'59 Chevy 2.5ton Project

[wesjones]

Well I am deep into restoring a '59 Chevy Viking 2.5 ton truck. I am at the point of prepping the frame for paint and ran into some trouble...

The leaf spring u-bolts are rotted out right at the saddle and I am going to replace them before blasting and paint. The truck currently has two wheels on the rear (it's a dually) but the inside wheels are all that have been on in recent years for ease of pushing around.....but they are TOTALLY rusted to the hubs. I have spent two days banging and prying, grinding, heating, nothing will work.

Any ideas?

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

-wes

[HK Trucking]

Use an air chisel with a mushroom bit and apply it to the face of the rim working your way around all the studs, also spray plenty of PB blaster around the studs and the center hole while doing this.

That should break it free after 5 or 10 minutes of that treatment.

Then try to remove the rim.

Repeat if necessary.

[other dog]

PB blaster

absolutely the best penetrating oil ever-works as advertised. fergit liquid wrench,wd-40, 5-56,etc.

[Greg Rider]

I saw a tire shop use a bottle jack and piece of chain to remove an inside rim. Looked scarey but it worked . Nothing I would try, but, one guy held the base of the jack on the axle hub. The other guy wrapped a chain through the hand holes, over the post of the jack. The second guy pumped the jack till it bit, and then the first guy got out and he continued to pump till it broke loose. I would be afraid ( as I was then ) of the jack slipping or the rim bending, but, it worked .

[Rob]

I use a pair of 5 ton hydraulic "wedgies" bearing against the frame, and rim. With controlled force pushing, and rapid impacts as Herb mentioned, something usually gives. The penetrating oil method works well also but if you heat the center of the rim until dull red, remove heat and let it cool for 15 seconds, then apply a liberal amount of penetrant, the oil will be sucked into the stuck area easing your pain.

Rob

[wesjones]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, hopefully something will work...

Check out my gallery I just uploaded photos of the truck.

-wes

[wesjones]

Well I tried the bottle jack and chain approach.....I welded a stub of pipe on to a piece of angle so i could slip that over the piston of the jack and the angle could hold the chain....i got it so tight that the angle (4"x4" 1/4"th.) bent back and the chain stretched before the jack started oozing oil out.

These things are on pretty damn tight, I dont know what is going to get them off>>>heat is my next step I guess...

[wesjones]

Well he'res one for ya......someone told me the only thing that will really work in an extreem case is to heat up the rim pretty hot and then blast nitrogen around the rim real fast. Aparently the quick temp change pops the two parts apart.

Anyone every heard of this?

[KO1927]

My basic understanding of metallurgy tells me that the hot then cold method could crack or possibly shatter the rim. I would try the pb blaster and heat method first. If you do end up doing the heat and nitrogen method, be very careful, and definitely scrap both rims involved afterwards. The structural integrity of the steel is compromised after such an extreme heat/cool cycle. Also, they probably won't be true afterward either.

Keep in mind, I've never seen this done, this is coming from my Materials and Manufacturing course when I was in college.