Accu-just hitch pin removal

[Ron Nossaman]

>I came across my first broken Accu-just hitch pin (Baldwin SD 10O today. I 
>had the dickens of a time trying to remove the broken section imbedded in 
>the plate.
>I was amazed at how harden of steel the material is made of. It made a 
>mockery out of my collection of drill bits. I was able to figure in a 
>temporary hitch pin configuration but I would be appreciate some 
>suggestions of removing the old material. My goal is to install a new 
>Accu-just hitch from Baldwin.
>So far drill bits and some encouragement from a small punch haven't budge 
>the broken pin.
>Tom Servinsky

Wow Tom, congratulations and condolences on the first broken Accu-just 
hitch I've ever heard of.  Three possibilities for salvage come to mind.

The first is driving the pin on through until it drops out the bottom of 
the plate. This would require that the plate be drilled all the way through 
(which I presume they would have to be, but can't guarantee they are. But 
that's what inspection mirrors are for), and that the distance from the 
bottom of the plate to the soundboard is greater than the remaining length 
of the pin. If the pin is too long to drive through without hitting the 
soundboard, there's plan two.

The second is running a long small diameter drill bit, say a #40, down the 
middle of the hitch and through the soundboard. If the "gods of things in 
the way" smile on you (rarely), the bit will miss both ribs and posts, 
leaving a hole in the panel that you can get to for the next step. If so, 
drill out the small hole in the soundboard from underneath to a size you 
can either get a punch into to drive the pin up from the bottom, or down 
from the top and through the soundboard hole. If the #40 bit passes through 
a rib, you won't want to be making the hole big enough to pass a hitch pin 
through, so there's plan three.

Third is either pulling the plate and driving the pin out, or drilling 
another hole in the plate and putting a new pin in a different place.

Here's hoping the gods are in a good mood.

Ron N