help with bell housing bolts.

[DThibault]

I am doing a cab replacement on a 93 and while everything is off and waiting for a rebuild on the transfer case I want to replace the pilot bushing. The bolts holding the bell housing on are seized up in the aluminum adapter. Does anyone have any secrets to get these babies to turn out. I tried heat on the one the exhaust system is hooked to and just broke it off. Any help is appreciated.

 

[1stgen4evr]

If an impact wrench won't do it, you might as well go ahead and twist and drill them out and install helicoils. The helicoil is better than original.



Use anti seize when you reassemble.



James

 

[Moab4x4]

Methanol

Methanol. I know it sounds crazy, I didn't believe it either, but one day was desperate enough to try it. Squirt some methanol in best you can and tap it a little. The molecular size of methanol is quite small and can sometimes penetrate better than any penetrating oil. Gotta use as high of percentage methanol as possible. Work it back and forth a tad if possible. It sometimes works. I have had it work when stainless bolts were torqued on to a stainless tapped flange with no anti-sieze. Yup, I learnt to use antiseize.

 

[rlyons]

If you have access to an arc welder hook the ground to the adapter or where ever you can get a ground and hook the other lead to the head of the bolt, then give it a good jolt of power. That has worked for me many times on frozen bolts. The heat tries to travel through the threads and it loosens up the bolts most of the time. Other than that it is just trail and error. A good heavy hammer slam to the head somtimes will vibrate it loose also. Good luck.

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

If I recall, the bolt holes go all the way through the adapter, so you can spray penetrating oil such as the Mopar stuff into the holes, let it sit a while.

 

[DThibault]

thanks for the ideas, I will try them all in order of least destruction. I had tried to heat one of them with a torch but it still wouldn't budge, maybe with the welder it will heat it from within.

 

[RedRamAndy]

Try to find a product called KROIL if you can. It's from Kano Laboratories and is an extremely good penetrant. I use it to get many things unseized. My test for it was an old 4-cyl engine that sat without a head outside for a couple years. The rust was thick in the cylinders, and the tops of the pistons white with aluminum oxide, frozen tight. After sitting a day with a Kroil soak, I got the motor to roll over with a little nudging on the flywheel. I coulkdn't believe it.

Good Luck!