rusty_wingnut Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 I'm with Fridge and Bill on this. this method works everytime. Loosen up the ball joint/relay/steering component and drive the vehicle gently down the street wiggling the steering often enough it breaks the rust seal and frees the component off que H&S loonies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRecklessEngineer Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 I beat mine repeatedly with a lump hammer - it took about 5 hours, but came out in the end. I then had to repair the crossmember Another vote for lots of penetrating oil and loosen bolts and drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony109 Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 I beat mine repeatedly with a lump hammer - it took about 5 hours, but came out in the end.I then had to repair the crossmember Another vote for lots of penetrating oil and loosen bolts and drive. You must be on another planet if you can spend 5 hours attacking the realay with a lump hammer and damageing the crossmember in the process.. With credentials like that, you now recommend the scientific, By your book, method of loose bolts, a bit of oil, a drive down the road and Hope? Ill leave you and Rusty the Clown to it. Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon White Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 When i did mine, I drowned it in plusgas for a week. Then used a tree strop looped round the chassis and the trolley jack, and jacked it so the front wheels were off the gorund and kept going until the strop tightened. Kept pumping the jack until the strop tightened and it was no longer possible to pump the jack any tighter. I then tried using a pickaxe head slipped into a scaff bar to make a 6ft long pry bar. This didnt do much good, and in the end the only thing that got it moving was beating hell out of it with the largest club hammer i could lay my hands on! Got it out in the end! Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRecklessEngineer Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 You must be on another planet if you can spend 5 hours attacking the realay with a lump hammer and damageing the crossmember in the process.. With credentials like that, you now recommend the scientific, By your book, method of loose bolts, a bit of oil, a drive down the road and Hope? Ill leave you and Rusty the Clown to it. Good luck I had nothing else, it had to come out within a few hours of starting the job, and the damage to the crossmember was more caused by its rusty condition than my beating. I'm quite glad it showed it up actually - it allowed me to repair it before the rust got to the point of being able to poke a finger through it. 5 hours was tongue in cheek - I'm not sure how long it took, but it wasn't quick...and there were quite a few swings of the hammer. There are two bolts in shear that hold the relay in. Both are fitted with nylocs. There would be no harm in cracking them off - the tube in the chassis would then be supporting the load on the steering relay, allowing it to crack the rust seal that holds them so firmly in place. The nylocs (being nylocs) won't come undone any further. I would have used this method on mine, however it was a bare chassis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtbarton Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 ........There are two bolts in shear that hold the relay in. ......... The bolts are in tension, not shear. They squeeze the flange welded on the chassis up against the relay casting. Any turning force on the relay could be in either direction so you'd have to use a dowel, not bolts with clearance in their holes, if you wanted to hold it in place with shear forces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRecklessEngineer Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 The bolts are in tension, not shear. They squeeze the flange welded on the chassis up against the relay casting.Any turning force on the relay could be in either direction so you'd have to use a dowel, not bolts with clearance in their holes, if you wanted to hold it in place with shear forces. Quite correct - I was typing and not thinking again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyb Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 Never managed to get mine out, no matter what, i rebuilt it in place. Been there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoggyN Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 I think my point was missed.. The relay will press out of the chassis, even if stuck provided the jack or press is held in place against the vehicle. Not necessarily, I tried exactly the same method over several days to no avail. Over the 40+ years the thing had been in there it had become as one with the tube. I took the top off - BOING! Then carefully smashed it to bits with a lump hammer and a cold chisel. Worked a treat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rusty_wingnut Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 Rusty the Clown Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cartman Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 I was lucky and mine came out with no more effort than a slight wiggly as I raised it with the bottle jack. What I would say is AFAIK no genuine steering relays are available no more. If you have found one then good for you and treat it like gold. Br1tpart still supply at around £30 each but report are not good. Let me reword that as reports have been scaaary! Seized relays and chocolate shaft come to mind. My recommendation would be to rebuild with original internals (LR Series sell 'em for the same price as a whole chocolate one) on the bench or in the chassis if you cannot get it out. Actually strip it on the bench clean-up then rebuild in the chassis if you can extract it. It's probably easier Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Train Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 I know someone who chained their chassis down to a lorry sized trolley jack and jacked it up against the relay. Despite lots of WD40 and slow addition of pressure from the jack over a few days it didn't come out of the chassis tube. The chassis tube, however, did part company with the chassis with the relay still in it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Thomas Posted July 28, 2009 Share Posted July 28, 2009 I must admit that I cut mine out and then rebuilt that part of the chassis, some 30+ years of rust held like a good'n. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleBlue88 Posted August 5, 2009 Author Share Posted August 5, 2009 WOW,i started this thread.....forgot about it and now see that i wasnt the only one who's had the problem!! In the end i abandoned the removal as i intend to re-chassis the truck next year so will either fit chocolate relay i got from Britpart or rebuild the original one. Thaks for all your advice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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