Getting rusty nuts off ?

plus-gas is a good penetrating oil, diesel is good, heat is best.

Where are the nuts and how big are they?

An excellent tool for nuts that are not in a depression is a stillsons wrench. But you wouldn't be able to remove wheel nuts with these because they are back slightly from the dish of the wheel.

Rob Graham

Yup, Plus-Gas is probably the best fluid that I've found for these sorts of jobs. Smells like parafin ... Perhaps it is?

Al.

No, absolutely not. Stillson or any adjustable jaw wrenches should never be used on tight nuts/bolt heads. Because there is always some slack for sliding the moving jaw about, the fitting of the actual jaw opening on the nut is never 100% tight. It will slip. The nut/bolt head will be rounded. You can almost guarantee that! They are for nuts around pipes where an

The message from "Lin Chung" contains these words:

I'd agree if you mean crescent type adjustable wrenches, but proper Stilsons are self tightening and often make a good choice for really stuck nuts.

What? by squeezing the nut on even tighter? The correct option is a single hex socket or spanner of the right size.

Mrcheerful

I fully accept that stillsons may well bugger up the nut and that the correct spanner should be ideal, but (a) I assume that if we get the nut off it can be replaced with a new one, and (b) I sometimes find that even with the correct spanner the nut gets rounded off. Lin Chung (above) decries the use of adjustable jaw wrenches, and so do I in these circumstances with the exception of stillsons. You certainly shouldn't use open jaw wrenches, adjustable or otherwise, for a very stubborn nut.

I remain a stillsons fan. But, as Mr Cheerful has already said, heat is another useful option.

Rob Graham

Of course, thinking about it a bit more, distorting the nut with stillsons might disturb the rust sealing the threads together and release the nut, damaged a bit, but at least off. Rather like the old trick of whacking the nut on both sides at the same time with equal weight hammers, this makes the inner of the nut go slightly oval and release it's grip. Another way is to slice off one side of the nut (clear of the threads) which loosens the grip the nut has. Best way of all though is oxy acetylene, heat till red and undo, this always, always works for rusted on nuts, you need oxyacetylene though or the heat build up is too slow and the stud gets red too and may shear off instead of the nut releasing. If we are talking about exhaust to manifold nuts then something violent like oxy-acetylene or an air chisel is the best option, they make a long air chisel bit with a slot in the middle so that you cut the nut on both sides at the same time (in line with the stud) That can be very useful.

Mrcheerful

It works tolerably well as a penetrating oil. But no penetrating oil will work on badly rusted stuff, IMHO.

If you've got good access, a nut splitter is the easiest way. Heat will also work but may not be safe to use without damage to other parts, etc.

The message from "Rob graham" contains these words:

Few nuts refuse to budge after they've had a tommybar welded to them!

Good idea. I'm sure the welding heat helps a lot in this process.

Rob

Yes, this is my line of reasoning, really.

Rob

Agreed, nut splitters are good, I got mine in an agricultural supply shop. Stillsons are great if there's enough room, and for small nuts so are the similar but smaller sprung loaded adjustables that work on the same principle as a pipe can always be slipped over the handle for more leverage.

When I used to test valves for a proper seal I'd always poor parafin on the upturned head. It would find the slightest leak and might well have been standard practise then.

Plus Gas and Surface drive sockets. You can tell surface drive sockets as the "corners" of the hex are radiused, to force teh socket to work on the flat of the nut and not the weaker corners.

Thanks for the suggestion. I went into halfords and asked for it ... after the guy finished laughing he told me it was a camping gas and then handed me a can of penetrating fluid made by halfords.

There a few in different places but the current ones :) I'm trying to get off are the caliper guide ones. I'm soaked it in penetrating fluid for a couple of nights and came back to it this morning and they are solidly stuck. I used a fir amount of force but don't want to get brutal and break it. My neighbour suggested takin a screw head onto it and sing a beaker bar but I don't have a welder? for that.

Which just goes to prove how much the monkeys in Halfords actually know.

A technique I use on old cars, where the last thing I wnt to do is snap the bolt or stud, is _tighten_ the nut very slightly first. This action cracks the rust and allow the penetrating lubricant to get in and do its job more quickly.

They're rather difficult to break. If they're the allen headed ones then drive the allen socket in all the way with a hammer & use a breaker bar.