doobie

doobie

Active Member
how do all?
got meself a dirt cheap, second hand, dixon bate adjustable towbar fir me truck the other week to replace the drop plate on a drop plate- accident waiting to happen- arrangement that were on the beast when i bought it, problem is the damn thing is stuck solid!

i'v got all the bolts out and chopped the heads off the big ones, beaten it, wd40'd it, barred it, tied it to a tree and driven off but the fookin thing is hasn't shifted!! was wantin to keep the top plate in one piece but think i'll just have to cut it off the morn!

anyone know if the standard landy towbar dropper had threaded holes??
if it does who's bright idea was it, cos i'm goin to thump them!!
 
DSCF1932.jpg


^ tiz only the two bolts that have no heads keepin the bloody thing on!!

i'll try drillin them first then if it fails i'll get the cuttin disk out!! i'm not wantin to lever it too much incase i wreck the whole back end!

cheers!
 
get yer hammer out and get bashing with a slim chisel in between it and yer chasssis - if it dont drop off and yer do daamage yer chassis yer chassis must have been knackered anyways

it's probably the paint thats holding it on as well - hit it harder

what size cutter did you use? - hope you had yer toetectors on
 
or try and belt the ground off bolt back through with a drift and a heavy hammer

gonna take a lotta heat to get that red hot
 
Grind the plate much more carefully to be sure that the head of the bolt is all gone, then centre-punch dead in the middle of the offending bolt.

Using about a ONE POUND hammer to start with, hit it as hard as you can backwards (towards the front of the car) to try to punch the bolts away from the plate, possibly using a bit of wood to hold the punch in case you blast your hand.

I suggest you do NOT use a sledge hammer because that hits with the wrong sort of force and will damage the cross member.


Sharp fast hits with a smaller hammer is NOT the same as slower hits with a bigger hammer .....

What you are trying to do is punch the bolts in before the main plate has time to move. You are using the inertia of the plate to your advantage.

CharlesY.
 
Before you go a bashing have a look at the chassis directly behind where the bolt ,nut and washer are.
I think you might find that the chassis is turned up at ninety degress .
Not much and it's the possibility that the remainder of the bolt and nut
could be lying up against it ,thus preventing you from pushing it through. only recourse woud be to drill it out .
 
thanks for all your replies! i'v just managed to free the thing off today!

ended up cutting the dropper plate across the bolts and took that off in two halves. then cut a hole in a plate welded to the bottom of the rear crossmember (welded on by a previous owner to hide rusty bits/collect mud). this gave me access to heat the bolts with my blow torch and eventually drive them out with some hammer bashing. there were already "v's" cut in the lip at the back of the crossmember so the bolts could be pushed right out.

.....now what was i doing this for again!! :rolleyes:

cheers folks!
 
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