Nuts are stuck

[Mud]

Any suggestions for releasing stuck keel nuts on my Mirage 2700?

I gave them a 24 hour soak in WD40. Tried a long spanner, tried a windy gun. No joy.

The windy gun was a Lidl special - can you hire better ones, with bigger compressors?

Don't really want to try heat in case I melt the fibreglass.

 

[Capt. Clueless]

I'm not a fan of WD40, however plusgas is a different matter in my book. Good 24hr soak in plusgas and then either a long socket with a longish handle for leverage. As if you were undoing a stuck wheel nut with the spanner and a piece of scaffold tube. Good leverage and a soaked in plusgas, I reckon may make a difference.

 

[NormanB]

If no success with penetrating oil.
Depending upon access hydraulic nut splitters or in extremis a long (3 ft ) cold chisel and a 14Ib maul.

 

[RichardS]

If a rattle gun won't shift them your best option is simply more leverage, but you need room obviously. I have a 3 foot length of scaffolding pole which I can fit over my 2 foot breaker bar and I can't imagine anything which could resist that. Must be able to exert something like 500 Nm I guess.

Richard

 

[ctva]

I once had to remove a flywheel nut on an engine with a 24mm socket tried everything even the 1/2" socket bar with a scaffold pole but too much flex and no joy. Invested in a 3/4 and a 2 foot bar, worked a treat. Deep 3/4 " socket would be my advise.

 

[nemodreams]

It is painful

 

[Ian_Edwards]

Another vote for plusgas, soak well and leave, soak again and leave, until you run out of patience!

It takes time for the penetrating oil to work it's way through the rust and grime and if you can't apply heat it's the only way.

Then the biggest lever you can swing on a very good quality socket.

 

[Arcady]

FWIW I found the following on a US website (hydrovane.com) today. I'm not endorsing it, but the comparative figures are interesting:

--------

PENETRATING OIL – An email received from Chuck Hogan … worth knowing

From: Chuck Hogan [mailto:c.r.hogan@comcast.net]
Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2013 9:38 AM
Subject: Penetrating Oil study – a 50/50 mix of Acetone and Automatic Transmission Fluid is best!
I found this very interesting…….I think you will as well.
Penetrating Oils –Machinist’s Workshop magazine recently published some information on various penetrating oils that I found very interesting. Some of you might appreciate this. The magazine reports they tested penetrates for break out torque on rusted nuts. They are below, as forwarded by an ex-student and professional machinist. They arranged a subjective test of all the popular penetrates with the control being the torque required to remove the nut from a “scientifically rusted” environment.
Penetrating oils ……….. Average torque load to loosen
No Oil used 516 pounds
WD-40 238 pounds
PB Blaster 214 pounds
Liquid Wrench 127 pounds
Kano Kroil 106 pounds
ATF*-Acetone mix 53 pounds
* The ATF-Acetone mix is a “home brew” mix of 50 – 50 automatic transmission fluid and acetone. Note this “home brew” released bolts better than any commercial product in this one particular test. Our local machinist group mixed up a batch and we all now use it with equally good results. Note also that “Liquid Wrench” is almost as good as “Kroil” for about 20% of the price. Steve from Godwin-Singer says that ATF-Acetone mix is best, but you can also use ATF and lacquer thinner in a 50-50 mix.

But best be done outdoors and away from the boat: EXTREMELY FLAMMABLE!!! PRESSURIZED WITH AIR <> A BOMB!!!

 

[Mud]

I think I'll try multiple treatments with plusgas & a bigger spanner.

 

[Martin_J]

If you could heat up the the stud/nut and then cover the stud/nut join with Plusgas, any cooling effect will help with drawing the PlusGas into the joint.

Definitely recommend Plusgas rather than any WD40.

In the past I have ground the side off some stubborn keelbolt nuts then split them off. Usually then find that the stud underneath is like new and a new nut goes on easily.

If you do want to wind the old nuts off then I would also use a Die-nut on the upper part of the threaded stud first to clear it up.. It's easy on the nut then as you wind it off.

 

[SAMYL]

Forget easing oils with perhaps the exception of the acetone/atf mix which works very well indeed.

For big nuts heat the nut gently but not too hot. Hold a candle against it and allow the wax to melt over it so it seeps into the threads and where the nut abuts the washers or what is under it and leave for half an hour or so keeping the nut warm enough to still melt the wax.

Apply large socket or whatever and remove the nut. Easy peasy.

 

[Davegriff]

+1 for the 50/50 acetone/atf mix + rattle-gun. Only today undertook the easiest removal of exhaust nuts I've ever known. Seems very popular method at the moment.

 

[Mud]

In regards to the acetone- will any old nail polish remover suffice?

 

[macd]

In regards to the acetone- will any old nail polish remover suffice?

No. Some contain acetone, some not. If it smells like pear drops, it's not acetone but ethyl acetate, possibly buffered with alcohol. (Still a solvent, but whether it works as well as a release agent with ATF is anyone's guess.)

 

[essexboy]

I would try to tighten it a tad first, it often breaks the seal.

 

[QBhoy]

What Essex boy said. Failing that a ring spanner with another locked onto the end of it...failing that, a cold chisel and an accurate blow with a heavy hammer in the direction of loosening.

 

[rotrax]

I have read with interest the advice here, most of it good.

As a retired Classic, Vintage and Veteran motorcycle restorer and dealer I have pretty much seen it all.

I have had success with drilling down the side of the nut, vertically and paralell to the stud and then splitting the nut with a cold chisel-a bloody sharp one! This technique was taught me by my apprentice mentor Fred Hall in the early sixties when overhauling a knackered Armstrong Siddeley. The rear spring " U " bolts IIRC.

Heat is always my preffered option, but on a boat getting Oxy Aceteylene kit on board is not easy and with all that GRP about you would have to be very careful.

The advice re 3/4 drive sockets and heavy non springy bars is sound, as is the use of Plus Gas. Using single hex power tool sockets is another great help.

Good luck.

 

[Gordonmc]

I agree with what others have said about WD40 which is a water dispersant, not a penetrating fluid.
I have been restoring old cars for years and one of the best acquisitions was a set of hex-sockets after stripping an untold number of heads with multi-point sockets.
Applying lots of heat might not be possible in proximity to GRP but thermal shock can just as well help by freezing. My current drive is a GRP bodied motor and I find Freeze your Nuts Off the best remedy for stubborn nuts and bolts.

 

[Capt. Clueless]

Have you got them undone yet?

 

[Mud]

No. Some contain acetone, some not. If it smells like pear drops, it's not acetone but ethyl acetate, possibly buffered with alcohol. (Still a solvent, but whether it works as well as a release agent with ATF is anyone's guess.)

Sorry it was a poorly thought out question. I should have asked- where's the best place to buy a small amount of cheap acetone?

I don't really wish to hang around the ladies perfume department sniffing nail polish removers. They kept throwing me out when I've been hanging around there in the past!