freeing corroded halyard roller

[osprey877]

The stainless roller pin that carries my genoa sheaves at the masthread has welded.itself to the aluminum masthead fitting. The roller drops into a milled slot inthe aluminum. It needs to be lifted straight up and there is no rroom to get any real leverage under it. Any suggestions?.
Also the reason i need to get it out is because one of the plastic sheaves has cracked. I was going to replace them with aluminum sheaves, but now worry this is asking for more trouble. Anybody have ant experience with aluminum sheaves on a stainless roller??

[neilpride]

As far i know aluminium sheaves have a ss bushing in contact with the pin...

About to get the freezed sheave out, if you try heat, pb blaster, etc... last resort is surgery, cut the pin , sheave ,humm you have the mast resting in ground,??

[osprey877]

There is no ss bbearing in the new aluminum sheaves and the mast is still inthe boat. What is a pb blaster??

[neilpride]

From where you get that sheave? if there is no bushing , for get it, is going to be a pain in the ass in the future..

With the mast up is going to be tough, pb blaster is kinda a overpower dw40. Very good with that seized screws or frozen parts.

[Roy M]

There is only ONE way to do this, and that's with the mast horizontal on sawhorses, a cooler full of cold beer, tools, penetrating oil, impact tools (noticing the escalation here?), access to a good rigging parts supplier, and courage, fortified with cold beer. And while you've got this recalcitrant sheave to mess with, consider that the problem WILL extend to virtually every other part on the mast. So while it's down, pull the winches, overhaul them, check EVERY single fastener for security, maybe change the halyards, even, GOD FORBID, repaint the mast and boom. This is a blessing in disguise, a chance to avoid a nasty accident down the road when the spreader's compression bolt head snaps off due to the lurking crevice corrosion of years of neglect, which breaks the mast because of a tiny little part holding up the rigging, which probably should have been changed then, also. Bite the bullet, do the right thing. You will feel so smug, self righteous and deservedly proud of yourself afterward, even though your wallet is weeping for a while. Maybe you'll have enough cash left over to install new lights, mast wiring, vhf antenna, a radar or other treasure that you can show off on your shiny new rig. Do it! It's patriotic! It will spur the economy, embolden your fellow sailors to fix their boats right so they can try to beat you to the next mark instead of worry if the next puff will be their last.