Cursed Ottawa Winters! Rusty Bolt Problems

[jasonoflivingston]

So I picked up a used set of Tundra brakes and struts for my 4Runner and was super excited to get some work done. I went over the 13WL calipers to make sure they were working well and got everything set to do the brake swap on Saturday. Well, on the very first mounting bolt removal, I sheared the bolt off!

I was tempted to give the other ones a try, but even if they go, I don't have the means to get the sheared one out. So now it I have to get it into the shop to get them on it. DIY fail for me.

I am now worried that I will run into similar problems when I go to do the suspension. Does anyone have some good tips or tricks for getting seized bolts out in a garage with limited air capability (my compressor is a bit too weak for sustained impact gun use) and no torch? Is a small handheld torch an option?

 

[Mike&Ike]

Rust is a complete pain to work on. PB blaster is good for helping and a little torch may not get hot enough to help. I would look around and see if you can rent a real torch as it will make it very simple. Just be prepared to replace a lot of fasteners.

 

[jasonoflivingston]

That is what I was worried about. I will have to look into what torch resources I can get my hands on.

 

[M-Piers97]

Hit the bolts with PB Blaster and let it soak for a while, and go nice and slow when removing the bolts.
Hope that helps

 

[jasonoflivingston]

How many times do you soak with PB Blaster and how long do you wait before your first attempt to get the bolt out?

 

[M-Piers97]

How many times do you soak with PB Blaster and how long do you wait before your first attempt to get the bolt out?

I would start soaking it down a few days ahead of a upcoming project, soak it down come back a few hours later and soak it again and so on

 

[jasonoflivingston]

Yeah. That's what I figured. I did soak it a fair bit, but did not have time to do so that far in advance.

The bigger issue, I think, is more the bonehead behind the breaker bar (that would be me). I have a tendency to be a bit of a gorilla with a wrench. I have a hard time judging the force that I am capable of putting into it and so don't realize that I am at the point where I need to back off and soak again or risk shearing.

 

[M-Piers97]

Yeah. That's what I figured. I did soak it a fair bit, but did not have time to do so that far in advance.

The bigger issue, I think, is more the bonehead behind the breaker bar (that would be me). I have a tendency to be a bit of a gorilla with a wrench. I have a hard time judging the force that I am capable of putting into it and so don't realize that I am at the point where I need to back off and soak again or risk shearing.

LOL, been there done that :redbrick:

It seams like a lot of Toyota bolts shear pretty easy so you really got to baby them

 

[hambob]

For a torch I use the yellow can(MPS or Propelene I think) with my normal propane torch and have had good success with that setup. It burns hotter than propane but not as hot as a OA setup. I know how it goes, my 2002 is from Ottawa and I have broken a few bolts. It sure makes simple repairs turn into nightmares.
Good luck

 

[jasonoflivingston]

LOL, been there done that :redbrick:

It seams like a lot of Toyota bolts shear pretty easy so you really got to baby them

I am beginning to get that impression.

I guess I need to convert from gorilla to normal person force scales before starting. If "giving it" in gorilla mode can break a 3/4" allen key without putting a bar on the end, I guess that means that "babying it" in gorilla mode must be a bit below a normal person's "giving it". So "babying" in regular person mode must be........ummmmmm.......gorillas aren't very good at math. I am going to have to work at this. :doh:

 

[jasonoflivingston]

For a torch I use the yellow can(MPS or Propelene I think) with my normal propane torch and have had good success with that setup. It burns hotter than propane but not as hot as a OA setup. I know how it goes, my 2002 is from Ottawa and I have broken a few bolts. It sure makes simple repairs turn into nightmares.
Good luck

I will look into this. It looks like a good alternative to trying to get my hands on an OA setup, even if it isn't quite as hot. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Nelsonmd]

I'd like to think I have gotten pretty good with rusted bolts after all the work I have done on my rust bucket. Here's my strategy:

1. Soak with PB blaster as folks have said.
2. Only use box end wrenches or 6-point sockets
3. If there is risk of stripping, coat the head with valve grinding compound before putting the wrench on
4. Heat up the area with a torch. There's no excuse to not have just a little propane torch that screws onto a small propane bottle, they're less than $20 and are very compact. Get one.
5. If you think it is really stuck, you can spray more pb blaster one the hot bolts, that seems to help it soak in quick, though be warned that it is likely to flame up
6. Don't use a breaker bar, hold the wrench in the loosening direction and hit the end of the wrench with a hammer a bunch of times until it pops loose. I use a heavy rubber headed mallet (Craftsman 9-38304 24-Ounce Rubber Mallet - Amazon.com) which is my absolute favorite hammer in all the world, mostly because of corrosion on my 4runner; I use it alot.

Just be careful about the wrench slipping, as you can strip a head easily if the wrench slips off a bit.

Once it pops loose, most of the time you can just spin it right out. The toughest ones are ones that seize up again after I have popped it loose, there seems to be no magic bullet for getting those out, but if you have exposed threads on the tip end of the bolt, clean them with a wire brush before trying to remove the bolt.

You can go with a hotter gas if you need it, it will certainly help more, but I have had pretty good luck with propane, and it's cheap.

I think a good impact driver would work well too, but I dont' have one. I think the sudden impact of the hammer really helps to break the rust rather than the bolt, since the bolts will stretch a little bit before breaking. I have also yielded bolts, stopped before it broke, then gone back and done the above steps, and been able to turn it right out without snapping it completely off.

 

[MStudt]

When all else fails use a torch and candle wax. Heat up the bolt/nut, and rub the candle around the threads. close to where the enter the nut/hole.

 

[jasonoflivingston]

This is a lot of good info. Thanks everyone.

 

[audiness]

I do this:

1. 2-3 days before, spray with wd-40
2. before you start wrenching the bolt off, put just a socket on the bolt, and hit it square with a ball pein hammer.
3. start to try to remove the bolt. Also try going in reverse, sometimes it helps it break free.
4. go slow and add more wd-40. feel he bolt. If it starts getting warm, stop and wait for it to cool.

 

[jasonoflivingston]

Ok. So I just talked to the guys at the shop. The mechanic who took a look at my sheared bolt says he should be able to get it out by heating it, but is worried that it will ruin the threads in the caliper mount in the process. Does this make sense? He says that he would prefer to extract it using other methods, but it could take up to 3 hours to do so in the worst case.

This seems a little excessive to me. Thoughts anyone? Will heating and extracting wreck my threads and should it take that long to extract a seized bolt without heat?