Was looking at an old post from 2020' where they had trouble getting the lower pins out of the stabilizers. We had the same trouble with my friend's 87' 1550B. Rose bud torch, penetrating oil, big drift punch and sledgehammer, walked away and try again on another day, NO LUCK!! On the left one, we ended up cutting through the pin on both sides of the rod eye to get the cylinder off for re-packing. I can't remember, but I believe we used a combination of thin cut-off wheel and cutting torch to complete the cuts. The short pieces left in each side drove out then. My friend purchased a new pin for that side. This was earlier this year (2025'). Right stabilizer cylinder needed re-packing too, here just a month ago. Same problem with the lower pin frozen in the pad ears, but free in the rod. Tried heating and beating again, no luck. This time I cut through the pad eyes on each side of the rod with cut-off wheel and finish with torch. Drive in chisels and pin came out whole. Of course, we salvaged the pin but had to grind out and weld the ears back closed where we cut through them. Not a problem in the field for me and my friend, we own and work on all kinds of heavy equipment, me also having a machine shop and welding/fabricating business. If you choose this method, word of caution, drive a chisel in the grove, making sure pin stays free, make heavy tack welds, then finish welding, checking pin for freedom until welding is finished. This should keep pin from becoming frozen from the welds shrinking. If pin starts to stick BEFORE welding is finished, take it OUT. You can use a die-grinder to get your clearance back in the ears, and/or polish some off of the pin in a lathe. What a lot of problems like this boil down to, what is your time worth versus hiring someone and/or what is the cost of simply replacing a part or two that you have to ruin?? What my problem and my friend's problem is the psychological challenge of having a stupid pin whip our butts. Working on our own equipment we have the luxury of time but working on customer's equipment we have to take the shortest path sometimes, regardless of cost, in order to get them back running. I'm new to this forum and it's nice to know that other equipment owners have the same type problems. I have 40 plus years working on all types of heavy equipment. I hope I can maybe help some others with their equipment problems and maybe I can learn some new tricks too. I want to start a You-tube page, I have literally thousands of job type pictures and hundreds of job videos. the old saying, "A picture is worth a thousand words!" Especially when putting something BACK TOGETHER. Hey everybody, sorry for the shorts story, thanks if you take time to read this and please be patient with me because I don't check my email on a regular basis. But I do try to get back in touch with everyone. Thanks Again!! B.C.
I couldn't get mine out so I just took the barrel end pin out and rebuilt in place.
ditto....( I also have a 1550-b, did both in place)
Hey guys, I completely forgot to mention the 'miracle' tool, the oxygen lance type pin buster they call it. There are several styles and makes, but they all operate on the same basic principle. A hollow consumable rod is connected to an electric source (welder or car battery) an arc is struck between the end of a seized pin and the rod, as either oxygen or air is turned on through the hollow rod, thus melting and blowing out the molten center of the pin. One maker had a special rod that doesn't even require oxygen or compressed air, making in very portable (Thermite principle I suppose, don't know how well it worked). Blowing out a center hole helps weaken the pin, but what really helps is when the pin cools and shrinks. A friend of mine had one of these devices and I would simply hire him to come blow out a pin, but his work got slow one winter, and he sold his device (along with other tools) and didn't tell me. I would have bought it, and he still could have borrowed it. I guess I should buy one of my own, but I usually have good luck using an old cutting torch and partially blowing out a stuck pin from both ends. I have witnessed him blowing out pins on several occasions, the device pays for itself pretty fast (if you burn out several pins in a short time). The savings are in not using a lot of oxygen and acetylene and in time and labor. It's nasty work, but not any nastier than trying to burn out a long pin with a regular cutting torch. I imagine most large shops probably already have one or more of these devices, in their shop and in their service trucks. Especially those guys working on large equipment with large, long pins. You can find them and buy them on the internet or from a local dealer. The price range e-Bay is from about $1,300.00 to $1,800.00, the main reason I haven't bought one for myself. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention in my post on Nov. 9th about the JCB stuck pins, that I did try burning out the first stabilizer pin from both ends with no luck, before using a cut-off wheel followed by a cutting torch burning the last portion of the pin that the cut-off wheel couldn't reach. Another short story, Thanks if you've taken time to read this. B.C.
Its crazy just how stuck these pins can be. I guess 40 years in the great outdoors will do it. I dont mind rebuilding the stabilizers in place, but my clambshell bucket pins are stuck too. The pin is frozen in the bushing so the pin spins in the other half of the bucket where its not supposed to. I welded a length of 1 in. Allthread to the pin and tried to pull it with my 60 ton hollow ram jack. It snapped the allthread off. Going to try this again someday with lots more heat.
Need a larger and stronger rod to pull on. Would be best to not have threads where it's welded. The thread acts like a notch to start a crack.
It's just like Neil Young used to sing in one of his songs back in the seventies, "RUST NEVER SLEEPS"!!