I just bought a 20 year old boat trailer.
Last week end I tried to check the bearing grease, but a bearing looked bad.
I could not replace the bearing because the axle was bad.
I could not replace the axle because the nut on the U bolts [that clamp
the springs, saddle, and axle] were rusted solid.

I used a hammer, a torch, Kroil, a hack saw, a cold chisel, wrenches
with cheater bars, and 10 hours of sweat to get the U bolts off.

This week end I launched and noticed the rollers did not roll.
Now there are more frozen nuts I have to get off to replace the rollers
and add more rollers.
I ordered new rollers from MarineEngine.com
I ordered a Sawzall clone from Harbor Freight.
I ordered stainless nuts and bolts from Enco.


I hold boat trailers way up there, with hot water tanks that flood the
basement.

Uh Huh, I see. What you really needed was an excuse to get that Sawzall..

BTW there's a recent thread around here somewhere about SS screws and
nuts where I tell my experience with them galling badly.


I know this is a little off topic, but a mechanic recently showed me an
advertisement for a small, hand-held induction heater with a coil that
you stick over the rusted nut. It heats the nut red hot without
endangering anything close by.

Pete Stanaitis
-----------------------------------------------

Clark Magnuson wrote:

I just bought a 20 year old boat trailer.
Last week end I tried to check the bearing grease, but a bearing looked
bad.
I could not replace the bearing because the axle was bad.
I could not replace the axle because the nut on the U bolts [that clamp
the springs, saddle, and axle] were rusted solid.

I used a hammer, a torch, Kroil, a hack saw, a cold chisel, wrenches
with cheater bars, and 10 hours of sweat to get the U bolts off.

This week end I launched and noticed the rollers did not roll.
Now there are more frozen nuts I have to get off to replace the rollers
and add more rollers.
I ordered new rollers from MarineEngine.com
I ordered a Sawzall clone from Harbor Freight.
I ordered stainless nuts and bolts from Enco.


I hold boat trailers way up there, with hot water tanks that flood the
basement.

On Sep 23, 12:01*am, Clark Magnuson wrote:
I just bought a 20 year old boat trailer.
Last week end I tried to check the bearing grease, but a bearing looked bad.
I could not replace the bearing because the axle was bad.
I could not replace the axle because the nut on the U bolts [that clamp
the springs, saddle, and axle] were rusted solid.

I used a hammer, a torch, Kroil, a hack saw, a cold chisel, wrenches
with cheater bars, and 10 hours of sweat to get the U bolts off.

This week end I launched and noticed the rollers did not roll.
Now there are more frozen nuts I have to get off to replace the rollers
and add more rollers.
I ordered new rollers from MarineEngine.com
I ordered a Sawzall clone from Harbor Freight.
I ordered stainless nuts and bolts from Enco.

I *hold boat trailers way up there, with hot water tanks that flood the
basement.

Save this and repost it when we get another don't-fix-it-unless-its-
broke joker.

"Stupendous Man" wrote in message
...
Asa motorcyclist I hold boats as one of the most dangerous things on the
road. You never know when the wheels will come off, if the lights work, or
what is going to fly out of them. I have been nearly hit by a giant donut,
life jackets, beer cans, etc. Did I mention beer cans? where did the beer
go?
One time I was watching froma distance, until it was safe to pass, a life
jacket doing an orbit for a while. it would pop up, swing to the side,
sissapear, repeat. Then, it came up high, the wind caught it and out it
came, taking a 5 foot wooden oar with it.

Please, use bearing buddies, wash out and inspect the bearings every
spring, and secure the contents. And leave the beer to the passengers.
--
Stupendous Man,
Defender of Freedom, Advocate of Liberty



Stupe, I assure you, absolutely NO donut, gigantic or otherwise, would
escape MY boat (especially the cake-type, dusted with
owderedsugar, ----yumm!). It would prob be secured along with a pint of hot
chocolate or hot cider, long before the wheels were allowed to turn.

Bu on that note, the week before last, I did have one spinning rod disappear
from way down in the bottom of the deck, It was new, and prob got
light-fingered while we were in getting the donuts.

Flash

"Stupendous Man" wrote in
:

Asa motorcyclist I hold boats as one of the most dangerous things on
the road. You never know when the wheels will come off, if the lights
work, or what is going to fly out of them. I have been nearly hit by a
giant donut, life jackets, beer cans, etc. Did I mention beer cans?
where did the beer go?
One time I was watching froma distance, until it was safe to pass, a
life jacket doing an orbit for a while. it would pop up, swing to the
side, sissapear, repeat. Then, it came up high, the wind caught it and
out it came, taking a 5 foot wooden oar with it.

Please, use bearing buddies, wash out and inspect the bearings every
spring, and secure the contents. And leave the beer to the passengers.

