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Author: Subject: How do I remove a stuck bolt?
smart51

posted on 22/8/09 at 09:23 PM Reply With Quote
How do I remove a stuck bolt?

The lower bolts on the rear dampers on my cappuccino are stuck solid. No amount of WD40 and persuasion with a hammer has loosened them. A long bar on a ring spanner has just turned the nut on one side round. The damper lower bushing is rubber so I don't want to apply heat, certainly not with a flame.

What else can I try to get them off? It is just a case of drilling out the bolt (can't get to the nut end other than with a spanner)






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nib1980

posted on 22/8/09 at 09:33 PM Reply With Quote
impact wrench?
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andkilde

posted on 22/8/09 at 09:36 PM Reply With Quote
Are you hoping to replace to the dampers? Or re-use them?

Stuff like that nearly always requires the Oxy/Acetylene torch here in Canada where they're quite fond of salting the roads in winter. What happens is the bolt fuses itself quite comprehensively to the inner sleeve of the metalastic bush and no amount of mechanical persuasion is ever adequate to free it off.

If you're lucky and the bolt is just stuck in the nut you might be able to free it off with a pair of vice grips on the rounded end after whacking the nut a few times with a punch and a substantial hammer and giving it a good soak with penetrating oil. Also, if there are urethane bushes and replacement sleeves available for your dampers you should be able to carefully burn the fastener and rubber out with a torch -- you'll need to wrap the damper in wet rags to keep it cool and keep your fingers crossed that you don't cook it.

t

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mookaloid

posted on 22/8/09 at 09:38 PM Reply With Quote
can you get stillsons on to the nut?








"That thing you're thinking - it wont be that."


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rusty nuts

posted on 22/8/09 at 09:55 PM Reply With Quote
As a penetrating oil WD40 is crap! Use something like Plusgas or Deblock , The hot spanner always works (oxy acetalyne)
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Chippy

posted on 22/8/09 at 10:26 PM Reply With Quote
Angle grinder, cut of the bolt head and with the heat generated you may be able to drive the bolt out. If not do the same with the nut, and you should be able to spring the shocker out. Worth a try, Ray





To make a car go faster, just add lightness. Colin Chapman - OR - fit a bigger engine. Chippy

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marcjagman

posted on 23/8/09 at 12:37 AM Reply With Quote
tighten, loosen, repeatedly about 20-30 times it generates heat and that usually works, otherwise oxy acet
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smart51

posted on 23/8/09 at 07:21 AM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by andkilde
Are you hoping to replace to the dampers? Or re-use them?


Reuse them. I want to replace the damper's rubber gaiter which has split. The damper itself is fine.

On closer inspection, the rubber bush is pressed into the upright, not the damper. I have the parts manual PDF and the bush is not listed as a separate part. I really don't want to break that are rear uprights are huge money.






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gregs

posted on 23/8/09 at 08:10 AM Reply With Quote
I had to replace a CVJ on my wifes A4 last month, a weeks soakng in plus gas did nothing, nor heat, nor brut force and ignorance.... in the end i dremeled it across one of the exposed parts of the bolt (pinch type) which then allowed me to snap the bolt and get a chunk of it out, the rest came out with slow drilling.... 4 hr job, then one hour to get to do the CVJ!.

That said if you have just rounded it of (note - never use ring spanners (double hex usually) for high torques!), there are some tools which act the opposite of easy-outs, but work on the outer face - note I said they work, so not that simillar to easy-outs!

linky

Not the cheapest place to buy, but gives you the idea. Alternatively, if you got access to a welder then weld a bar to each end... just disconnect ECU first!

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t16turbotone

posted on 23/8/09 at 08:12 AM Reply With Quote
yep...wd40 is crap as a penertrating oil....ive found brake fluid to be good
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rusty nuts

posted on 23/8/09 at 08:26 AM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by gregs
I had to replace a CVJ on my wifes A4 last month, a weeks soakng in plus gas did nothing, nor heat, nor brut force and ignorance.... in the end i dremeled it across one of the exposed parts of the bolt (pinch type) which then allowed me to snap the bolt and get a chunk of it out, the rest came out with slow drilling.... 4 hr job, then one hour to get to do the CVJ!.


Top pinch bolt? Easier to remove the drive shaft , you dont have to undo the top or the bottom pinch bolts just the drive shaft inner and outer bolts

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dhutch

posted on 23/8/09 at 10:34 AM Reply With Quote
With one of the bolts on the westfeild it had rusted to the sleave of the rubber bush, so although could get the nut of the end i could get the bolt out.
- Ended up angle grinding the head off oneside, and cutting the bolt with a manual padsaw so i could just about slip it out of the holded.

Took 4tonnes of force to push the blighter out once it was on the hydrualic press and despight two days of wd40 (only thing i had to hand) it was dry right the way thought.


Daniel

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MikeR

posted on 23/8/09 at 10:38 AM Reply With Quote
I can throughly recommend plusgas. Its damned good and does what its designed for. WD40 isn't a penetrating fluid.
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the_fbi

posted on 23/8/09 at 10:51 AM Reply With Quote
Is the nut you can't get a spanner to, the one which is turning, supposed to be welded to the chassis and its welds have broken, hence its spinning?

If so, can you get an arc stick onto it and just re-tack it in a few places to stop it turning?

The heat from the weld may also help free it off, try tightening the bolt very slightly first too.

If you do go the weld route, give it plenty of time to cool down (use some water too) before applying force, else you'll be back to square again.

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mad4x4

posted on 23/8/09 at 11:39 AM Reply With Quote
I must recommend these

SUPER BEST EVER TOOL

Bought them about 18months ago and since then alwas managed to remove rounded nuts

Other option would be to Tighten it up till it snaps. Saves trying to Screw the nut down a long fubar thread.





Scot's do it better in Kilts.

MK INDY's Don't Self Centre Regardless of MK Setting !

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MikeRJ

posted on 23/8/09 at 11:59 AM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by MikeR
I can throughly recommend plusgas. Its damned good and does what its designed for. WD40 isn't a penetrating fluid.


It is a penetrating oil, perhaps not the most effective but it's worked for me numerous times in the past.

No penetrating oil can break the bond created by corrosion however.

[Edited on 23/8/09 by MikeRJ]

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BenB

posted on 23/8/09 at 12:00 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by MikeR
I can throughly recommend plusgas. Its damned good and does what its designed for. WD40 isn't a penetrating fluid.


That's what I was just about to point out It's a water dispersant not a penetrating oil.... (even if it's often used as one)...

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