Thanks for the replys. It seems that the two thrust buttons are attached to each other via the pin. I have tried the magnet and the long needle nose plyers. They do float in the housing, meaning if I push on one the other side moves also. They are not frozen.

Again, I'm new to this so I went to Mancini to see what these things look like.

See the link: Mancini .

I'm not saying that these are the buttons in there, as I don't think this thing has been apart since '68, but looking at the Mancini part, the pin can only come out one way. But maybe your right for a '68 vintage gear.

In either case, those buttons are not floating independant of each other. They are fixed via the pin.

Thanks
Frank