Get mountain climbing enthusiest son to tie mast to tree with old dynamic (stretchy) rope. (double strand) Cardboard protected the bark.
Head Removal. Getting the head off of the mast was some fun. To do the job the way I did you will need the following items.
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Get mountain climbing enthusiest son to tie mast to tree with old dynamic
(stretchy) rope. (double strand) Cardboard protected the bark.
Hook chain to trailer hitch and around bar in head. Drive away from
tree in 4WD till all the wheels start to slip. Set handbrake. Note cleared
area and hose in case of fire.
This shows about 4-5' of stretch in the doubled 9/16" nylon rope.
Heat like mad with gas welding outfit to loosten rust and expand head.
The chain is looped around the bar inside of the head. We used a chain
on this end to prevent any spring back at the head end. Also this prevented
any accidents due to heat near the rope.
Beat on the mast to jar loose the rust. Note that the tension is great
enough to actually lift the head and mast free of the ground. Nate was
rotating the mast so my blows would be evenly spread around the mast. I
did not pound on the cast head itself.
Nothing has moved yet, so we switched to the cutting torch and cut
a slot in part of the mast that was inside the head.
More sledge work and the mast finally starts to pull out of the head.
You can see the shims that were used to keep the head in position. (before
the rust took ofver the task)
The last blow. The mast finally popped out of the head. Note how far
the stretched ropes pulled it back once it came loose. The mast is badly
corroded from many years trackside, and will be replaced. (If I can locate
the proper sized pipe.)
This shot into the end of the head shows how the chain was attached.
The victors! The head was removed in 45 minutes with no damage to the
semaphore nor to the people. (other than a tired old man from all that
pounding) <grin>