Nut is REALLY f***ing stuck!

[foxycanuck]

I'm trying to change the sway bar linkage and the nut holding it on is REALLY well seized up. I've tried liquid wrench, a breaker bar, a grinder, a dremel, and a nut splitter... nothing is effing working. (can;t get it to turn at all, can't get into the little recess well enough with a grinder, can't get all the way through with the dremel, nut splitter can only get on one side and is slipping anyway.


Any magic secrets?

[nxski]

I hung a wrench off it and then kicked the wrench with my steel toed boots. That worked well!

[foxycanuck]

Haha... I tried beating the shit out of a long handled breaker bar with a 3 pound hammer... nothing.

[nxski]

In that case I would drill it out. Just use a bit that's about the same size as the bolt and the thing should fall to bits.

[FalcoColumbarius]

Have you tried fire (blowtorch)?
Heat the nut up, then try it again.

Falco.

[jessef]

Any magic secrets?

Yes

I was only able to remove them with an air gun and impact socket. The force and vibration is more than you can exert with a manual hand tool.

both 1&2 worked on different occasions (3 only once) although bystanders should cover their ears to shield profanities being expelled

1. really strong lock-jaw vice grips on the shaft and use an air gun to crack the nut

2. file down the shaft on two sides and use a clamp of vice grips and use an air gun to crack the nut

3. if yours has an allen key socket, put it in and use a wrench with a pipe to crack the nut

[foxycanuck]

I'm having trouble getting any power tools in there, so the drill and impact aren't playing along right now.

I'm wondering if a dremel multimax could cut it off at the nut, then try and get a few good hits with a BFH, or if the nuts/bolt are too hardened for one of those guys to work.

[jessef]

which one are you having a problem with ? lower or upper ? as you turn the nut is it spinning inside the sleeve?

[foxycanuck]

Both are very stuck... the nut won't turn at all. The ball joint moves freely, so there will be that issue when I get to the point I can turn the nut, but they are both seized to the brackets. I cut the lower one off at the ball joint and tried to pound it out, but to no avail.

[Modsqwad]

Rent a torch and burn the sucker out.
Andy

[jessef]

or if all else fails, go to a shop that has a plasma cutter. zip zip. done.

[foxycanuck]

Yeah, I'm on the verge of limping it to the local shop... I'm not quite ready to admit defeat yet though. Gonna try a torch tonight. Might just try a sharp cold chisel and try to cut between the nut and the frame.

[tonydca]

I'm having trouble getting any power tools in there, so the drill and impact aren't playing along right now.

I'm wondering if a dremel multimax could cut it off at the nut, then try and get a few good hits with a BFH, or if the nuts/bolt are too hardened for one of those guys to work.

One of the nut/bolts holding my bashplate on got mangled my last offroading excursion, and it sheared off the mating sleeve holding it inside the body. So it just span around loosely when I tried to take it off.

I ended up gripping the head of the bolt with vice grips in one hand and holding it to one side while I got my handy Dremel with a little carbide wheel in the other.

Lotsa fun while lying on my back under the van, but it only took a few minutes to zip thru the neck of the bolt. Those things work great. Midland tools or Princess auto has mini cutting wheels sets for a coupla bucks.