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Removing Stuck Bolt With Torch??


Bingster

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I have a couple of bolts that are stuck pretty tight on the thermo housing.  Can I soak them with a WD-40 type rust penitrator and then lightly torch them?  I need some advice on how hot and how long on the torching part. And, dare I remove the bolts with an air ratchet?

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you can use all the penetrating oil you want. the heat should be applied around the bolt, in the head area around the bolt to expand the threaded hole. I personally would not use an air ratchet. you can use a fair amount of heat, but not enough to turn metal red. some people make a circle with clay around the bolt head and fill it with penetrating oil and let it soak for a day or so. be sure the coolant has been drained away from the area.  good luck.  capt den

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I would not trust a tool you cannot get any feedback on to your touch/feel.  I would heat them cherry red one time as this will most likely break the rust bond...let them cool a bit (lose all trace of red color for sure) test the bond...if still you feel the fastener is too tight, try another heat cycle...you can use a candle to touch to the threads of nuts etc to allow wicking of the wax that will be a lubricant.  Test again...often no more than two heat cycles will be needed BUT...if you feel it is coming out then get tight again...turn it back in a 1/2 turn and reapply heat...this will help break any rust fored at the bottom of a through bolt.  There is no need to hurry as it is apparent you have had tried these already so you are not in a roadside emergency situation.  Wintergreen oil is by far you best penetrating oil to use...you can buy many well touted products of your choice. 

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   The WD-40 is a good idea. The torch—I’m not so sure. I think others will have to answer that for you. As for the air ratchet—NO. It’ll probably deliver too much torque, and subsequently snap the bolts. It’s better to use a wrench, so you can actually feel the resistance the bolt provides. Then you can add more WD-40, or go with the torch if others recommend it. Taking it slow and easy is paramount in something like this.

CORRECTION--WD-40 doesn't work all that well for penetrating rusted fasteners. Better to use either PB-Blaster, or Liquid-Wrench. Sorry 'bout that . . . . .

 

Edited by DrDoctor
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Watch my machinist remove a oil gallery pipe plug with a torch. As PA stated, heated it cherry red, let it cool briefly and it came right out. I had been fighting it for days. Whole thing took about 30 seconds. 

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The blue tip bolt/ nut/ stud removal tool is the professionals choice.....fast and easy! 

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and for the record...after the heat application and extraction...chasing threaded bolts/studs if being reused and nuts and tapped holes is highly recommended...if a threaded blind hole..use a bottoming tap...only bolts I did not use the torch on was known bolts that I was going to replace on this car I have in the shop now...so far no unintentional loss or damage using the hot wrench...just removed and chased the 12 door hinge screws at the A-posts when removing the doors....all hardware will be reused...

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Agree with most others, skip the air ratchet - excellent way to bust the head off the bolt and then you're in for some real fun

If you're patient, liberal use of PB Blaster or other penetrating oil over the course of a couple days often does the trick.  Sometimes it just takes time to do its job.

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Although I have had some luck with WD40, if it was all I had on hand, it is not the best penetrating oil.

PB Blaster, or any of the other products mentioned above will give you a better chance of getting the bolts out.

WD40 is neither a good penetrating oil, or lubricant.  It is for water displacement (WD).

Of course forget all this if you already succeeded with WD40 and or heat.

 

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Heating stuck rusted nuts and bolts is common practice in our garages up north, quite often it is the only method that works.  We go into said operations having already written off the offending nuts and/or bolts. 

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wintergreen oil is the go-to pentrant for the US Navy..workplace scenario...huge metal bulk with bolted on appointments and weapon systems needing constant care and maintenance floating on a sea of liquid salt...you do the math....lol

 

as an aside, this oil was on a pre-expended shelf in most shop stores located throughout the facilty and was synthetic due to cost..

Edited by Plymouthy Adams
an aside...
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I have not, though I have seen them in documentaries.  I think you will find inital cost is a bit of a factor buying in.  I have used very much a similar tool in a less heated enviroment where I removed leadless components surface mounted to printed circuit boards in the course of my troubleshooting and repairing these circuit boards for return to service in electronic warfare systems.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=inductive+bolt+buster&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xinduction+bolt+buster.TRS1&_nkw=induction+bolt+buster&_sacat=0

Edited by Plymouthy Adams
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once you get a nice torch setup and proper sized tips for the job at hand you will find so many uses for this tool to save you time and money.  Another useful purpose of the blue-tip wrenching as some seem to call it,  (hot wrenching in my book of terms) is the blowing of a broken stud/bolt especially in a blind cast iron hole where access is prevented for use of the normal drill and extract procedures.  Fast and clean removal at your fingertips, no time consuming teardown or engine removal for access.  I will add this, your first experince will have you so uptight and nervous that a jackhammer could not place a toothpick in certain regions of your anatomy. I did my first procedure of this nature as a teenager with the guided advice of a certified marine machinist.  That was back in the day where kids knew why they had two eyes and two ears and only one mouth as it is twice important to listen and see than speak...

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33 minutes ago, Young Ed said:

Anyone use one of the inductive bolt heaters intended for areas where an open flame could be dangerous?

Just tried this last week on a 2002 Dodge Dakota rear shackle thru bolt. The shackle had rusted through and broke. My neighbor stopped by as I was talking to myself and cursing at the truck and the shackle bolts and pretty much everything else. He came back with one of them Inductive Bolt Heaters and we worked on one bolt for the better part of an hour, giving up with his $500.00 Snap-On fancy ass tool and resorting to grinding, cutting, hammerer , prying and cursing the old fashioned way. That bolt is never coming out of the shackle. And the one in the spring end was in the same condition. I think the guy that owned the truck parked it in Plymouthys salt water down by the docks or something.

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As others have said, use a box-end wrench. My procedure is a quick heat cycle, although I never go as far as the 'red zone', then I start by trying to tighten the bolt/nut ever-so-slightly, then reverse. Some times I will rock the offending bolt forth-n-back all the time applying a lube. On some larger bolts I have drilled a small hole through the bolt to the bottom. This allows for lube to reach the bottom.

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On particularly stuck bolts on tractors, I'll take a welder and weld in the center of the bolt. It's always worked. I've calcium corroded bolts that sat in a field for 30 years that only came out that way.

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I also have used the inductive heating  tool. There are different loops and ways to shape the coil.

Still Not that impressed with it. Would not buy one.

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20 minutes ago, busycoupe said:

I have never used/purchased wintergreen oil. Where does one buy it? At a hardware store? Pharmacy? Tractor supply?

I'm not sure but from what little I've read you really prob want to wear gloves with it. Aparently it's good for arthritis, has an asprin effect. It can be absorbed thru your skin. Just sayn.

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42 minutes ago, busycoupe said:

I have never used/purchased wintergreen oil. Where does one buy it? At a hardware store? Pharmacy? Tractor supply?

On line maybe. You can get dang near anything on line and shipped to your door. Health Food stores carry wintergreen essential oil.

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27 minutes ago, Flatie46 said:

I'm not sure but from what little I've read you really prob want to wear gloves with it. Aparently it's good for arthritis, has an asprin effect. It can be absorbed thru your skin. Just sayn.

If it really is good for arthritis in the hands I'll have to get me some of that!

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