My 1998 202BR sits on a Prestige trailer that was built with a removable tongue; when two pins are removed, the square tube is supposed to slide forward and out of a larger square tube, thus shortening the trailer. I have not needed to use this feature for the past five years, but now I would. Unfortunately rust has formed where the two tubes slide together and although the two pins came out easily, I cannot separate the tubes.

Has anyone else had this problem, and if so how did you correct it? Or does anyone have any suggestions for separating these tubes? I tried tapping the outside of the larger tube with a hammer to loosen the rust and the bond. It's impossible to spray a product like WD-40 between the two pieces because there is no access point. I suppose if I left the pins out and drove down the road, eventually the tubes would separate, but that's not a viable alternative......lol!

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks!
 

I think you're on the right track. Letting the stuff sit and dissolve (even though it can't get all the way in there) and tapping it with a mallett to break it free is probably your best option. Eventually it'll free up. If you have big enough chocks that you know it won't move, chock that baby up, pull the pins, disconnect the brake line (if it has one) disconnect the wire harness, and just put the truck in drive. You don't have to yank it out, but a little pressure with the tongue jack down as a precaution might do the trick. All you have to do it break it free. You don't have to drive forward and yank the tongue completely free - once you break that bond of rust, you should be able to disconnect from the truck and pull it out by hand. I'd clean it up good and put a fresh coat of paint on it. Who cares what color it is on the part that's inside the trailer (nobody will see it but you when you have the tongue removed) - making it smooth will make it harder for the remaining rust to grab hold of it and start the bond again.

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Crownline Airlines 2001 202BR with WakeAir tower

ya, what Kyle said......

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1999 202BR MISS "B" HAVEN
Platform by swimplatforms.com
Samson Wakeboard Tower

Jerry, The tubes must be rusted up pretty good. I say that because I had a 1998 202BR riding on a single axle Prestige trailer with the removable tongue...and the tongue slid in/out real easy. It even had enough gap between the tubes to "clunk" if you shook the tongue. Any chance one of your tubes is bent or dented causing it to bind up? It might be easier to drive the tongue further into the larger tube to free it up, as there is very little access or area to try to drive the tongue out of the larger tube from the aft end. Kyle's ideas sound reasonable also. 

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Phil Belcher
2003 266CCR
496 MAG, Bravo 3

Phil, Kyle and Randy..........thanks very much for your suggestions!

This is a tandem axle trailer (that shouldn't make a difference). I've had the boat and trailer since 2000 and the removable tongue was NEVER loose, didn't "clunk". It was always a struggle to get it to slide out because of being such a tight fit; now the rust complicates the situation. But it could be bent which certainly would make it impossible to remove. And I have tried to push it in, won't budge. The back of the larger tube is blocked by a cross member, so I can't get in behind the smaller tube to push or spray a solvent. Tough problem; that's why I came here for help!

 

Good Morning Jerry,

 Raise your trailers' tongue jack to it's fullest height and spray some penetraing oil around the top and sides. With the bow up, the oil should work its' way back between the two pieces of steel.

Never try to move the trailer by hand with the tongue jack fully extended. Always lower the TJ as far as possible prior to attemping manual movement.

If you want to try hooking it to your tow vehicle and gently moving forward to dislodge, leave the TJ down, and do not take all of the tongue weight off of the tongue Jack. GENTLY !!

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Goober says, "Hey!" Andy!! WoooHooo!!

Thanks Byron........I'll give this a try!!!

my suggestion would be lots of penetrating oil (or Coke as it'll eat the rust)....

 Then using a slide hammer on the tongue to pull the tonge forward.......the smaller "hits" will be more effective then just the positive pressure of a tow vehicle.....

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2002 225 LPX, Citrine Yellow, 350 MAG, B3
Ontario, Canada

Jason Tuer:

my suggestion would be lots of penetrating oil (or Coke as it'll eat the rust)....

 Then using a slide hammer on the tongue to pull the tonge forward.......the smaller "hits" will be more effective then just the positive pressure of a tow vehicle.....

 
I'll try the slide hammer approach too............one (or all) of these methods is bound to work. Thanks everyone!!!

After three days of soaking the tongue with penetrating oil, I tried ALL of the above suggestions without success. Some problems are unsolvable.

Thanks again for the suggestions! 

Try getting the inside piece cold and the outside piece hot at the same time.  This will increase the clearance between the two.  It may be difficult, but worth a shot.  Try to get ice inside the smaller tube, without going back into the bigger tube.  Then, heat up the big tube and pull.  Heating up the larger tube may be the harder problem, without damaging the paint.  You may not be able to do it, but I thought I would throw it out there anyway.  Good luck.

If worst comes to worst, and you want a fold away tongue, you may be able to cut the tongue off and add a swing away section.  I've seen hinged assemblies that you can buy.  Fulton has a bolt-on style for about $200 on e-trailer.com.

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Jim Canary
2006 180BR 4.3 Amethyst

Jim Canary:

Try getting the inside piece cold and the outside piece hot at the same time.  This will increase the clearance between the two.  It may be difficult, but worth a shot.  Try to get ice inside the smaller tube, without going back into the bigger tube.  Then, heat up the big tube and pull.  Heating up the larger tube may be the harder problem, without damaging the paint.  You may not be able to do it, but I thought I would throw it out there anyway.  Good luck.

If worst comes to worst, and you want a fold away tongue, you may be able to cut the tongue off and add a swing away section.  I've seen hinged assemblies that you can buy.  Fulton has a bolt-on style for about $200 on e-trailer.com.

Great suggestions........however, these pieces are rusted together solidly and will not separate. I'll check out the bolt-on option. Thanks!