Alpha one steering arm access (Templated holes)

[Benny67]

I am having difficulty getting access to the steering arm screw and nut to loosen my gimbal ring.

The screw and nut are fairly rusty and look like they will give me a had time removing them..that is if I could get a wrench or socket on them. I used the template and drilled my holes but it seems near impossible to access them.

My holes appear to be in the same area as others who have done this job...am I missing something here?

I just assume cut more of the top off and patch it back together in order to gain access to this hardware.

Anybody run into this trouble? I used the correct hole template for my vintage of drive. It looks like I would have been better off cutting out the back (like the Gen 2) instead of the 1 1/8" holes I drilled on each of the sides.

Any input?

 

[alldodge]

I did the same as you on my drive and it takes some doing. The thing I did and others is use a chisel and split the nut. I used the chisel as a drift to turn the nut, it digs in better then a punch.

 

[Benny67]

I'm thinking of just cutting bigger holes in the sides. I'll just make cover plates and seal them on when I'm done.

 

[Benny67]

Update,

I know it's been 3 weeks since this has been active but I wanted to update it to hopefully help others if they run into the same issue as I did.

I ended up cutting out a slot in the rear of the housing that allowed me to get a wrench in there to turn the nut. However the nut was frozen and needed to be cut out with a dremel tool. It wasn't a total loss as I used the hole to tighten the nut as well as for removing it.

I made Aluminium plates to cover the holes and used M3 tapped holes with 3M 5200 on the back of the covers to seal them up. I was initially going to stick weld the plates on but decided against it in case it needed to be removed again.

If I get a chance i'll post the pics.

 

[alldodge]

Good to hear