Getting the roll pins out is a real problem for replacing the planet
 shafts with a special hardened and ground bolt/planet-shaft.

 I think a hypodermic needle and high pressure oil might work.
 Put the needle all they way down in the bottom and apply a shot
 of high pressure oil to the needle. In theory it should pop out some
 what.

 I also thought about tapping it with a 2-56 tap.

 Then there is supper glue and welding wire but you have to get all
 the oil out first.

 Here is another idea. Stick welding wire in and apply a lot of current.
 The welding wire might then weld itself to the roll pin. Then pull it
 out. This trick might work the best and is easy to try on the junk
 planet carrier I have. Are you up for this test Ed?

 Paul Lamar

 Using the welding trick has real potential.
 Insert the welding rod only into the roll pin about 1/16th of an inch.
 This should reduce the possibility of the roll pin welding it self to
 the planet carrier instead of the roll pin.

 Something as simple as a 12 volt car battery should put out enough
 current to weld the wire to the roll pin.

 Paul Lamar

 Here are some ideas from the Internet.

 Take a small stick welding rod and knock off the flux at the end. Grind
 it a bit so it'll go into the hole in the pin tight. Turn the amperage
 all the way down on the welder. Hook the stinger to the rod and
 gradually turn the amperage up, giving the pin time to heat up. You can
 probably get a 1/8 pin red hot with 30-40 amps at most. Once its hot,
 gradually reduce the amperage so it doesn't cool fast enough to
 re-harden. At that point it should be fully annealed. It might come
 right out, but if not it'll be soft enough to easily thread a hard screw
 into it so you can get a slide hammer on it. It generally works much
 better than a torch because it puts the heat exactly where you need it.

 --------------------------------------------------------------
 --
 Use some heavy putty or clay
 Make a roll of it and keep pushing it in the drilled hole [at the blind
 end of the pin].

 Than give some blows on your small piston in the drilled hole and ad
 some more putty if needed.

 Putty or clay works better if there is some leaking
 You can also drill a hole from the back of the casting or the side

 But this is definitely the way to remove a pin out of a blind hole

 Peter from Holland
 -------------------------------------------------------------

 forget all the heating, beating and other crap and get an eighth inch
 carbide ball burr

 position control is important so you stay on center, but spin her up
 use coolant and cut it out.

 takes maybe 60 seconds

 i have done several fuller transmission mainshaft rollpins in this
 manner, shafts that have been scrapped because machine shops cannot get
 those hard little bastards out.

 at least the shops in this area can't get them out.

 i use a dremel tool and plunge right into the little bugger, taking a bit
 at a time, and use anything handy for coolant.

 8 bucks for a burr and a minute is well worth the effort.

 bob g

 ---------------------------------------------------------------

 Does it need to be welding rod? Would a piece of drill rod work?

 This got me thinking (dangerous, I know): Assuming something besides
 welding rod can be used, is there a way to tin the rod with silver
 solder (or whatever), flux it up and have the rod solder itself to the
 roll-pin as everything cools? Obviously, if you did it wrong you could
 wind up silver soldering the roll-pin into the hole...

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------

 I've had success just screwing a hardened drywall screw into the roll
 pin and pulling it out with a slide hammer. Metalmunchr (above) adds
 softening the pin for a good bite -- a great idea. In any case, might
 try just the screw to start. In my case, there was enough bite to do the
 job, even with a hard screw into a hard pin.

 -----------------------------------------------------------
 ... Does it need to be welding rod? Would a piece of drill rod work?...

 A common nail would probably work just fine.

 The easiest way to remove the roll pin, just tap on the gear shaft
 with a hammer and a punch and it will shear off very easy those roll
 pins and then push out the pins left on the housing ad the one on the
 shaft and the small remaining roll pin in the housing can be remove
 very easy, i did remove mine to take dimension for my design
 Jean prudhomme

 I am amazed.  I'll try it tomorrow.

 Paul Lamar


  Hi  Paul,
                  I have removed blind hole bushes by filling up the
recess with grease, and driving a punch, neat fit into bush and the bush
pops out, you would have to MIG weld the very top of the roll pin slot
closed to retain the grease, I have not tried this on roll pins, I
haven't had to remove roll pins in blind holes.
            John Burey

Wow!!! that really worked great Jean. Even on an aluminum planet carrier. I was skeptical that it would work on an aluminum planet carrier but a big bolt and a five pound sledge and the shaft came right out of there. This gives us a lot more options on planet carriers. No more expensive  EDM necessary. Thanks again Jean for discovering that.

The early Ford C6 had 3 pinion front planets with relatively huge shafts
.680" in diameter. The draw back to that is the needles are really zinging along at super high RPM. The later four pinion and six pinion shafts are down around .430" which makes more sense for our applications.

Ed wants to build a integral planet carrier with the prop shaft which is a cool idea. I am working on the dwg as we speak. Salvaging the shafts, gears and needles  will work fine on the intergral planet carrier. Now all we need is an NC shop to make it.

Paul Lamar