Beam removal Arghhhhhhhhhhhh.........

[5erge]

Fellow Vdubya's,

I'm removing my 70 Bay Beam, so far I have removed the speedo cable clutch cable, handbrake cable and speedo to hub. I have also removed the square bolt that joins the front and rear shift rods, so I can remove the front rod to celar the beam, will it separate? Will it F***!

I've sprayed in WD40 and penetrive fluid wacked it with a hammer several times and tried pulling from both ends but it won't budge, anyone have any top tips?

Oh I also removed the nut from the relay lever on the beam, but I can't get that to shift either, I'm hoping when the beam is removed the weight of the beam will pull it down. Properly frustrated as these are the remaining items I need to sort out before I can drop my beam and fit all my shiny new gear on....

Help

Des

 

[ant]

Mine was a very very tight fit too. I didn't have to lube it up ( :shock: ) but i did need a large persuader to get the fecker out.

if you get a good large piece of 2 x 4 timber and large lump hammer, standing at the front of the bus place timber on the bottom of the shocktowers(in turn) and hit the hell out of it, once you've got it moving gravity should take over. Good thing about that method is that your on your feet and stuck under the bus.

 

[Pete B]

Re the gear change rod, have you tried using a twisting motion to break the 'seal'? What I mean is, using mole grips/stilsons or whatever, turn one part of the rod clockwise, the other anti clockwise, then work it back and forth a bit with a squirt of WD40 to help loosen it up before trying to pull the sections apart. Hope that doesn't come across as teaching granny to suck eggs....
Not sure what you mean by 'relay lever on the beam'? From the steering box, you have the 'drag link' back to the 'pitman arm' which is fitted to the 'steering idler pin' on the lower torsion tube. The other side of the pitman arm has the track rods fitted. Remove the track rods and drag link (using a ball joint splitter) and that should be it. The pitman arm is removed by undoing and removing the retaining bolt as it passes through a 'groove' in the pin itself but you do not have to remove this to get the beam off.
Hope this helps and that I've not made myself look a muppet by stating the bleedin' obvious!!
And yes, the beam itself can take a bit of persuading to get it to move!

 

[5erge]

Thanks for the suggestions chaps.

Now removed - I sprayed it with penetrive fluid several times, whacked it hard with a hammer. Then secured the gearbox end with a long screwdriver so it was locked in position (note: my engine and gearbox are both out)

Then I blow-torched the joint area and finally twisted the front bar till she finally popped. Mucho effort for one small part of the van but a necessity. I'll do a small write pics up on my experiences in removing the front beam.

Des