Anchor maintenance

[ssullivan]

Today I started to get our primary CQR ready for a re-galvanizing. I went to remove the anchor, but both shackles are frozen. And when I say frozen, I mean a steel pin through the hole hit by a hammer won't even begin to budge the threaded bolt. I actuall bent the steel pin.

So, my shackles aren't coming off without a cutting torch or whatever.

This leads to the question: Is it safe to simply leave these on? They sure aren't going anywhere. Can I have the shop just re-galvanize the whole thing... chain, shackles and anchor in one shot rather than taking it all apart?

Any input on this? I'm not showing any real wear on the hardware where they meet, but I had figured it would always be best to disassemble and replace the shackles since I'm galvanizing anyway. Looks like this can't be done without a cutting torch.

What would you do? Anyone had this problem before?