Lift Frame stuck in mount!

[admin]

Well this is what I have found to be the best way to get them apart. This can be done in a driveway with basic tools. A cut off wheel and bottle jack. Fancy tools can be used as well, but many do not have them. This Lift Frame, someone cut the stops off. Of course I have stops here so I welded new ones on. You need them so you have a way to jack the Lift frame out. I should note most bottle jacks do not work horizontally, so you need the mount off the truck. It is much easier to work with off the truck as well. In the past, I have cut a slit in the receiver tube of the mount, and then used a torch to heat the receiver, but I am not sure if it helped or not. That one was a real PITA to get out. That is why on this one, I cut a section out of the first receiver tube. When I found it was not as rusted as I expected, I just cut a slit in the other one. Which turned out to be rusted more, but the 20 ton bottle jack did not care

Started like this:
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Never saw a pin rusted so thin in the middle before. This Lift frame must have NEVER been taken off.
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Cut section out of receiver tube (it can be welded back in later if you need to save the mount).
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Big Red and a piece of 3/4" plate scrap to act as a shim.

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Starting to come out. Moved 1/4" out, then move to the other side...

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Continued....

~Admin

[admin]

Went 1/2" out, then back to the other side, and go 1/2", switch sides and repeat until....


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It's out!

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As I mentioned, you can weld the slit shut and reuse the mount. Doing this on the truck is often not possible because you can't access the tops of the receiver tubes to slit them, at least not easily. Also, you would need a jack that works horizontally, or a porta-power BUT I will mention that years ago when I first tried to do one of these I tried my 1-1/2 ton floor jack and it was not powerful enough. I highly recommend a 20 ton jack.

~Admin

[Bill]

I actually had one of these that bad and ended up using a cutting torch to keep heating the tubes side to side and end to end and used a porta power to do exactly what you did and just keep moving from one side to the other with the porta power and just keep moving it out a 1/4" at a time and it finally came out!

[admin]

Sometimes they can be almost impossible to get out.

~Admin