Hi, I own a JCB JS220LC and its bucket teeth tip are worn, I need to replace them. And I am having trouble getting the old ones removed. A little background - this a 2012 model JCB JS220LC I bought used a couple of years ago from an auction. The previous owner is Sunbelt Rentals. A couple of months ago while I was clearing some tree stumps I lost the middle tooth, I looked up JCB Parts+, it refers to it as "tooth tip". So I bought from a local JCB dealer 2 teeth (or tooth tip as they call), 1 to replace the missing one and an extra as a spare. After the middle tooth is installed on this JS220LC, it appears this new one is quite long compared to other teeth (albeit the other 4 teeth are badly worn already). So I checked further, and it became clear to me the prior owner, Sunbelt rentals had used Caterpillar style or generic type tooth (much cheaper to buy compared to original JCB's). So I later bought a set of 5 of the generic tooth to replace them all in the near future. These generic is CAT style 1U3352 Bucket Digging Teeth for J350, they cost me $88 for a set of 5 (vs JCB Part# 331/11724 cost me $67/each) A few days ago while I was digging tree stump, I lost the middle teeth again. Now I decided to replace all the worn teeth. However, I encountered a problem removing the old teeth. I tried the various method, used a hammer, " bucket pin removal tool " + hammer, and "Hydraulic Cylinder Industrial Lifting Jack " + iron spacing blocks in between the tooth, but the bucket pin just won't move at all. I wonder how they inserted those pins. What made them soo tight and so sturdy? See the photo below. The middle tooth (#3) was lost while digging, the #5 tooth was fastened using bolts and nuts instead of a pin lock, so I was able to remove it relatively easily. Its big headache for me now to remove the rest 3 tooth from this bucket. Could someone comment or suggest something?
Try heating with torch first then driving it out . If that doesn’t work cut here with torch and knock cap off. (Both sides)
Cutting like BLS said beats swinging a hammer while holding a pin driver.
Cut them out .Dirt packs in them and will tighten them up . Also lock ring might be frozen in place .Heat will help.
I had same thing happen last year, tried air chisel, heated with torch, smack with BFH. Had to cut tooth off then burn out the retaining ring and pin was still frozen. Burn out the pin from both sides. wack it out with hammer and drift pin. Machine sat for over a year, gave rust the time it needed I guess.
Thanks to all of you who shared your knowledge and experience. After applying several different methods and attempts, I'd like to give a summary of what I found most effective: 1) Heating with a torch - in theory, heating up the tooth shank will result in physical expansion and making the hole slightly bigger, it did not help. 2) Cutting - it helped to remove the tooth tip, and hammering the pin is easier but the pin does not budge. 3) Drilling - being made of forged iron, it was difficult to drill on this hard material. The 1st drill bit used was a cobalt one, it went dull quicky. Then tried 2nd drill bit made of solid carbide. Spent 2 or 3 hours it went about only 2 inches deep. Gave up. 4) Pressure wash the pin - Using high-pressure water jet sprayed around the pin for 15 or 20 minutes, hammered the pin again, it started to move. Pressure washed a bit further, then hammer it again back and forth, it became loose enough to get it off. So in summary, the most effective way seems to be using a pressure washer to spray into the pinhole or around the pin edge, this helped loosen the stuck pin.
I have the Esco horseshoe type clips on my main bucket (I change tooth types quite often) and other styles on other buckets. If the conditions are very dry, I usually smack the teeth around a lot with a small sledge and wire brush & air blast out the packed in dirt. The other method is pressure washing if the materials are too damp to let loose easily. The main trick is to get the tooth loose on the holder and that will allow a solid blow to the retaining pin on the holder or allowing the tooth to move about enough to remove a clip. Once the dirt is out and there is some play available in the tooth, a little bit of oil will encourage those horseshoes to lift right out with a pry bar. It's pretty much the same with the pin types - you need play in the tooth available to make driving the pin out easier. If all else fails, torches are my next and last option. I don't like heating anything that I don't have to.