My Kingdom for A Solution!

[Christopix]

Hello Hearth.com folks!

You all have been enormously helpful over the years. I direct everyone I meet who is interested in heating with wood to this site. Short of handing out business cards to this site, I'm among one of your biggest fans and supporters.

I come to you seeking a solution. My Lopi Endeavor needs it steel baffle supports replaced under warrantee and to access them, I need to remove the SS tube set just below the supports. To remove the tube set, I must remove two roll-pins on each SS tube. Easy enough it would seem but for the life of me I can't do it without cussing to the degree gangster rap artist would blush - and I still can't get them out. My dealer says, "they should easily pull out with some needle nose pliers" and I agree, it should be that easy. It isn't.

My hope is that one of you has encountered this and found a way of removing the tube set without destroying the entire set up.

Thoughts?

Thank you in advance!

 

[mellow]

Try heating them up with a mini-blow torch then pull with the pliers once you flatten the one side out. Getting them off has always been easy, it is the putting them back on once they are all mangled.

 

[Christopix]

I hadn't tried heating then up with a torch… Of course, it is going to be a trick to remove these things no matter what I do right now given the stove is our main source of heat. Waiting for a warmer day so I can let the stove go out.

 

[begreen]

Vice grips and a hammer or would it be possible to punch it out with a drift pin?

 

[Woody Stover]

Never done 'em, but did you try a penetrant/lube like WD-40 or Tri-Flow? Vice-grip?

 

[Christopix]

Vice grips and a hammer or would it be possible to punch it out with a drift pin?

Thought about punching it out (in this case in) with a drift pin but I think the pin is close to the same diameter as the SS tube negating the pin moving. Regarding vise grips: That was one of my first ideas but there isn't much roll pin meat to hold onto.

 

[Christopix]

Never done 'em, but did you try a penetrant/lube like WD-40 or Tri-Flow? Vice-grip?

I haven't tried any penetrant. I'd have to let the stove get very cold to try that idea for sure.

 

[Woody Stover]

Regarding vise grips: That was one of my first ideas but there isn't much roll pin meat to hold onto.

What if you open 'em up? Can you catch the roll pin on one side of the tube and push it through (probably need cold stove and lube for this one, too.)