Strut bar problem!!! (Rounded bolt)

[reyes1212]

So...I got my strut bar in the mail today, and I must say wow...itsa vurry nice.When I went to install that bad boy on my car, on the last bolt needed to be taken off, it had given me a hard time...eventually on one turn, the bolt on the V completely wore and rounded itself out.I applied WD-40 but nope...still nothing. i even took a chizel (sp?) and hammer the edges in order to make some new corners, but still nothing.

After google'ing it, I came across an article on how to take a rounded (worn out) bolt from an inline skate.The guy said to just use a Dremel and cut a slot stright down the middle of the bolt and just use a flathead screwdriver. I guess I'm going to do this tommorrow, BUT any other suggestions?

[jfanaselle]

Don't use the dremel option with a flathead. If you couldn't get it with a ratchet or a wrench, then you're certainly not going to be able to remove it with less leverage that you get from a screwdriver. Additionally, if you put a slice down the middle of the head, you may very well break it right off once you try to turn it if it's really that tight. Buy some penetrating oil - a friend of mine who works on forklifts gave me a can, but I'm not sure where to get it (probably almost any auto parts store?). It works GREAT. Spray a little on, and within five or ten minutes it'll loosen right up. You might need to pick up an extractor socket that grabs the sides of the bolt, instead of the corners. If that doesn't work, there's always a pair of vice grips!

[Jojo Versa]

Have you tried heating it very so slightly with an acetylene torch to release it , additionnally if it wont budge then if you can find a chunk of dry ice somewhere put it on the head, it should transfer sufficient cold to shrink the bolt enough to remove it. DRY ICE BURNS so you need to insulate your hand or find a mecanical way of holding it there.

Good luck

[lain]

VICE GRIPS VICE GRIPS!

[Clipsed]

wow, how do you manage to complete wear and round a bolt on one turn? You must be using some wrong tools. For high torque bolts, you should use a 6 point socket, nothing with more, otherwise you risk stripping the head. I mean seriously, how did you manage to do it? I would take out my torch, heat up the bolt till it is a cherry red, and clamp it with vice grips to take it off. That should do it, YUP, that should do it! BTW your dealer won't cover that, seeing as how your mod caused the problem just jerkin your chain bud!

[jfanaselle]

VICE GRIPS VICE GRIPS!

Ahh Vice Grips. Could there be any better invention?

[reyes1212]

hmm....actually i used the 12 mm socket with a bunch of little notches in it. then i used the one with the exact shape of the bolt, but...yeah I rounded it out pretty fast. I guess I'll go to ACE HArdware and buy some vice grips...hmm...around how much are the torches?

Man I like the dry ice idea, sounds easiest.

Clipsed....it's okay if you pull my chain, but just as long as you pull hard enough. Your criticism is great and constructs more ideas in my mind....THX BUD.

;p;p

Oh yeah but what kind of Vise Grip should i get? i just saw @ ace HW, and there are lot...;p

[Clipsed]

hmm....actually i used the 12 mm socket with a bunch of little notches in it. then i used the one with the exact shape of the bolt, but...yeah I rounded it out pretty fast. I guess I'll go to ACE HArdware and buy some vice grips...hmm...around how much are the torches?

Man I like the dry ice idea, sounds easiest.

Clipsed....it's okay if you pull my chain, but just as long as you pull hard enough. Your criticism is great and constructs more ideas in my mind....THX BUD.

;p;p

Oh yeah but what kind of Vise Grip should i get? i just saw @ ace HW, and there are lot...;p

LMFAO I literally read the bolded part three times over and over before completing reading, as I was confused thinking you meant the opposite, come to finish reading I finally understood! HAHAHA.

As for removing that bolt, your first mistake was using probably a 10 or 12 point socket, which stripped it RIGHT AWAY. For high torque bolts, ALWAYS use a 6 point socket. You stripped it in the beginning pretty bad with the first socket, and completed it with the 6 point socket.

