C A Keller
Freshman Member
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I agree with CDK about Aerokroil That stuff will loosen anything. Aerokroil is what WD-40 wishes it was. When dismantling frozen nuts and bolts I will first clean up the fastener with a wire wheel and dremel tool, Spray it liberally with Aerokroil then wack it with an impact driver always using a good quality socket and as big a hammer as can be comfortably swung in the space available. Good tools are an absolute necessity. I've never had a bolt snap doing it this way, and I've never rounded one off. If you heat up a bolt with acetyline it will usually break free. I've found that propane isn't hot enough for real stubborn ones. I know people who swear by the wax trick but I never tried it myself. If you rounded off a nut and can't get it with visegrips or a pipewrench then a splitter is probably your best option. If you have to work to remove a bolt then it is best to replace it especially if it is somewhere important like the suspension.
My uncle worked for the Park Service in Gettysburg restoring some of the cannons on display at the visitor center and one of them was a british gun that was a breech loader. It had very fine threads and hadn't been opened for 100+years. They soaked the whole barrel in kerosene, would take it out and heat it (I'm not sure how) and try to unscrew it. They weren't allowed to pound on it. If I remember correctly they performed this ritual for about four months and it finally broke loose.So patience and determination will eventually work on anything I guess. Since I'm on a tangent about cannons that same uncle scratch built a 1/4 scale (or there abouts) cannon that shot D cell batteries. He made his own black powder and would shoot it into the apple orchards around their house every 4th of July. Those were the days.
My uncle worked for the Park Service in Gettysburg restoring some of the cannons on display at the visitor center and one of them was a british gun that was a breech loader. It had very fine threads and hadn't been opened for 100+years. They soaked the whole barrel in kerosene, would take it out and heat it (I'm not sure how) and try to unscrew it. They weren't allowed to pound on it. If I remember correctly they performed this ritual for about four months and it finally broke loose.So patience and determination will eventually work on anything I guess. Since I'm on a tangent about cannons that same uncle scratch built a 1/4 scale (or there abouts) cannon that shot D cell batteries. He made his own black powder and would shoot it into the apple orchards around their house every 4th of July. Those were the days.