Help with Silver B side tables and a stubborn bolt


 
A

AHymel

TVWBB Fan
Hello folks! Been a while since I fixed up a grill but had a few questions since it’s been a while!

First question is likely an easy one for the veterans: how do I get the side table extensions off the Silver B? The rods seem to be nested inside side poles? Also, the plastic piece in this picture is also proving challenging to remove. Any advice?
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The second question: in removing the lid one hinge bolt came off easily! The other is seemingly rusted solid. I ended up simply cutting the head off it with a grinder to get the top off and not hold up the evening, but anyone have any insight into these stubborn ones?
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Thanks in advance! Hope all is well!
 
First, remove the screws holding the control panel in. Phillips screw driver. There are slots in the bottom of the gray end handle that will give you access to the screws with a phillips screwdriver. Then the control panel can be removed and out of your way. This will reveal screws holding the gray handle in the end of the frame. Remove the screws. Not sure, there may only be one. Then on the underside of the frame, about 3/4" from the end, there should be a slot. Push a flat tip screw driver up into that and attempt to pound the gray handle out. As soon as it moves a little, you can take the flat tip screw driver out. It is just holding up a small tab locking the handle into the frame end. Keep pound the handle out until it out far enough to remove the pivot rod holding the side table in.

If the gray handle will not come out, it is likely rusted in. But we will hope it isn't and skip that portion for now.

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The lid hinge pins are another story. If it was me, I would treat them with some penatrating oil for a couple days and the grab a pair of vice grips and try to loosen it. If not, then I would resort to pounding it out, but that has to be done with care and support on the end cap hinge or you will break it off. The last option, maybe should be before pounding is to drill it out.

If all else fails, just find a new one from a donor grill.
 
After Bruce’s advice for the lid pins using penetrating oil, before pounding maybe also try a twisting motion on the pin to break then free.

If you have a Jawhorse you can put the lid into it to hold it in place.
Then I’m picturing maybe some Vice grips on the pin, and then manually or with a hammer pulling or tapping the Vice grips so that the pin rotates and breaks loose, instead of trying to pound it out of the hole first.

Just thinking about getting stubborn radiator hoses off in the past; if you try to pull them straight off it’s impossible, but if you twist and break the “seal” then they come right off.
 
Never pound on cast aluminum. Especially old cast aluminum. Lots of penetrating oil (not WD40, it's not penetrating oil). Use a good product like PBlaster. Copious amounts. Heat the aluminum (not the steep pin) carefully with a torch as well. Use a C clamp and a small socket (I think an 8 or 9 mm would be great) to back up the aluminum. Press it out with a C Clamp. But never pound on it. Cast metals are brittle. They become even more so with age (ask me how I know LOL). Doing this it will come out and you will not break the casting
 
Slow even pressure makes so much sense,I don’t know why I never follow those guidelines, I’m just a cranky old fart I guess, in a rush to get nowhere!
 
I am NOT an expert at this, but I like the heat idea and, of course, PB Blaster and time for that to work. I guess if all that fails, I would go the route of cutting off both ends of the pine to flush. (If you don't have a basic cutoff tool and plan to do more grills, I would definitely pick up a cheap one at Harbor Freight but buy good discs.) After cutting to flush use cobalt drill bits and try to drill it out a step at a time. Not easy as the drill bit wants to wander off to the soft aluminum. I have made this work at least sometimes. First give the PB Blaster time - and extra spraying - to do its job.
 
Wow! Thanks so much for the help!

I stepped away from this online community after I finished my personal grill a few years ago and its still the same, smiling, friendly, and helpful faces helping me through the questions. Thanks again, to all of you.

So the side tables are taken care of! Thanks!

The pin is persistent. Sadly @LMichaels I already cut the pin top to get it off the firebox. I wanted to get started cleaning the firebox, so just had to get it off. :(

@Jon Tofte My personal grill warranted a drill out of the main rusted bolt and that was a two hour ordeal that I still have nightmares about! With that said, it worked eventually, so is a solid backup option. And I do actually have one of the HF grinders, wire wheels, and some cutoff discs from my first grill, so that definitely comes in handy! Thanks!

I'm more than willing to buy a penetrating oil and rig it up to soak, but has anyone ever tried white vinegar? In the interest of doing something before buying a can of the suggested, I wonder how that would turn out. I see a handful of posts/videos of vinegar restoring rusty cast iron, and given that it works on loads of other stuff and we already have some around, I'll try it!

Thanks, all!
 
As @LMichaels mentioned above, use a propane plumbers torch to heat up the aluminum that the pin is stuck in for about thirty seconds and that pin will push right out. I've used the technique before on a cookbox bolt that wouldn't come out any other way. If you don't have a torch, it's worth spending the $20 on a cheap one. They end up having a lot of uses even if you don't do any plumbing!
 
Well, @LMichaels @Joe Anshien @Steve Hoch I am again having no luck.

(Vinegar didn’t work of course)

I bought a torch and PBlaster, tried heating and twisting, multiple applications of PBlaster, more heat, more twisting, no luck.

I then soaked it in PBlaster overnight (like entirely submerged it in a small cup), and still had no luck heating and twisting.

I don’t have c-clamps, but I do have some small harbor freight clamps. I tried what I think was what you described. Is this how you do it?
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I’m having no success with this, although it does look cleaner than before :p

Thanks for the help and advice, all.
 
I would mount it in a bench vise with the 1/2 socket surrounding the pin, and drive it out into the socket with a slightly smaller bolt, using a little heat on the aluminum.
 
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