Dealing with a stuck hydro cylinder pin. Is this a good plan.

Soak it wit ur favorite penetrating oil. Put a dimple in the center of the pin apply an air powered chisel wit the air pressure as the chisel can tolerate. Ifn it were mine I would heat the hell out of the mount (not the pin) and the use the air chisel on it.

If it's just the pin bosses and you can get at them, you might be able to torch a fair size hole in the stuck pin pieces. That should should shrink them a fair amount when they cool. You could even spray water to cool them faster. Need a big torch tip.

Welder Dave said: If it's just the pin bosses and you can get at them, you should be able to torch a fair size hole in the stuck pin pieces. That should should shrink them a fair amount when they cool. You could even spray water to cool them faster. Can you post a pic.? Click to expand... Post #19 shows the pins. Simon C

Simon C said: Post #19 shows the pins. Simon C Click to expand... Thanks Simon! I missed that so edited my post.

As silly as it sounds, you can get some serious press tension out of a jack screw bolt and nut. Takes a while and goes slow but I have generated probably 40 tons with a grade 8 jack bolt. I would probably try and use heat, while I was at it. Honestly though from the picture, that looks like an easy burn through, with a good torch and operator.

I really wish I could justify setting up a lance but so far, have never had to have one done.

HarleyHappy said: I really wish I could justify setting up a lance but so far, have never had to have one done. Click to expand... A mini lance kit suitable for pins of that size (carbons from 12-18” long) is likely less than $500.

https://esab.com/us/nam_en/products-solutions/product-document/?docId=21148

terex herder said: https://esab.com/us/nam_en/products-solutions/product-document/?docId=21148 Click to expand... That's the one I was thinking of. I knew I'd seen a video of it somewhere, just couldn't remember the name. Turns seized pins into liquid in the blink of an eye.

A slice torch also requires oxygen. If you don't already have a cylinder could be a little pricey. I'd see if a slice torch could be rented before buying one. There's also a Broco torch that some say is better than the Arcair Slice Torch. $500+ to get 2 small pins out of bosses is rather expensive if you only need to do it one time. It's also very easy to damage the bosses or other parts if you're not real experienced with a slice torch/lance. Maybe you could weld a nut or even a length of bar on the pin so you have a way to try to turn it to help loosen it. A jack bolt is worth a try or a small porta-power cylinder. I'd try something mechanical or a standard cutting torch before a slice torch.

Didn't I see on here some time ago, where someone made a cutting torch tip nut adapter device to accept standard 3/8" or 1/4" black iron pipe, to make into a lance ?

I don't think using a cutting torch. I recall a DIY oxygen lance. I can't remember if it hooked up to a welder to get burning? Could try search for oxygen lance.

Nige said: That's the one I was thinking of. I knew I'd seen a video of it somewhere, just couldn't remember the name. Turns seized pins into liquid in the blink of an eye. Click to expand... BTW (much) cheaper versions are also available.

Job is done but I wanted to ask what torch tip and settings you experienced pin burners use? I ended up having to use what someone else had, which was an 0 size tip, 9lb Ace, 40lb O2 at the regs. IMO, something was not acting right. Could have been I needed to tear down and clean the tip, but I think bigger would have been better but what I noticed is Ace seemed to dwindle at the tip after running a bit, even though pressure was consistent at regs. Pin was 1.25", I didn't burn all of it, just hollowed the area where I think the fight was, moved to the BFH, etc. I guess it's been a minute since running a torch but I just wasn't getting much heat into the pin IMO, or fighting it.

