There's nothing neat about removing the comptip. Depending on the glue used it can be a real chore. At the factory, correct me if I'm wrong Matt, they've used some form of epoxy since the beginning, which is a good part of the story and I'll tell you why in a second. Since there were a ton of retrofits through the years, people used all sorts of stuff.
Hopefully your mast isn't glued with 5200, because I havn't found the magic bullet for that one yet. Most common Epoxies, except high temp cured epoxies will start to melt at a fairly low temp--around 140F.
You might hear people people say that gluing the tramp frame for example is a bad idea due to its permanence. Well that's not entirely the case as a light heating with a torch will do te trick everytime, as you will learn when you pull the comptip.
This is how I do it, attempt at your own risk!
Drill all rivets. 3/16 bit and a punch work fine.
Tie the base to a solid object. Fence post etc. using a clove hitch. (Don't rely entirely on the mast cleats, mast head etc to hold up for this operation, you're going to tension the mast more than those parts were designed to handle!)
Tie the head to the bumper of your truck using a clove hitch attached to a come along.
Tension the mast and see if it moved apart at the joint. Were you lucky?
If your're not apart yet, with the mast tensioned, take your torch and evenly heat the aluminum extrusion from the joint to about 6" down the mast. Did you get it?
Add more tension and more heat until something gives. Watch the heat of course, it will start to melt the comptip.
If you don't need the extrusion anymore, a die grinder and screwdriver do OK. Peel it like a bananna. You may have to use heat to get the alum scraps away from the comptip.
Have Fun!
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