The big experiment - amateur 3B shenanigans

[baltiboyS2]

Tighten up the others widen the slot and use a impact driver like below and it should come out no bother give it a little heat if you want but you should not need it

Raj Aby

[Nj]

cheers Newsh. I'll tighten up the other bolts a bit as Steve suggested and have a bash at the highly technical art of whalloping it as hard as I can. With a bit of luck I won't take chunks out of myself cos there ain't much room in there. I already gouged my knee on one of the screws left after taking the heat shield off.

[4WheelDrifter]

Go on. Get the hammer on it. You know it makes sense.

[Acidburn]

Lol i'll have to remember all these tricks, the amount of times i've had to make up new ways of doing stuff like this.

[newsh]

You need to smack the head of the bolt really hard with a hammer, straight on as if it was a nail and you were banging it in, with luck it'll undo with mole grips then. And I mean, really smack it one (or two). you may find the smacking will shrink the allen key hole to the extent you can hammer the allen key back in.. I cant tell you the number of times I've done this to a seized bolt to the amazement of onlookers

[Nj]

ah. good thinking mate. logical now that you've said it. also explains why the last one would be the hardest to get out. i'm a frickkin idiot.

[Knight Rider S4]

Noel tighten the rest of the bolts up so there is less pressure on that bolt to make it easier for that one to come out

[Nj]

cheers Rob, looks like i'm off shopping again. hope the clever slot hasn't ultimately buggred my chances of getting it out properly. doh!

[Nuvo]

You mean pipe freezing spray, available from any good plumber's merchants.
My hammer and socket method worked fine. Although with the prop on the ground I had to get the trusty crowbar on the case too.

I was thinking of this stuff. Probably the same thing only from a motor factors.

[4WheelDrifter]

You mean pipe freezing spray, available from any good plumber's merchants.
My hammer and socket method worked fine. Although with the prop on the ground I had to get the trusty crowbar on the case too.

[Nuvo]

what's the science behind heating a bolt to loosen it? surely if it's warmer it expands in the threaded hole and makes it harder to remove? or do I heat the area the bolt is in?

Hmm, Apply heat it to expand it and then add oil to rapidly cool it and break the corrosion between the threads to free it off. You can also freeze it using one of those release agent aerosols. I can't remembr the product name of hand. Loctite do one.

[Nuvo]

And it all went **** up when the last bolt crumbled as I tried to loosen it. I've done a fair bit of ranting so i'll not do any more. I managed to cut a channel in the bolt head with my trusty saw and now have to figure out what I can use to loosen the b4st4rd. A flat blade screwdriver would hardly do anything other than strip the skin from my hands. I had to come home to eat so I'll have to work it out later. If I was to cut the head off the bolt could I drill the rest out without damaging the thread of the diff, or whatever it's actually fixed into?

Noel, I think you might need the Irwin screw and bolt extactor set (Product Code: 040219431) from good old Machine Mart. I'm not sure if the slot you cut will cause the bolt head to shear off in the struggle though .

[Nj]

cheers lads. I may end up trying all of the above. and if i swear at it enough it might loosen off a bit too.
what's the science behind heating a bolt to loosen it? surely if it's warmer it expands in the threaded hole and makes it harder to remove? or do I heat the area the bolt is in?

[Greg_S]

you could try enlarging the slot so you can get a metal bar inside of it to increase the leverage you have.

[G s2]

hey not long joined the forum just having a gander through and i admire your enthusiasm,as for the bolt you could gring the head off it and when you remove the shaft there should be enough thread sticking though to get a good grip with molegrips

Good luck with it