Removing stuck pins on a Tron joystick shaft

[trcroyle]

So I have a tron stick that's missing the actuator. I have replacement parts from Happ, but am having trouble with the metal pins that hold the actuator shaft (or whatever you call it) to the hollow joystic shaft. They're stuck tight! (The original actuator shaft seems to have been two parts that screwed together, I'm missing the bottom half. The Happ shaft seems to be one solid piece).

Two of the pins I've got most of the way out, but the third one won't move more than a tiny bit and then locks in place. Any ideas?

[horseboy]

Yeah. Quit buying all of my stuff and that won't happen. 

[trcroyle]

Yeah. Quit buying all of my stuff and that won't happen. 

No way! You quit bidding up all of my cheap auctions!

[1UP]

Go down to Home Depot's hardware (tool) section and get a "pin punch".  These are available in several sizes, and look kind of like pencils made of steel, with a narrow section at the end and a flat tip.  They're used to set and remove spring pins like the ones in the tron shaft.  Place it at the end of a pin, tap with a hammer and push the pin all the way thru.  You will need a punch small enough to fit thru the hole in the shaft, slightly smaller than the outside diameter of the pin.

Good luck

[NoOne=NBA=]

I'm assuming that you are talking about the two pins that go through perpendicular to each other.
The other two (one just above those two, and one just below them that interfaces with the grommet) are permanent.
The top one keeps the wires headed out the wire hole, and the bottom one keeps the stick from spinning on the grommet.
These two don't connect the two pieces together, so there is no need to remove them.

That said, once you get the two middle ones OUT with a pin punch, you can replace them with hitch pins, or cotter pins.
That's what I've done on most of mine.
That makes them easy to get apart the next time.

The only issue I've run into with that is that occasionally you will have alignment problems with the holes on the two pieces, if you swap the shafts out between sticks.
I've always been able to get at least 1/2 of a cotter pin into the misaligned holes though.

[trcroyle]

I managed to get one out with the punch. The second one broke the punch. I finally drilled out most of the first 1/8" or so and then just pounded the shaft out to break through the last little bit. It's free!