Seems Impossible To Loosen Bolts (replacing Tob)

[Jeremy Batchelor]

The throw out bearing finally went out in my '03 Mach 1. I'm in the process of pulling off the mid-pipe and trans crossbar. I tried the trans crossbar first and the bolts absolutely will not budge. I applied WD-40 and used a cheater bar. The socket extension I was using actually bent. I moved on to the forward exhaust bolts. Again, I sprayed WD-40 and used a cheater bar. The Husky socket cracked. I'm hoping they're simply stubborn bolts, but here is my concern...

I bought the car from a dealer, but the previous owner did not take care of it. I had to get the engine rebuilt after having it a few months to start with. (125k miles) When I started with today's project, I noticed the driveshaft bolts weren't even finger tight. The list goes on. My point in mentioning this is since the engine was recently pulled for the rebuild, these bolts were loosened as recently as 2 months ago.

I'm wondering if someone could have used some type of thread lock liquid, or maybe impacted the hell out of these bolts. I'm trying to avoid renting an impact wrench. I'm not sure I could reach the exhaust bolts with it if I did. I'm going to the store now to get some liquid wrench. Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Deleted member 38176]

PB Blaster

 

[Jeremy Batchelor]

PB Blaster

It's funny you mentioned that. I was at Wal-mart trying to decide between PB Blaster and Liquid Wrench when I got the reply notification. Thanks! I'm giving it a shot when I get back to it.

 

[Mattstang04]

Somebody probably impacted those too tight. Hopefully they didn't cross thread them. If the PB isn't getting the job done, heat the area around the bolts with a propane torch. Be careful of surrounding aluminum parts that could warp under heat and watch out for wires or hoses that could burn or melt.

I've found driveshaft bolts finger tight on my friends fox GT. I think he forgot to use thread locker on the bolts, the prior time he put it in.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

allow time for pb blaster to work, up to a few days even...

 

[Jeremy Batchelor]

PB Blaster is awesome! Most of the bolts came off with a cheater bar pretty quick after one soak. The passenger side exhaust bolts are still being stubborn, but I'll let them soak a bit. Thanks for the help!

 

[Deleted member 38176]

Im glad it helped. I had some header bolts that would have required a small explosive device to get them off. A little PB overnight and they came out lubed dildo the next day.

 

[4cammer72]

KROIL is even better than pb blaster if you can find it..

 

[Jeremy Batchelor]

So I'm still stuck on this last exhaust nut. I've used BP blaster, Kroil, and even some other brand I can't remember. I even tried heating it. I bought an impact wrench and enough extensions/swivels to get the perfect hold on the nut. The impact wench won't even budge it. It's rated at 250lbs of tq. This nut must be cross threaded.

Since the nut is on a stud, I'm at the point where I want to cut off the nut. My dremel tool won't fit because of the starter. I'm heading to home depot now to find something to cut this damn thing off. Any last minute suggestions before I do this? Or any suggestions on the easiest way to cut it off?

 

[Kilgore Trout]

nut splitter if you can find a good one a cheap one will just piss you off

 

[sethahoward]

Heat the nut red hot. Don't use the impact, you lose to much torque when using all those extensions and swivels, just use a breaker bar or ratchet, and try to minimize the use of swivels and extensions. Get the nut glowing. I use a MAP gas torch, it works better than propane.