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Removing rusted bolts tip of the day.

3K views 13 replies 10 participants last post by  timothale 
#1 ·
I have posted this before but thought it needed to be again. Today we got in a Range Rover with a big bumper grille guard on it that was rusted all to hell. The guy had us putting on a new one. The 10mm bolts that were holding it on were rusted bad and the guy removing it tried with a big impact and breaker bars and all. I told him to heat up the nuts and cool them, he did't understand how important this was and kept beating on it with the impact.

I went and got the torch and did one and it spun right off....you should have seen his face. :D

Brian


Removing rusted bolt basics
One of the first jobs I ever had was at a shop doing full on restorations on vintage Fords (we specialized in model 40s 1933-34). By boss taught me MANY things I use every day. One of them was the best trick for getting rusted bolts out that I have ever tried.
You need your torch with a small tip.
Take the torch and make a perfect flame like you are going to weld. Heat the bolt head up till it starts to turn red. (If the bolt is already broken off you will need to saw a grove to use a flat blade screwdriver or have enough to grab with locking pliers) Then quickly cool it with a squirt bottle of water. Repeat, heat it, then cool it. Do this a number of times and the bolt WILL turn right out. If you can, heat the nut around the bolt right before you try turning it out, BUT DON'T HEAT THE BOLT. This will expand the nut from around the bolt. I have did this on Model A door hinges, if you are not familiar with them, it is a 5/16 bolt with a little flat blade screw driver head! A ridiculous design that rusted in to tight to remove around 1950! You can imagine how hard they are to remove in 2000. I have did these with total success, only needing a regular hand screw driver about 99% of the time.

The way I figure the heating and cooling expands and contracts the screw breaking it loose from the rusts grip.
 
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#3 ·
I had to bring this up again after what just happened. The guy from a tire shop down the road from us came into the shop with a stuck lug nut. This was the locking lug nut with the snake looking line the socket goes on to. He was unable to get it out and thought we may have a bad *** impact to do it. Two different guys in the shop tried with their SnapOn and MAC tools heavy duty impacts and nothing, the damn lug laughed at them. They got a big breaker bar, nothing.

I rolled the torch over there and heated that lug nut and cooled it with a squirt bottle of water over and over about 5 times. I then grabbed the impact and didn't so much as hit more than the first time and the lug spun off to the amazement of the crew. I could, I am not joking could have removed it with a 3/8" ratchet!

Thank you so much Nick Cassaro for teaching me that trick! :thumbup:

Brian
 
#6 ·
I used it again yesterday. It's funny because this is a late model collision shop and the torches sit there with the regulators off and safety caps on, never used. But yesterday a co-worker came to me with a problem that the bed he was removing from a Chevy pickup had the nuts turning inside the beds crossmember and the two front bolts can't be removed. They were TIGHT and way up out of the way. They had some sort of home made brackets for a running board or something that was also in the way. On one side of the bed I had the guy stuff a long pry bar in between the bed and the frame and apply some pressure separating the bed from the frame to hopefully hold the nut from turning, wham, it worked, WHOOO HOOOO.

When we went to the other side, no luck, it wouldn't budge. I was concerned about using the torch because the gas filler was right there, a co-worker suggested the "Inductor," Duh, I had forgotten about it (again, it's never used in the shop.) http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/if-you-havent-seen-inductor-you-missing-something-187564.html Even though I was able to get it up to the bolt (VERY tight remember) I heated it up and cooled it a few times and nothing, the nut was still spinning inside. :evil:

It hit me that his was the side that the bed side was being replaced so I had him cut a chunk of the bed side off there where the crossmember ends under the gas filler. Ok, now we had a 1 and a half inch channel with a bolt sticking up inside about a foot in there.:drunk:

The torch wouldn't fit in there, I took an old tip and bent it straighter so it would fit in there. I heated and cooled and heated and cooled and still nothing! One last try, I heated the NUT red hot to expand it off the bolt and WHAM it the bolt unscrewed with the same pressure of the pry bar stuck between the two.

Without the torch, the next step was going to be very ugly as cutting an access hole through the floor of the truck would have been the only way, and it had a spray in liner so that would have been funky.

Nope, the torch does it once again!

Brian
 
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#7 ·
Here is that truck with the bed I used the trick on. You can see the 1x2 channel end where I had to go through with the torch to heat the bolt. This was after cutting the whole in the bed side. :D

Brian
 

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#8 ·
Adding to this thread with an interesting version of the heating the bolt and cooling it trick.

This window frame from my 1948 Chevy pickup had 1/4" bolts that held it to the regulator. Those bolts were so rusted that they broke off trying to remove them.

Photo 1: On the front side I ground I ground off the mushroomed broken off end flush with the nut.

Photo 2: The end of the bolt that was sticking out of the nut I made a "screw" out of it by cutting a slot with a hack saw.

I then heated the bolt and the nut with the torch and then cooled it with a squirt bottle of water. I did this three times. Then just for fun I did the back side where I had ground flat the broken end of the bolt, just once and cooled it.

Photo 3: I then turned right out without so much as a grunt with a hand screw driver!

Man I have to thank my old boss from 1979 every time I use this trick, it is like magic!

Brian
 

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#11 ·
Adding to it again. When I am concerned about the hot wrench damaging the area around the bolt, I crank my Mig way up and zap the center in the bolt or screw. That will heat the bolt cherry red and when it cools it will contract and loosen.

If the bolt is already broken off, you can build the bolt up by mig welding, letting cool, welding, cooling until you can build it up and get a pair of vice grips on it. Generaly by then it comes out easily.

Believe me. I had all kinds of oportunities to practice all these methods with Precious.

John
 
#10 ·
Ok, I use the fire wrench often when replacing trailer brake backing plates and axels.

So now the rear spring shackle is broken on my 1 ton dually. I have new shackles with the bushings on the shackle but the spring bushings is a problem. First not everyone has replacements and second they aren’t cheap.

The spring bolt goes through a steel sleeve in the rubber bushing. Rubber is molded into a steel can that gets pressed into the spring eye. I’m sure I can get the nut off. But getting the bolt out of the bushing sleeve is going to be difficult. The sleeve is surely rusted to the bolt. Ive drilled them out in the past but the spring is three inches wide so it’s a pretty deep hole to be hand drilling. I’m not even sure I can get the whole bushing assembly out of the spring in one useable piece. If I have to spend more than an hour each removing the bolt I’ll just break down and buy new ones. They are $60-$75 each. If I can’t get the bolt out, I’ll just get brutal and cut,melt, burn, punch and chisel them out.

Who has ideas?

Thanks
Byron
 
#12 ·
I have welded a piece of rebar or a bolt to a bolt head like a t-handle so I had something to beat on and loosen the bolt then a puller extracted the bolt.. Either the puller or a drive punch would then do the job..

Sam
 
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