Head dissassembly. Getting the counterweight off of the sector shaft was not easy. I did not have my torch yet so I used splitting wedges and a sledge hammer. (That was hard on everything including the old man on the handle.) As you can see in this view, the flange that mounts the spectacle has been broken off sometime in the distant past. Fortunately it was still connected to the mangled spectacle, so there is hope for repair.
Click on any image to enlarge it. Choose "back" to return to this page.
The drift is made from a chunk of rebar. Letting the wrench hold it seemed like the safest option because I can not swing a sledge one handed with any accuracy. Using the sledge to remove the counter weight damaged the sector shaft by mushrooming the cotter key hole.
It did eventually come off, but I should have waited until I got my torch. Actually the next stubborn job gave me no options other than to beg, buy, or otherwise acquire a torch. I picked the "Buy" option and hung around on E-bay until I was able to nab a Harris set out from under the nose of some poor bidder that had been patiently bidding on it for two days, a couple of dollars at a time.
Once the counter weight was off, all I had to do was remove the innards and clean them up. Did I say "all"? Everything inside was stuck as tight as the counter weight, and beating it apart was not a good choice. During the winter it just sat while I pieced together the needed equipment to challange the rust.
Spring is here, and so is my welding equipment. Now let's see if we can get this thing to come apart. I didn't want to switch into fireman mode, so I raked up the leaves and put down some tin. I also dragged the water hose out of storage just in case.
This multi flame rosebud puts out some serious heat. That should loosen the stuck pieces and let me drive out the pin.
It worked! Here is the latching mechanism, out where I can work on it to free it up again.
The sector was also frozen to the sector shaft, but this torch business really works!
Soon we have it out as well. This image shows the damage I did to the shaft while getting the counterweight off. (note flattened hole on right end)