Spreader end pins

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Gryphon2

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Anyone any bright idea how to get the clevis pins out of the lower spreaders of my Beneteau where the discontinuous rigging has a chunky pin where the upper shroud joins and there is also a smaller pin where the diagonal joins. The pins are held by split pins easily removed but then there is nothing to grip. I managed to pull out the bigger pin but the smaller one is well set in to the shoe on the spreader end and has no shoulder to lever against.Incidentally I am doing this re rig with the boat in the water... so nothing very technical please as I will be swinging in my bosun's chair!
 
I imagine the clevis pin is corroded into the aluminium so making it difficult to remove. My thoughts are to make up a press with screw handle like a gee clamp to press the pin out from the split pin end. A gee calmp modified to have 2 anvils separated by a gap the size of the head of the clevis pin or a big Gee clamp with a hole cut in the anvil big enough for the clevis pin head to go into. (by anvil I mean the flat section of the jaw opposite to the screwed down piece). You might check out various bearing pullers etc at a motor factors tool section. some have lugs which might be put around the back of the spreader and use a small spacer (smaller than the diameter of the pin to press on.
Another thought. Use a large (suitable sized) 1/2 or 3/8 inch drive socket over the clevis pin head. Use a smaller (1/4 drive socket) on the split pin end. Use a gee clamp to press these 2 together. A bit fiddly and it may fly apart if forces are not straight. Tie string around the sockets and tape string in place, string tied to your wrist, so you don't drop them.
If it were on the ground and you had a helper to hold 2 hammers against each side of the head and you hit the other end of the pin with a punch and carefully calibrated bashometer. But i guess handling 2 hammers and a punch up a mast is not easy.
Obviously if it is really stuck then you will need hot water, plus gas and all the tricks here described for moving SS screws in Ali. All i reckon will need mast down. But good luck anyway olewill (full of mad ideas)
 
Thank you for your thoughts. Sadly the pin is in bllind hole in the Al casting and is not really a clevis pin as it has no end lip. I have managed to get the bigger one out by lots of tapping with a small screw driver. If all else fails I should be able to release the end cap with one wire still attached and encourage it with heat at ground level. Thanks for the input!
 
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