New frozen bolt removal trick

[West]

I just recently finished fixing up an old GS400X, and, of course, had a hell of a time with the casing screws. After trying all the usual tricks (The FAQ here covers them pretty well) with little or no success, I tried using a nail set in the center of the screws, tapping at it with a hammer, firmly but not hard. Dammy if after 50-100 taps, each and every one of the frozen screws just loosened up and came out with no fuss whatsoever. You could actually hear each one loosen up, the sound when you tapped it changed dramatically.

I have used this trick since then on two other stuck bolts & can attest to it's efficacy.

Dunno if it would work on frozen nuts, but I am certainly going to try it.


I'd be careful about banging near sensitive components such as bearings & whatnot, never know what those high frequency vibrations might to. I figgered casing bolts are removed enough from sensitive stuff to be safe. Other than that, you are on your own.

Hope this helps somebody!

[ruddy]

Great tip. Thanks!

[Planecrazy]

I would imagine that this is probably safe, since one of the "approved" methods is using an impact screwdriver, which I imagine does roughly the same thing while applying a twisting motion as well when you hit it with a hammer.

Good tip!

Regards,

[cloudbreakmd]

Yeah I use the same trick whenever loosening questionable bolts.

[Jethro]

Impact driver would eliminate the need for 50 to 100 hits. More like 3 or 4. I could never imagine working on one of the pre 83 GS's with phillip head case bolts without one.

[lhanscom]

Yep, followed immediately by replacing all those friggin philip head bolts. Who the heck engineered thatm and what were they smokin?

[West]

For those who brought up the impact driver issue, first, that one's in the FAQ, second this trick is for AFTER the cheesehead screws have been 100% munged by an impact tool with no extraction. (Now I do it BEFORE I munge the head as a prophylactic measure on a bolt that is stuck - much simpler).

As to what they were smokin' when thay specced these out (everybody used them - The Brits, the Japs - don't know about the Italians) - damfino, but that's why they are called 'cheesehead' screws. BTW, I betcha this would work out nicely on stuck float bowl screws.

Thanks for the feedback, all.

[hungryman]

Tapping stuck bolts is a good idea that's been around for a long time. I'm not sure exactly why it works, but can only guess.

Bolts actually stretch when torqued. That's what holds them in place. Stretch is what you are really after. Torque is just an external reading that roughly correlates to stretch. If you could attach a measurement too to the bolt and measure it's stretch, you wouldn't need a torque wrench. (In fact some race mechanics do just that with rod bolts)

Anyway, my guess is that shock waves travel down the bolt and disturb the 'stretch'. This then loosens up the bolt a bit.

Like I said, just a guess.

I don't even want to get into the beam vs. clicker debate. lol