Stubborn Pin Removal

[chim]

We have a Montana at work that gets used for misc. chores. After someone broke the third telescopic lift arm stabilizer I gave up and bought a pair of turnbuckle / chain stabilizers at TSC to replace them. To say the new stabilizers are overkill is a gross understatement. The chain links must be made from 1/2" steel.

With the sizes and shapes we have to deal with I decided to mount the arm end of the stabilizer about 6" farther out on the arm. That necessitated removing the lift arms to make drilling them easier. How hard could it be to remove the arms? Harder than it really should be. It looked pretty straight forward. There is a pin for each arm on the tractor end that acts as a hinge point.

The pin has a metal retaining plate welded to the end that has a bolt through it into the rear housing. Simply remove the bolt and pull the pin out? Nope. Pins don't want to budge. We soaked them with PB Blaster and grabbed the metal retainer plate with a big pump pliers to try and wiggle them out. The right pin put up a fight, but finally came out. Not so lucky with the left pin. After losing the battle I had one of the guys tack a few pieces of scrap we had into a "C". The scrap pieces looked like 3/8" thick square washers. Then I had him weld a piece of allthread to the end of the stuck pin. We put the C over the allthread, added a washer, some grease and a nut. Worked great! the pin came out without a hitch. I snapped the picture below after the pin came out about 3/4". It was late in the day so we'll wrap it up Monday.

 

[CalG]

We have a Montana at work that gets used for misc. chores. After someone broke the third telescopic lift arm stabilizer I gave up and bought a pair of turnbuckle / chain stabilizers at TSC to replace them. To say the new stabilizers are overkill is a gross understatement. The chain links must be made from 1/2" steel.

With the sizes and shapes we have to deal with I decided to mount the arm end of the stabilizer about 6" farther out on the arm. That necessitated removing the lift arms to make drilling them easier. How hard could it be to remove the arms? Harder than it really should be. It looked pretty straight forward. There is a pin for each arm on the tractor end that acts as a hinge point.

The pin has a metal retaining plate welded to the end that has a bolt through it into the rear housing. Simply remove the bolt and pull the pin out? Nope. Pins don't want to budge. We soaked them with PB Blaster and grabbed the metal retainer plate with a big pump pliers to try and wiggle them out. The right pin put up a fight, but finally came out. Not so lucky with the left pin. After losing the battle I had one of the guys tack a few pieces of scrap we had into a "C". The scrap pieces looked like 3/8" thick square washers. Then I had him weld a piece of allthread to the end of the stuck pin. We put the C over the allthread, added a washer, some grease and a nut. Worked great! the pin came out without a hitch. I snapped the picture below after the pin came out about 3/4". It was late in the day so we'll wrap it up Monday.

Next time, just weld a handle on the pin .

A three foot length of 1/2 X 3 should do... ;-)

 

[chim]

Next time, just weld a handle on the pin .

A three foot length of 1/2 X 3 should do... ;-)

I like that idea.

Seems like doing anything on the Montana is a lot more involved than it should be. We removed the loader ONE time when we wanted to use it in a small space. It was so difficult I decided if the need would arise in the future I'd rather rent another tractor than go through that again.

Right before I became involved with the shops, the previous regime wasn't really into tractors. One guy knew John Deere was a good tractor, and the Montana was green - so it must be a good one. The purchasing agent was a real cheapskate, so price was his only cosideration. They came up with a scheme to buy QD forks and use the Montana in place of a telehandler on some of our projects. Delivery was made right after I took over. I asked how they figured that could ever work. "It'll lift over 2,600 pounds" they said. I said "You must be on drugs. The tractor isn't going to lift its own weight regardless of ballast". Seems they mistook the 3PH's lift specs for the FEL's. Oops.

So it kinda worked out. We keep it at the shops to smooth out the gravel areas, and for use as a diesel-powered wheelbarrow. It's an OK machine as long as you don't need to work on anything that involves parts that were apparently factory installed with big hammers.