Sticky bolts

Swifty · 18 February 2006, 18:25

Trying to drop the leg so I can change the impellor. Trouble is there is one bolt that wont shift and is threatening to really make my day and snap off.

Any sugestions as to how to loosen or ease it?

Have tried WD40 so dont sugest that one!
Was wondering if limescale remover would help.

Cheers
Tim'mers.

Paul F · 18 February 2006, 18:29

Tim
Which bolt is it
Paul

Swifty · 18 February 2006, 18:31

The one under the cav plate.

Paul F · 18 February 2006, 18:34

Depending on which bolt it is, put some heat on it. before trying to turn it give it a bit of a tap with hammer puch/another bolt as the shock and heat sometimes gets the shifted.
If it shifts then reheat and go again
Paul

Paul F · 18 February 2006, 18:37

Ah that is normally salt corrsion holding bolt in around body and not normally in the threads.
Heat iand tap it. Put some heat on the top as well.
It takes alot to melt the real merc paint
Paul

Swifty · 18 February 2006, 18:42

Cheers for that Paul.
May sound a bone question but how much heat should I give it, I mean is it a gentle warming or a good blast till it goes blue.

Also should it be hot when I try to move it or should I let it cool down. Never tried heating stainless / ally.

Tim'mers.

Simon B · 18 February 2006, 19:46

Swifty,

Have you tried tightening the bolt very slightly?
Although it may trash the paint try heating around the bolt, this will expand the hole not the bolt if done quickly enough.

Paul F · 18 February 2006, 20:12

Start with gentle heat and progress on till it moves it will normally shift before paint melts.Move heat around and not just in one spot.Once it starts to move dont let it cool down to much as it will become tight again.

Paul

Swifty · 18 February 2006, 20:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Simon B

Have you tried tightening the bolt very slightly?-

Yup,
Got the feeling its in pretty solid. Was using my wrecking bar and a prayer -no luck though.

Biggles · 19 February 2006, 07:14

A friend of mine uses Diesel like you would WD40.

Hightower · 19 February 2006, 10:43

Have you used the old trick of trying to tighten the bolt yet?

Sounds a little strange but very rarely it does work. Tighten to crack the seal and then try undoing. Trouble with lotions and potions is getting it where you need it.....The thread. Because your bolt effectivley is upside down you are relying on capillery action to wick fluids to the point of the problem this of course is very difficult because of the position the bolt located in.

I guess the use of heat might be a good Idea, get a peice of metal (or grippys, Mole grips) attach this to the bolt head and heat the grippys with a blow torch or acetaline torch, this transfers the heat directly into the bolt where it needs to be and should leave your paintwork unmarked.

Good luck

Swifty · 19 February 2006, 16:11

Well thanks all for your sugestions, I can report back that after getting it all toasty hot with the hot air gun and giving it the good news with my BIGGEST hammer, it came out.

Impellor is now changed.

Many thanks.
Tim.

Nos4r2 · 19 February 2006, 16:13

Heat the casing then freeze the bolt(nothing else) with electrical freezing spray (RS components sell it)-then do the WD /diesel thing immediately after. Diesel's pretty much as good as WD-I use it too-and it's better for a long soak as it doesn't thicken like WD when the carrier solvents evaporate off.
One hot/one cold will create the max clearance for penetrating fluid to get in and may crack corrosion that seals bolts in anyway.

Heating it again for a further few seconds after you've left the penetrating fluid on there to do its job will clear the oily slippy gunge off it so you don't round the head off.

LOL 2 minutes too late

Paul F · 19 February 2006, 16:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Swifty

Well thanks all for your sugestions, I can report back that after getting it all toasty hot with the hot air gun and giving it the good news with my BIGGEST hammer, it came out.

Impellor is now changed.

Many thanks.
Tim.

Good well done.
Sometimes you have to be a bit harsh on the thing.
I surely hope you went mad with the grease before putting it all back
Paul

Swifty · 19 February 2006, 21:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul F

I surely hope you went mad with the grease before putting it all back
Paul

Ohhhh yes. Pukka mercury stuff as well!!

It was a partly corroded bolt clogged in with a good dose of salt. Reading Nos's thread, I doubt if anything would have penetrated past the salt. To clean the hole out took almost as long as getting it out in the first place.

Nos4r2 · 19 February 2006, 23:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Swifty

Ohhhh yes. Pukka mercury stuff as well!!

It was a partly corroded bolt clogged in with a good dose of salt. Reading Nos's thread, I doubt if anything would have penetrated past the salt. To clean the hole out took almost as long as getting it out in the first place.

Shoulda been more clear really-you need to use a blowtorch to heat-or even better an acetylene torch then freeze the bolt.It'll crack the salt 'seal' when you freeze it. If you use an acetylene torch carefully enough you'll melt a lot of the salt too.
An electrical heatgun isn't enough-you can't heat a specific enough area fast enough.

Simon B · 20 February 2006, 00:51

The heat gun idea is probably a sound one if aluminium castings are involved, I learnt to weld aluminium once but did go through a lot of silvery puddles first. vbmenu_register("postmenu_134477", true);

jyasaki · 01 March 2006, 06:50

In case you didn't know, white vinegar does a pretty good number on salt. I suppose, being Brits, you could use malt vinegar with the same end result; would probably smell better while cutting the salt, too.

jky

gaelforce · 01 March 2006, 14:35

be honest, did the bloody impeller need changing after all that?

Swifty · 01 March 2006, 17:30

Ahem. No.