Headlight pivots

[Tampa Jerry]

Is there any easy way to get the headlight pivots off the shaft. All four seem to be frozen. Can I assume that the brass/bronze inner bearing of the pivot ball should turn freely on the pivot shaft? I have tried the liquid wrench route. I am a little reluctant to applying heat. Any suggestions?

[Subfixer]

I had to use a chisel to get mine off. They were frozen solid. I had to first crush and remove the metal ball that surrounds the bronze bushing then cut off the bushing.

A dremel tool with one of those small cutoff wheels would work well in this case. I didn't have one of those at the time I did mine.

I'm working on mine. Soaked them in penetrating oil and let it sit. Grabbed the ball with a large channel lock pliers and tried to turn them. 3 turnd with medium force. One is still stuck and will require more drastic steps.

[BLACK MOON]

i'm having the same problem and with the buckets being fiberglass i really don't want to start banging the crap out of them. My question is will they still work ok with the balls frozen. Mine always opened smoothly and quickly. I don't want to fix it if it's not broken.

Success. It finally moved last night. It was clamped vertically by the motor shaft in a vise for two weeks with lots of penetrating oil.

[Tampa Jerry]

Bill: Glad you got the pivots free. After soaking and soaking, got three off with no problem. The last one came off but the pivot shaft mount broke. I ordered a new one with most everything else from ZIP yesterday. Just one more subassembly to rebuild. Any tips out there on rebuilding the buckets? Jerry

[61 Silver]

Originally Posted by Tampa Jerry

Is there any easy way to get the headlight pivots off the shaft. All four seem to be frozen. Can I assume that the brass/bronze inner bearing of the pivot ball should turn freely on the pivot shaft? I have tried the liquid wrench route. I am a little reluctant to applying heat. Any suggestions?

I made a puller today and it worked like a charm with no damage. I soaked the bearings with penetrating oil for a few days first.

Ray

[Fuelie]

Ray,

That is a real slick puller that have created!

Do you have a pic of the puller "broken down" to show all the components?

Having had to wrestle pivots off in the past, I can see where this would be very helpful.

Take care,
Brian

[61 Silver]

Originally Posted by Fuelie

Ray,

That is a real slick puller that have created!

Do you have a pic of the puller "broken down" to show all the components?

Having had to wrestle pivots off in the past, I can see where this would be very helpful.

Take care,
Brian

Hi! Brian

Here is a picture with the slot that fits behind the bearing shaft. On one end I used just a washer, the hole in the center fit over the shaft and the washer protected the shaft. On the other I used a bolt with nut and washer as a pressure point.

Ray

Ray

[Tampa Jerry]

Ray, The puller looks great. Once you see it, it makes perfect sense. You may want to clean up the edges, powdercoat it and sell it. I wish I had it to remove my piviots. Three came off after soaking with BB. The last one had to be sawed off. Jerry

[Fuelie]

Hi Ray,

Thanks for the extra shots of the puller. Very clever and effective!

Take care,
Brian