Ours seem to be named differently. Up to 3 inch deep we seem to use nozzle size 1/16 for most things, which according to the info needs 2 psi acetylene and 40 psi oxygen - although I think the regulators are set a little higher than that in use. I wonder if your 9 lb of pressure takes a bit more holding back at the torch taps, and maybe changes as the hoseful of pressure drops to the regulated flow, if that makes any sense at all? The other thing i notice is cleaning a blocked nozzle is a thing of luck; sometimes improves it but there's nothing like a new nozzle.

some side notes - flametech and a couple others make a collet for a oxy torch to use an exothermic rod. also you can buy long tips that are handy for longer pins

Have never seen an exothermic attachment like that before. Curious how they compare to a dedicated torch like an Arcair Slice Torch? I've seen air arc gouging attachments for welding stingers but they were nowhere as good as an Arcair torch. I've seen the long tips though. They are mostly for hard to reach area's and to keep reflected heat away from the user. They don't cut any thicker steel than the same size in a regular tip. There are some many different torches and cutting/welding tools it's hard to know them all. As far as cutting tips they aren't always the cleanest with the best flame and cutting jet when brand new. A perfect tip will have an 18" or longer outer flame with 2 distinct lines down the middle when the cutting jet is activated. A perfect tip set right will make a louder kind of squeeling noise when cutting and leave no slag on the bottom.

fastline said: Job is done but I wanted to ask what torch tip and settings you experienced pin burners use? I ended up having to use what someone else had, which was an 0 size tip, 9lb Ace, 40lb O2 at the regs. IMO, something was not acting right. Could have been I needed to tear down and clean the tip, but I think bigger would have been better but what I noticed is Ace seemed to dwindle at the tip after running a bit, even though pressure was consistent at regs. Pin was 1.25", I didn't burn all of it, just hollowed the area where I think the fight was, moved to the BFH, etc. I guess it's been a minute since running a torch but I just wasn't getting much heat into the pin IMO, or fighting it. Click to expand... Once the straight acetylene flame jumps the tip indicates the max. flow the tip can handle. You use that for balancing a welding tip. It can be higher with a cutting tip though. Higher acetylene pressure is required for a rosebud because it helps cool the tip. You don't want to throttle back the torch valves much when using a rosebud heating tip. It's the number one reason for backfiring and popping and can lead to a dangerous flashback. I had a flashback once where it was burning inside the torch handle because of a bad O-ring on the cutting attacment. That's something only acetylene will do and why flasback arrestors are a good idea. (Some torches like Victor have built it replaceable flashback arrestors) Thankfully turning off the torch valves put it out. I could hear it "screaming" in the torch handle. Curious what size of acetylene cylinder you used and how full it was? A smaller cylinder and/or closer to empty might be what caused the loss of heat or acetylene flow you experienced. I think an overheated tip might act that way but don't know for certain. It's also possible you might have drawn some acetone out of the cylinder or there was some acetone residue in the regulator partially reducing flow. For a job like blowing a pin out I'd use a big tip rated for 5" thick or so. There's bigger tips too but it depends on the torch. For cutting you rarely need to set the regulator more than 5 PSI, however when using a heating tip you need you need up to the max. 15PSI as the higher flow helps cool the tip. 40 PSI oxygen sounds about right but a bigger tip would have been a better choice. Glad you got the pin remnants out.

Ace tank is huge #5 at 75%. Plenty of juice there. Part of the BS using someone else's gear. To me, both gasses seemed to be pretty lazy. Matter of fact, I cranked the Ace valve on the torch body to the max to see what's up, literally no flame change after about 1/4 turn. The sound is what was bothering me. It sounded lazy, not the hiss of business. IDK, maybe every other torch I've run were running big boy stuff and I am more used to that. But I probably can't say **** until I tossed in a new tip! I didn't have one and wish I had more time to play.

Have never seen an exothermic attachment like that before. Curious how they compare to a dedicated torch like an Arcair Slice Torch Click to expand... They work alright, you don't have the oxygen flow of a dedicated lance rig with a high flow regulator and also harder to stay parallel with the pin I've seen the long tips though. They are mostly for hard to reach area's and to keep reflected heat away from the user. They don't cut any thicker steel than the same size in a regular tip. Click to expand... They can be handy on long excavator pins after you get through as far as you can go with a standard tip but nothing beats a lance with a high flow regulator