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In2 Comments
danielmartinez8d ago
How hot do you let the boss get before you start pulling? I've always been scared of cooking the seal or warping something on the mast, so I tend to underdo the heat and then wonder why it's still stuck.
7
anthony1278d ago
Underdoing the heat is the whole problem, warm it slow and watch the paint, not the seal.
7