Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
As I continue to try to work on th eexhaust system problems with our van, I continue to have more propblems.
I tried to remove the nuts holding the pipes together with an pneumatic air impact driver and ended up rounding off the nuts instead (aww Nuts!). Ok I will just whack the danged things off with my sawzall. One hour and Three sawblades later I am 1/3 of the way through one of the nuts and very frustrated. This is not going to work. I guess the next best thing to try is a grinder. You can pick up a pneumatic angle grinder at Harbor Freight for less than $20. Should that be able to rmeove the nuts/bolts if I put a cut off wheel on it? Recently I used a borrowed Makita electric grinder to cut off a frozen lug nut and stud on my boat trailer. It was very slow. I am hoping to find a faster way to do this. Thus, I hope that the pneumatic grinder will be faster even if it is a cheap one.
Any better suggestions? I am getting really frustrated as this thing takes up weekend after weekend.
I've never used a pneumatic one, but my electric angle grinder gets used for just about everything. I would think the advantage of an electric one is that you wouldn't have to wait for the compressor to charge up.
Whatever you use, make sure you have a cutting blade--it's a little thinner than a grinding blade. It'll make a huge difference on something like that.
A small 3" Pneumatic Air high speed Cutter can cut the nut to the point where a vice grip will remove the nut without any damage to the stud/bolt threads. If its a replaceable bolt then just cut directly into the bolt/nut and maybe use a punch to pop out whats left.
I'm a retired mechanic and bought an extra one from Harbor Freight and it's still in the box unused. Cannot refuse a cheap sale price when I see one. Never know when it will be needed. Kept my air compressor and use it all the time...same with my tool box full of tools.
A person has to be carefull when it comes to studs snapping off...better to cut the nut slowly...never use a IMPACT wrench...guaranteed to ruin the nut or head bolt.
Typically on frozen metals parts such as the nuts you are trying to remove, I will use a good penetrating oil like Kroil to loosen the nut. This will usually work, especially if you let it work over night.
I have also used a cut-off wheel attachment for the Dremel rotary tool to cut through stubborn bolts in order to remove them on several occasions. I perfer this tool as it is light weight and small. If you have a Dremel, get some of those cut-off wheels and give it a try ... you may be surprised at how efficiently it works.
Oxygen and acetylene are your friends! If you have a tight nut, first heat it, then apply penetrating oil. Works most of the time. When it doesn't, torch off the offensive little bugger, at least on exhaust system parts.
I'm surprised the Sawzall didn't do the trick...all the exhaust bolts I've ever seen are just common steel, not hardened. So a Sawzall with a metal blade should zip right through it.
I always take exhaust stuff apart with an impact wrench with a 6-point socket. I think the "hammering" action of an impact wrench will often get a nut off that would break with steady pressure from your arm. Even if it breaks off, it's less work than grinding, etc.
I'm surprised the Sawzall didn't do the trick...all the exhaust bolts I've ever seen are just common steel, not hardened. So a Sawzall with a metal blade should zip right through it.
I always take exhaust stuff apart with an impact wrench with a 6-point socket. I think the "hammering" action of an impact wrench will often get a nut off that would break with steady pressure from your arm. Even if it breaks off, it's less work than grinding, etc.
That is what I thought. Instead it stripped off the corners of the nut. I tried a breaker bar first, because I did nto want to dig out the pneumatic tools and hook up hoses ect. I could not budge it even with a 24" breaker bar. I figured that the impact wrench would do the trick.
What really frustrates me is that I serached everywhere for the darned impact wrench and could nto find it, so I went to Harbor Freight and bought a new one (on sale for $30, but it took over an hour wth driving). It stripped off the corners and then I spent a hour plus trying to cut the nut/bolt off. Then I gave up and went to find my grinder of wheich I have two, to no avail. However I did find my impact driver which somoene had used and left outside (no idea if it still works). By now, it was pretty much a day gone since I had spent time jacking up the car, putting it on stands, trying to break the nuts fre withthe breaker bar (after soaking them several times with WD-40), and putting oil in the differential of a differenet car.
I Never found the grinders. So intesd I went inside and screamed at everyone that I can find for moving my tools, throwing micellaneous junk in my garage workspace, and generally not cleaning up anyhting in the house and being slobs. Eventually I declared it a watsted day and went to bed angry and with everyone angry at me. Plus now I hate cars.
The sawzall would not cut it. I was using DeWalt 18DPI metal cutting blades. It cut about 1/3 of the way through the nut and then it just started gringing the teet off of the blades. The blade heated up until it was turning red. Unless DeWalt just makes cruddy blades, then Sawzall is nto going to work. My wife ran out to the store and bought another grinder before I melted down completely so I will try the grinder some time this week. I do not have a torch and Have not used one since high school.
I bought one of those 4 1/2 Black and decker electric angle grinders at Wal-Mart for about $25 and a cutting wheel and it'll go through bolts in no time. I had to take the guard off to get in tight spots and hold it real tight because it can get bite you.
That is what I thought. Instead it stripped off the corners of the nut. I tried a breaker bar first, because I did nto want to dig out the pneumatic tools and hook up hoses ect. I could not budge it even with a 24" breaker bar. I figured that the impact wrench would do the trick.
What really frustrates me is that I serached everywhere for the darned impact wrench and could nto find it, so I went to Harbor Freight and bought a new one (on sale for $30, but it took over an hour wth driving). It stripped off the corners and then I spent a hour plus trying to cut the nut/bolt off. Then I gave up and went to find my grinder of wheich I have two, to no avail. However I did find my impact driver which somoene had used and left outside (no idea if it still works). By now, it was pretty much a day gone since I had spent time jacking up the car, putting it on stands, trying to break the nuts fre withthe breaker bar (after soaking them several times with WD-40), and putting oil in the differential of a differenet car.
I Never found the grinders. So intesd I went inside and screamed at everyone that I can find for moving my tools, throwing micellaneous junk in my garage workspace, and generally not cleaning up anyhting in the house and being slobs. Eventually I declared it a watsted day and went to bed angry and with everyone angry at me. Plus now I hate cars.
The sawzall would not cut it. I was using DeWalt 18DPI metal cutting blades. It cut about 1/3 of the way through the nut and then it just started gringing the teet off of the blades. The blade heated up until it was turning red. Unless DeWalt just makes cruddy blades, then Sawzall is nto going to work. My wife ran out to the store and bought another grinder before I melted down completely so I will try the grinder some time this week. I do not have a torch and Have not used one since high school.
Thanks
If the teeth are coming off that Sawzall blade, we must be talking hardened steel here...what kind of car?
Did you use a 6 point socket at first? A 12 pointer will round the corners off a nut in a heartbeat...
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