Invest in a NICE set of vice grips, I would recommend Craftsman, because if anything happens, or you manage to break or ruin them, take em back without a receipt, and they replace it free of charge! So a $40-$50 set of Craftsman vice grips will last you a LIFETIME! As for a torch, I picked up one at OSH which is probably about 100 steps away from my doorstep, haha I love that! for about $14.

Only thing is when you do get the torch, have the flame thin, and heat the bolt up far away, but close enough the heat heats the bolt, and the bolt only so as not to heat up the paint of the car. Once that bolt is cherry red, grab the vice grips (which you should measure up and fit to the bolt before heating but is going to need a fine tweak to grab since the bolt heated and expanded) and grab it and unscrew! Should work, I am pretty darn sure!

GL!

[reyes1212]

Alright lol yeah at least you got it!lol

FIIINAL!!! ok so i went out and bought a torch...it blew up in the air first time i tried lighting it. opened the nozel too much. but hey!!! that fire thingy worked frealing great its amazing.thx ClipsedWhat is OSH?
Modified by reyes1212 at 6:03 PM 8/28/2007

[Clipsed]

lol glad to see it worked.

OSH (Orchard Supply Hardware) Is a great medium sized Hardware store, it is bigger than say Ace Hardware, but not a warehouse type store like Lowes or Home Depot. Great store, I love it!

[motoguy128]

Is often useful to use a impact wrench to remove high torque bolts. i'ts amazing how what will normally require a 4 foot long breaker bar will come off easily with eve na checp $50 electric impact wrench. The only good way to loosen bolts on motorcycle clutches and front sprockets. also great for removing lug nuts without the risk of the car comming off the jack stand.

Like others have said... time for visa grips. If that fails... the method of using a dremel and screwdriver can be used to split the nut in half... not nessesarily for leverage.

[Clipsed]

Is often useful to use a impact wrench to remove high torque bolts. i'ts amazing how what will normally require a 4 foot long breaker bar will come off easily with eve na checp $50 electric impact wrench. The only good way to loosen bolts on motorcycle clutches and front sprockets. also great for removing lug nuts without the risk of the car comming off the jack stand.

Like others have said... time for visa grips. If that fails... the method of using a dremel and screwdriver can be used to split the nut in half... not nessesarily for leverage.

He said he was able to get it off. But how in the world do you risk a car falling off of a jack stand removing a tire? The way I learned to remove a tire was to loosen the nuts to take the torque off while the car is still on the ground, this way when you raise the car to take the bolts off the rest, there is no torque issues of having to deal with while the car is up. I hope you get what I am saying, I am not removing the bolts while the car is still on the ground, but rather just loosening them.

[reyes1212]

Yeah that's what I did^^ when I switched tires and wheels.I basically loosen them while on the ground that way when the wheel is up, the wheel wont be turning while I'm unscrewing.

[justmerging]

The beauty of an impact wrench is you don't need to do all that work. You simply jack up the car and remove the lug nuts then remove wheel, way faster than doing it manually.

[reyes1212]

Yeah, but it's like that as an easier way due to us not having a torque wrench HAR HAR HAR

[Clipsed]

do you carry your impact wrench in your car when there is an emergency? Why drag out an extension cord, unroll it, plug eveything in, when all you need is your wheel remover in the trunk? doesn't make sense?

[Demonspawn]

well you should not be torquing the wheel lugs hard enough to need a impact wrench if they are bolted that tight then you will cause damage to the wheel especially alum. wheels. they are design for a certain torque spec because of the inner flat and the outer flat are different and at proper torque act as a lock washer sort of if you go beyond that then it flattens everything and you crush the wheels in that area.

[matttail]

I don't believe that the discussion was how tight the bolts were, but that the impact wrench helps to take them off without rocking the car.

Out of curiosity, do any of you use a pneumatic impact wrench to tighten the lug bolts, and if so how do you know when it's tight enough? I've just used it to speed the bolts on and then tighten with lug wrench where I have a good idea of how tight things should be.

[Demonspawn]

if i remember correctly they should be 11.6 kg/cm2 a good elbow to shoulder tight usually. never converted it when i used to test them but im sure the manual has the american standard in it