trying to restore an old proto universal joint

[cell_phone]

i should have taken a couple pics of this when i started...but i wasn't planning to show it off. if i had realized how well it would clean up, i might have taken pics!

anyway, this belonged to my grandfather and is one of a good number of his tools i use or (in this case) hope to use. i actually thought it was an impact joint until i cleaned it up. you can see from the pitting that it was covered in rust.

well, with some rust dissolver plus the wire wheel, completely dissembling it, and putting it back together, it's in really good shape. the only snag is the detent pin. it was stuck out when i was cleaning it up. i pushed it in hoping it would break loose and work. instead, it's just stuck in now.

i have sprayed some liquid wrench on it and the pin is soaking. my next escalation is a propane torch, i guess.

any other suggestions?

 

[Provincial]

Set it on a block of wood with a hole for the pin to extend in to. Use an air hammer to rattle the pin by using a flat-tip bit on the opposite flat from the pin. The blows should place an inertia load on the pin to extend it.

This won't help the spring if it is too rusted. If the spring is bad, you have a tricky project ahead.

 

[cell_phone]

that's not a bad idea, either. my air hammer is pretty useless, so i shouldn't have to worry about damaging the socket. haha

 

[LXCam]

Torch on the backside

 

[MShaw]

Just bear in mind if you get it too hot it will damage the spring. Generally above 400 degrees F starts to get dangerous. Much hotter than that and it will start to draw the tool itself.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I'll bet the spring is toast. Maybe you can drill from the backside and replace the spring and ball, then use a roll pin to hold the new spring in place, or tap for a threaded allen key type screw.

 

[2oolhound]

That is an impact swivel. It has a lock pin instead of a ball but you're in the same situation with it being stuck with a worn spring behind it.