I do the inspect and repack in the fall. No need to let it do damage all winter.

--


Ron Thompson
Riding my '07 XL883C Sportster
On the Beautiful Florida Space Coast,
right beside the Kennedy Space Center,
USA

http://www.plansandprojects.com
My hobby pages are he

...finally sank in after 3 or 4 seconds his face turned red, and he
slammed the throttle lever to the stop as he took off across the lake.

Now back to our regularly scheduled metal bending channel. Is there a
practical way to bend 1/8" 5052 without buying a $10K hydraulic press?

Holy rusted metal Batman!!!







Sure! Send it to us for a quote.GRIN

--


Ron Thompson
Riding my '07 XL883C Sportster
On the Beautiful Florida Space Coast,
right beside the Kennedy Space Center,
USA

http://www.plansandprojects.com
My hobby pages are he

Bob La Londe wrote:

Is there a
practical way to bend 1/8" 5052 without buying a $10K hydraulic press?

The airframe guys at work used a vise and a mallet for this task pretty
regularly. How wide a sheet do you need to bend?

Kevin Gallimore


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Clark Magnuson writes:


I used a hammer, a torch, Kroil, a hack saw, a cold chisel, wrenches
with cheater bars, and 10 hours of sweat to get the U bolts off.

A) You used Breath of the Dragon and still could not get the
nuts off?

[I'm curious this induction heater another poster mentioned..]

B) You are worshiping a false prophet. The road to enlightenment,
Grasshopper, comes via an offering called "Never Seize". As you travel
through life; spread the offering widely and proselytize your friends to
do so as well..
--
A host is a host from coast to
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433

"axolotl" wrote in message
...
Bob La Londe wrote:

Is there a
practical way to bend 1/8" 5052 without buying a $10K hydraulic press?

The airframe guys at work used a vise and a mallet for this task pretty
regularly. How wide a sheet do you need to bend?

My vise ain't nowhere near that wide... but you gave me an idea. I need to
draw it out and see what I can come up with.

I may need to buy another work bench to make it work Hmmm...


Kevin Gallimore


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News==----
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Newsgroups
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On Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:46:04 -0700, "Bob La Londe"
wrote:

"axolotl" wrote in message
...
Bob La Londe wrote:

Is there a
practical way to bend 1/8" 5052 without buying a $10K hydraulic press?

The airframe guys at work used a vise and a mallet for this task pretty
regularly. How wide a sheet do you need to bend?

My vise ain't nowhere near that wide... but you gave me an idea. I need to
draw it out and see what I can come up with.

I may need to buy another work bench to make it work Hmmm...

I have pairs of lengths of angle iron for bending but have never tried
anything heavier than about 14 gage.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

I used a hammer, a torch, Kroil, a hack saw, a cold chisel, wrenches
with cheater bars, and 10 hours of sweat to get the U bolts off.

All that is hard work, which I avoid whenever possible..

Use an angle grinder with a 1 mil cut off blade, about 30 seconds
to cut through each side of the U bolt, say 5 minutes total including
moving to other side of axle for 2nd U bolt. Absolutely no point in
trying to save a rusted U bolt for re-use.

I find that the 1 mil blades last far longer than thicker ones
for most jobs ( unless twisted and snapped ) and do a better job on
sheet metal.

Alan
Alan, in Gosnells, Western Oz.
VK6 YAB VKS 737 - W 6174

On Sep 23, 7:46 pm, "Bob La Londe" wrote:
"axolotl" wrote in message
Bob La Londe wrote:
Is there a
practical way to bend 1/8" 5052 without buying a $10K hydraulic press?

The airframe guys at work used a vise and a mallet for this task pretty
regularly. How wide a sheet do you need to bend?
Kevin Gallimore

My vise ain't nowhere near that wide... but you gave me an idea. I need to
draw it out and see what I can come up with.
I may need to buy another work bench to make it work Hmmm...

Clamp the sheet between two *heavy* pieces of structural steel and
bend it a little at a time with a big hammer. I pound on a piece of
2x4 instead of directly on the sheet metal to protect the finish and
make a sharper corner at the bend line. You could build a bench for
this with 1/4" or 3/8" angle screwed to one edge as shown in the
Gingery sheet metal books but separate lengths of heavy angle or
channel are more versatile and easier to store. The edges of smaller
WF beams may not be stiff enough.

You can also cut sheet metal with a chisel by clamping the sheet the
same way. The chisel will mess up the surface of the steel a little so
don't use your best piece of rusty scrap for this.

I've been using my home-made bending brake as a vise to shear sheet
metal with a chisel. Since metal being bent is pressed upwards against
the clamp bar, scratches on the frame below don't transfer as long as
I file the edge clean. I wouldn't mistreat a commercial brake this way
but the frame on mine is bolted to the hinges and can be easily
replaced.

Jim Wilkins