Ice Castle Broken Cables and Siezed axle

[milkingman]

A guy I know took a small hand grinder and put about six SMALL grooves on the axle which allowed the grease to go all the way around

[vman11]

Had troubles with one of my axles, had to really work it off, clean it up, and re-grease. We added 2 additional zerks on axle (3 total now) and it's worked fine since. Greasing them when its warm - fall when you're getting it out of storage and spring when it's going back to storage is better than trying to force cold grease into sub-zero steel on the ice.

[onlyice]

well I gave it a go took the tire off to get it out of there little easier and the hub where in rotation we were able to get it to rotate 1 direction but not come back the other from there we were stuck because we have nothing to get between it. I'm wondering is it just a matter of rotating and using a pry bar against the ice castle or how do I go about getting this off I don't see any simple way considering that it's been rough down there and yes I've been using the PB spray, I intend to sand it off right in front of the 1 inch spacer as well as I can and then try putting that is many times I can or rotating it to try to get it to slide off...looking for serious suggestions on how to slide the whole wheel thing off the hub.

[onlyice]

Ok! Done! So heres the deal for anyone out there who has to do this. If you have the Lowering Point Seize (not the axle) or near seize, you first start by heating the outer collar not the actual solid 2" round hub. then with lots of Jack assist you get the Wheel well out of the way (high so you have access to the 9/16 head bolt) remove the bolt by any means necessary. the bolt was a 3/8 grade 5 bolt in mine 2 3/4" long. once out use emery cloth or something and sand down the rust, heat the 1" spacer (I used a Bernzomatic, and was fine) and begin the long arduous process of beating a crow bar back and forth till you get the thing off (took us about 2 hours). after the spacer is out clean area and then emery cloth that section and then heat that section connected to the wheel well, we used a 50' tow strap and 2nd truck to pull up then a come along to pull back and for with a 5' pry bar as our leverage. this part only took 20-30 minutes. after off, we emery clothed the whole shaft till all rust was off. then on inside of spacer and main tubing we used a dremmel tool with sander to remove corrosion. after sliding back on like melted butter we put on new cables per Ice Castle the sides take 13' and front 7', I used 14' and 8' at $0.39 a foot at mills fleet I'm wishing i'd have bought 16' or more just cause then I would never need to get into that really tight part of the let down area...oh well. I used 2 cable crimps per suggestion from everyone I got info from.

Thats it, To All who put in there info I truly appreciate it kindly. I would have had quite a bill from local mechanic if i'd have brought it in.

[Techmechanic]

I have an ice castle I bought in 2011 making it 8 years old now. I noticed the axles getting a bit stiff while camping this spring. I decided to pull it apart this fall before ice season. This is the first time I have done this. I have one piece of advice after fighting for hours trying to pull the spacer ring is to cut the spacer ring off and it will be a quick 5 minute job to pull apart rather than fighting for hours. I found that inside was still plenty of grease but had build up of gunk from years of use. Easy fix.

[leech~~]

Techmechanic, Welcome to the forum.

 

I hope this tip will help some of the Ice Castle owners on here.  There seems to be a thread on stuck drop down axles every year.

[Hawg]

Regardless of brand, you should always pull the axles every 2-3 years and clean the rust and  grease them. Galvanized cables work fine if you change them when you re grease them. It's an absolute must.

[Crappies]

I found some really good cables and Winch's reasonable from ICNUTS company I can lift my fish house with a drill now love it. The guy there has great reviews and great customer service I had parts next day ordered everything from there HSOforum www.winchdrivertools.com 

 

[Hawg]

I welded my IC Nutz to a socket and painted it orange. I still like to use the winch to go down with the house. I have a Fuel and even with that quality and power it didnt like lowering the house. The Nutz guy is a hoot and the product works great.