rusted deck bolts

[Simpleton7016]

I have stripped down the "autumn deck" as far as I can go. (This is the one I was going to set up with dual gators until the error in my thinking was pointed out) The electrolysis tank has been working day and night and many of the parts have been de-rusted and are ready for paint. The deck shell is almost ready for sandblasting, but there are some pesky rusted bolts that I can't get out. The worst ones are the ones holding the center mandrel in place. They have been soaking with Kroil for over a month, but the problem is that the "head" end of the bolts have rusted into shapes that can not be gripped with a standard wrench/socket. So the question is how best to extract these? I can get a six-sided socket on the nuts but they are rusted to the bolt and so the whole unit just spins. How do y'all typically attack this problem? I assume that most, if not all of you, have encountered such a situation. Here are the options I am aware of, but y'all may have more. 1. Get a bite on the bolt (perhaps with a vice grips) and heat the other side. But I don't think this will work because I just don't think I can get a good bite on bolt. 2. Drill it out and use a tap and die. 3. I recently bought some left-handed drill bits - with which I have had great luck in the past. But I have never used them on something with a nut on the other end. But they worked great for 'nut-less' operations. 4. Grind them off? 5. Hack saw them off? 6. Others?

[wilm169]

I went to sears [craftsman tools] and got a set of there bolt and nut removers look like sockets but grab on the sides. Work good.

[PatRarick]

It's tough to get a vice grip on the bolts unless you remove the pulley. I've use a 4" vice grip. Small, but it will hold if the pulley is removed. I've also used a small piece of scrap metal and welded each two adjoining bolt heads to the scrap. If it's just one bolt, I weld a scrap to the head and let the scrap run up against the shaft to hold the bolt. I've also ground the nuts off. Just on one flat side. Once you begin to see the threads of the bolt, the nut is usually hot enough and loose enough to screw off (notice that I said, USUALLY). If it won't come after grinding just one side, grind the opposite side of the nut as well. A few raps with a hammer and drift and the pieces of the nut will come off pretty easily once the second side is ground off. Pat

[GWGAllisfan]

Maybe I'm missing something, but why not just grind the bolt heads off? They will be replaced anyway, so why not?

[ZippoVarga]

Drill or grind the heads of the bolts off, pop em out with a drift punch. Voila!!

[PatRarick]

quote:

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Originally posted by GWGAllisfan
Maybe I'm missing something, but why not just grind the bolt heads off? They will be replaced anyway, so why not?

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No reason at all that you can't grind off the heads. Just that it takes a lot less grinding to remove the nut. Pat

[Simpleton7016]

Then grinder it is!! Woohoo! Thanks, I was just worried that the heat might warp the area or other unknown consequences.

[UCD]

If your worried about heat a sharp cold chisel and a few raps of the hammer will split the nuts.

[Simpleton7016]

See......this is why I posted a seemingly mundane request....I hadn't even thought about a chisel! New winner! Chisel it will be! Thanks!

[SmilinSam]

I usually grind one side of the nuts off with eiher an angle grinder or cut off disc air tool and then knock the rest off with a punch. Either that or the acetyene torch. That though is a challenge not to cut into the deck or the spidle housing.

[Alpha8D]

A nut splitter works good too. Sears used to sell them, automotive stores still do. They hold the nut in a pocket and force a chisel point into the nut to bust it as you turn down on a threaded plunger sort of like a c-clamp. Not a good explaination i know. Someone who has one want to take a crack at it? When the nut splits, (on one side only) you hear a pop and it will then unscrew.

[Killer_A-C]

Those are not a big deal. The ones in the later decks are the killers. Not a bolt kinda like a self tapping scr:(:(ew.

[BigSix]

I would cut the bolt heads off and punch the bolts out with a drift, as stated. However, rather than grind the heads off, as I say, I would cut them off, with a cut off disc, on a 4" or 4 1/2" grinder. You can get such discs at Home Depot, etc.... They are typically .045" thick, x the 4 or 4 1/2" (depending upon which size angle grinder you might have). Be sure to get the correct ARBOR SIZE of cut off disc. They might be 10 mm or 5/8" or ? The discs are quicker and more accurate than a grinder wheel, and make less heat as a result, IMO. Not that I think you've got to worry about heat in this situation. Remember your goggles and ear muffs--lol! Peter

[RayS]

I use a hammer and chisle.