Rusty Bolts (removal)

R

rlees85

Ex. Club Member
sorry but this is really peeing me off now, how do you remove a bolt thats gone rusty (ie exhaust heatsheild). they just crumble, then go out of shape and/or a different size so no socket will fit, then if your really lucky they just round off completely.

hammering them out doesnt seem to work either... so whats the trick?

thanks
 
or some of those rusty bolt sockets

laugh as you may

you can buy sockets that have spiralled (sp) insides, so you put the closest fitting one on the rusty bolt, set your rachet to unwind and hey presto!

what there called i dont know

but pablo on jnc has some lol
 
Use penetrating oil to help the threads come loose, give it a few applications and leave overnight.

Try heating it with a blowtorch - don't bother trying to only heat the thing it is in, as you can't apply heat accurately enough. Shock cooling it with water after can dislodge it. If you have an oxyacetylene torch, heating is easier.

If the bolt is really rusty anyway, the best thing is a pair of mole grips. Get them stupidly tight on it, and it will come out.
 
get a 8 or 9 mm socket or socket that is smaller than the head of the bolt and tap it on with a hammer and then turn it untill the head snaps off
 
thanks! i always soak tight bolts in wd-40 for abit first anyway, ill see if my dad has some mole grips lying around, i think i seen those sockets for taking out any sized object before, they look cool but i dnt have any (or be arsed to buy some just for swapping a cat lol)
 
hey i have the same probl;em, i went to change my wishbones the other day and could not for the life of me remove the top nut grr grr grr

so im attacking it this weekend with an angle grinder to get the Swear evading isnt tolerated off :grinning: :grinning: :grinning:
 
think i gotta buy some bolts from nissan before i do this anyway, the two bolts at the bottom of the cat are rusty and i doubt ill be able to use them again :( (and obviously i need them to join the cat back onto the exhaust lol)

thanks for the advice :) coke is really.. worrying
 
The bolts on the cat are captive (welded to the cat), so only the nuts can come off...if the thread on the bolt is now bust you'll have to drill it out of the cat before fitting another nut / bolt combo.

Same deal i had to go through to get the ones on mine off, but i ended up taking the exhaust off (was getting removed anyway) so i could get a better shot at it.
 
ah thought you meant the cat under the car :) no in that case they do come out...but be careful one on mine snapped when removing them, i also ended up using a wierd sized socket for them because they were so corroded.
 
Another critical point to look out for when working with rusted bolts is to use the correct socket.

Most common sockets have multiple splines. These are great for short movements but they lack grip and are exceptional at rounding nuts. You want the sockets which have the nice flat surfaces in them. You don't need a whole set either. Have a look in your Haynes, find out what the common socket sizes in your car are and buy the sockets you require! This way you can also buy more expensive sockets, like Snapon, Koken, etc. Koken are my favourite. Half the price of the snapon sockets, same quality!

Sorry for my lack of technical terms. I just see things and call them thingys. :D
 
hughes_16v said:
koken must be australias equalivent to halfords tools
Click to expand...

koken are infact japanese and they're very high quality.

I really like japanese tools. I've got a breaker bar here which is indestructable (i've destroyed a snapon, kingchrome, and a Kingcraft breakerbar before).

I'd imagine our Repco range of tools similar to your Halfords range. Repco are a fairly major automotive parts chain throughout Aus. I also have a repco toolkit and its quite good. Not for big things though. I don't trust it that much.... it is made in china, along with kingchrome who used to be a very respectable australian manufacturer :()
 
danm and i thought this would be a 5-minute job :/ gna try and source some bolts, or even just ask a garage how much they'd do it for
 
When I was doing my backbox, asked a garage, and they said they wouldn't mess around trying to get them off, they'd just charge me for a new exhaust from where they could get them off from.

Best just persisting with it, angle grinder is your friend
 
Alienfish360 said:
When I was doing my backbox, asked a garage, and they said they wouldn't mess around trying to get them off, they'd just charge me for a new exhaust from where they could get them off from.

Best just persisting with it, angle grinder is your friend
Click to expand...


yeh I got something right it was an angle grinder!!
 
thing with snapon is if u break it it gets replaced for "free" but yeh they bit pricy tho never heard of koken but i have a lil fancy for bergen tools not that i got any lol
 
No, just a bit of common sense that I found :p

I'm lucky enough not to be on the wrong end of the tools, though my finger guard is missing on the angle grinder though =/
 
right went down nissan today for some new springy bolts to attach it to the down pipe and got ripped off big time (£15) but didnt have much choice if i wanted to do this mod.

spose £15 or 2, 3.. maybe 5 bhp isnt too bad when most people pay £35 on a k&n panel that gives 0 bhp.

so now ive gotta try and find some-sorta tool from halfords that'll remove rusty bolts or try and get somewhere to do it on the cheap (been quoted £20 quid which seems abit steep for what would be 5 mins labour if they had the tools)
 

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