Frozen/Rusted Bob-Tach wedge: short body hydraulic ram

[wateka]

My new-to-me 853 sat unused for several years before I bought it and the Bob-Tach wedge pins were stuck. I was going to try the heat and hammer method to remove them, but the 853 has no way to hammer the top of the wedge directly. In looking at the Bob-Tach closely, there is a flat spot - almost like a washer - that the factory welded on. That washer was parallel to the head of the wedge, and could support a 3/4" thick steel bar. Add a 20-ton hydraulic short body ram between the wedge and the support bar, and it popped free. I had to keep adding thickness, via hex nuts, to push the wedge out, 1/2" at a time.