At some point in it's life.. my '94 Square Body S10 was in a saltwater flood.. naturally.. this makes any chassis work.. just enjoyable.. .well.. I needed to extract the existing hitch ... because it's the wrong ball size, AND it's configured in a drop configuration.. I need it to pop up...
so of course, I start out in a good mood.. .and figure i'll try the heat'n'beat method.. well naturally, I ran out of acetylene 10 minutes into trying to heat it.. so I figured I'd do my best with MAPP and proprane...


well needless to say, that was entirely pointless.. even with a 4lb mini-sledge. it wasn't interested in moving...

so I hacked the bulk of the hitch off with my plasma cutter


in high hopes, I had tried to drive a cold chisel in the side.. but that wasn't happening either... so I had to bust out the sawz-all.. and I cut downward on the bottom


Eventually, I cut all the way through the bottom, entirely from front to back.. which allowed me to use the cold chisel and hammer to fold the bottom up which left me collapse the sides in somewhat.. it was actually moving up and down a bit now.. but still had no intentions of coming out willingly...


then I had a thought... the same trick I learned for extracting wheel bearings would work here.. (using a 1/2" bolt and nut as a jacking screw)
so I welded a nut on.. (Several times.. we won't talk about my welding skills)


due to my short bolt.. I had to re-weld the nut on a couple times because i ran out of thread..
but to be fair.. it WAS moving outward..



i was still being generous with the PB Blaster.. (like it was really going to make a difference LOL)


I got it to the very end.. and it was soooo loose.. but I still couldn't just pull it out.. so I clamped the trusty old vice grips on to the bolt and whacked the vice grips a few times.. finally managed to extract it


with the old hitch now finally out.. I used my harbor freight needle-descaler to clean the junk out of the hitch tube.. (and there was A LOT of it)
so... 4-1/2 almost 5 hours later.. I can barely lift my arms up anymore.. but the hitch is out!! and I can slide the correct one for my trailer in!! YAY!!

 

I like the use of the bolt and nut!

 

Thanks.. I got the idea from a youtube video. .where he knocked a wheel stud out, and used a bolt and a nut to jack the wheel bearing out of the knuckle.