Is this the shining knight to conquer the dreaded spindle pin?

[SteveJ]

As I resigned myself that I can no longer put off attacking the spindle pins, I came across a tool that I hope will alleviate some of the pain.

It's an inductive heater, and I also purchased some longer elements that I believe will allow me to wrap around the control arm. I need to order the spindle pins from MSA today. I get to use the gift certificate I won at ZCON courtesy of @wal280z providing me with his raffle tickets. By the way, Wayne, I will probably repurpose the Amazon box for the heater to pack your backpack and ZCON goodies.

[zKars]

There has been a couple of times I almost purchased an induction heater for stubborn things but never found one that was both economical and had lots of options. This one looks reasonable. 

Having an Oxyacetylene setup is handy, but expensive and bulky and storage is an issue.

Let us know how it works on control arm casting heating.

 

[cgsheen1]

Interested too - I've pulled a lot of spindle pins and have had fair-to-poor luck with heat.

[SteveJ]

I'm hoping my friend will come through on his offer to film it for me, but failing that, I do have tripods and other ways of capturing the video.

30 minutes ago, zKars said:

There has been a couple of times I almost purchased an induction heater for stubborn things but never found one that was both economical and had lots of options. This one looks reasonable. 

Having an Oxyacetylene setup is handy, but expensive and bulky and storage is an issue.

Let us know how it works on control arm casting heating.

 

I don't really have the space in my garage for, as my friend calls it, "the blue wrench." That's one of the things that made me curious...that and seeing how easily MAPP gas could set old grease on fire.

21 minutes ago, cgsheen1 said:

Interested too - I've pulled a lot of spindle pins and have had fair-to-poor luck with heat.

In this video, they claim they got the block up to 600C where they were holding the heater. I'm hoping that similar results in the control arms will help convince them they shouldn't keep holding onto the spindle pins.

 

[Jeff G 78]

My home made puller has made even the stubborn ones pretty easy to pull.  I've pulled quite a few with it and I've loaned it out for others to use.  Someday, I will add a few minor upgrades to it, but it works well.  I also made an accessory for it so it will pull out the outer bushings from the control arms.

For some reason, I can't upload pics right now.  I keep getting server errors.

 

[SteveJ]

1 minute ago, Jeff G 78 said:

My home made puller has made even the stubborn ones pretty easy to pull.  I've pulled quite a few with it and I've loaned it out for others to use.  Someday, I will add a few minor upgrades to it, but it works well.  I also made an accessory for it so it will pull out the outer bushings from the control arms.

For some reason, I can't upload pics right now.  I keep getting server errors.

 

I was getting errors yesterday. Are you seeing something like what I described? 

 

I have the old ZCD spindle pin puller. It failed the first time I tried it, but I'm going to replace their threaded rod with a different threaded rod that will allow me to use a coupling nut on the spindle pin. I'm also planning on chasing the threads on the spindle pins before using the puller.

I'm thinking that the induction heater could come in handy for other Z car repairs, too.

[Jeff G 78]

Just now, SteveJ said:

I was getting errors yesterday. Are you seeing something like what I described? 

 

I have the old ZCD spindle pin puller. It failed the first time I tried it, but I'm going to replace their threaded rod with a different threaded rod that will allow me to use a coupling nut on the spindle pin. I'm also planning on chasing the threads on the spindle pins before using the puller.

I'm thinking that the induction heater could come in handy for other Z car repairs, too.

Same error here.  Screen goes red and I get the Unknown Server Error.

I took what others did on their pullers and tried to engineer a better version.  I used 1" acme thread rod with a thrust bearing.  I had an old corner module that looked like it came from the Titanic sitting in my garage for years and I finally tried my puller on it when I moved to AZ.  I thought the pin must have been broken.  It pulled it right out.  I've had others that put up a fight, but still came out.

I have tried heat in the past and it never helped with pin removal.  I think quite a bit of the pin trouble is from galling at the wedge pin rather than simply corrosion between the pin and the knuckle.  Heat won't fix a boogered pin.

[Patcon]

Steve,

I have a pin puller I could ship you if you thought it would help. Acme thread, bearing, etc.

Also which Induction heater are you looking at exactly? I was shopping for this just last week...

[SteveJ]

4 minutes ago, Patcon said:

Steve,

I have a pin puller I could ship you if you thought it would help. Acme thread, bearing, etc.

Also which Induction heater are you looking at exactly? I was shopping for this just last week...

I appreciate the offer, Charles. I'll see if I can rehabilitate my old puller first. I might have some time soon to test that tachometer for you, too.

I bought this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08PD8ZSXZ 

I liked that it had a carrying case and a good variety of elements. I'll take some photos if/when it arrives. The poor Amazon driver is having a long day.

[SteveJ]

I unboxed the induction heater. It's about the same size as the ones in the videos I have seen on YouTube.

No photos right now since the site won't allow uploads. I'll try linking pictures.

It did come with the case in the earlier photo.

And of course, I had to play with it. I put an old bolt in the vise, and in about 30 seconds, it got to around 450 degrees.

The manual says not to run it for more than 2 minutes at a time. The mass of the control arm might limit the temperature rise with that time constraint. It may take a few cycles to heat it sufficiently.

The unit should not be turned on unless it can transfer energy to ferrous material. That should be an issue for removing fasteners, and most body parts are ferrous.

I'm looking forward to experimenting.

[cgsheen1]

Most of my difficulty with spindle pins hasn't been with corrosion - maybe no surprise as I live in the stinking desert. It has been with the lock pin having been installed incorrectly. Spindle pins are relatively soft and I've pulled many that have a "mushroom" on one or both edges of the indent that the lock pin settles in. Once the spindle pin is deformed in the middle it makes it difficult to pull either direction. I assume the problem comes from either over-tightening or from not having the pin in the correct position and then expecting the lock pin to correct the orientation as it's being installed.

Generally, If I can get the pin to rotate, I can get it to come out. I've never used a spindle pin puller. (I did have a customer bring one in that he bought - and quickly broke - I was not impressed)

[SteveJ]

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I think that even if it doesn't make a difference on the spindle pin, the induction heater will be beneficial on various fasteners. I'm thinking it will be in the category of better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. 

Besides, I've joked around that my nickname should be "Torque to Yield".