TR2/3/3A TR3 Cage Nuts

I'm at my wits end with these lovely little pieces of 1850's ingenuity.
I am trying to remove the fenders from my car for paint prep. The nuts that slip inside the cages, I've been gripping with vise grips(which has been most of them). Everything has been soaking in penetrant.
Any other ideas at tackling these dreaded little things?
I've been averaging about two-three an hour so far.

I was going 'nuts' with these caged nuts as well. I found that if soaking them in penetrating oil for days and vice grips did not allow the bolts to turn, I could drill them out -but thats not easy and left me with a caged nut that was useless. Then I found these pliers were easy to get behind the cage (after at least one of the non-welded flats was unbent) and a couple wiggles back and forth weakened the cage and it will rip right off the fender (or whatever). If I was too aggressive, I could rip a hole where the spot weld held the cage, but wiggling usually avoids damaging anything but the cage. A little grinding is generally required to remove the remains of the cage/weld. After bead blasting, I will weld a new cage in place. It seems to work best if I can grip the cage as close as possible to the original spot weld. I also have to be careful to keep from bending what the cage is welded to.

Two pictures, 1)pliers 2)aggressive holes pulled in fender.
Hope this helps,
Jerry

Thanks for your response.
If only there was an easy button.
Access to some of those cage nuts will make it fun welding a new one in.

Heat. the proper use of heat. if its not in the tips section, it should be.

I forgot to mention that I've used mapp gas. I have access to oxy-acetylene where the car currently sits but forgot about it. I will give it a go.
Thanks.

DougF said:

Access to some of those cage nuts will make it fun welding a new one in.

Click to expand...

There are several weld nut locations that are tough to get at to weld a new one in. Several of them I pop riveted in. The ones that hold on the very back of the fender where it joins the rear section, I just used flush mount weld nuts that I got from McMaster in the same thread size. Of course, the old weld nuts are left to rattle around in the bottom there somewhere! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/jester.gif

A handful of mine were damaged and beyond repair. I'm planning to weld in new ones.

For the remaining ones, they were left exposed for a few years, without bolts in them, and they developed rust in the threads.

I purchased a set of thread chasers from Jegs that are hardended "bolts" with notches cut so they clear out. They have course and fine versions. After I run one through those rusty cage nuts, they thread like they're brand new. Overall, a quite useful addition to my toolset.

Grind the head of the bolt off with a Dremel to get the fender off. Then replace the caged nuts after everything is apart.

....bring it over to my house, I will get every one free and still be useable with heat, you make a movie of it, then post it and this question will be answered for eternity.This is old school stuff that every car body guy should know.

Hopefully someone will take you up on your offer!

...todays my ornery day Andy, get em every once in a while.

A friend helped me this evening. We remove two fenders and a door. Ran into a few snags, but everything worked out. I can't believe I forgot the acetylene was on the other side of the garage and I had forgotten all about it. I'm too young for senior moments! It is a fairly good sized pole building.
The best part is I didn't find any unexpected problems underneath. Hope the other side is the same.
Thanks for the replies.