Cargo bow removal
 

Looking for insight as to how to remove cargo bows from stake pockets?
Surely I’m not the only guy who has ever encountered this issue.
My new to me M135 is giving me some trouble getting the uprights unstuck from the stake pockets. They went in easily enough a few days ago bt now can budge them...

Missed steak stake removal
 

I recall big steel lever bars, blocks for lever points, 200lb boys hanging off the bars, at each end, lifting evenly, low humidity,.....then saws, drills and even threatened them with fire at one point.

Someone mentioned a heat gun pointed in the hole to suck some of the water out of the wood but that takes time. We got our replacement ash out of Windsor Plywood who also provided birch for some glue lam bows.

They enjoy being lifted straight out of the hole now but it's still a 2 man pull.

Some of the pockets have holes in the bottom for drainage. You can put a piece of rebar or a punch in there and pop them up. Another way is you can put a bolt through one of the holes in the wood where the bow attaches and give it a tap upwards.

I managed to wrestle 5 out of 10 out. The other 5 are really stuck.
Have tried a few methods, nothing has worked yet. Think this is a job I have to return to when my patience returns to normal...

Get a second person, wrestle the whole side rack off the truck, and then you will be able to drive them out from the bottom.

You might be able to get the side rack out by yourself by lifting one end up, putting a block of wood under it, go back to the other end, do the same, and repeat until it finally uncontrollably pops out of the pockets and falls over, dragging you down with it.



By the way, the little latches on the cargo box haven't snuck into the stakes, locking them in place have they?