Bustin' Nuts...

[cudacharlie]

Rust never sleeps! Which is why I need to know how to destroy/sever/annihilate eight 9/16 nuts and bolts holding a 70 Charger front bumper to its supports.

My nut cracker won't fit in there, so what's the best method? I sure don't need to save anything but the bumper, and it WILL be getting straightened and rechromed...

What's the best choice? Air cutoff tool? Any special cutoff wheel for slicing rusty bumper bolts as opposed to exhaust tubing?

Sawzall?

Dremel?

:

- thanks!

 

[Uncle Buck]

Might be easier to drop the supports plus the bumper then go after the stubborn one with a torch. There is always a chance you could simply go after them with a long handle 1/2" ratchet and simply snap them off too, although going that way you take a chance on rounding out the squared holes in the bumper.

 

[moparfreak]

If it were me, I'd go at it w/ a dremel or die grinder and some small cutting wheels or maybe one of those diamond or carbide dremel wheels they sell for about 10 bucks.

Dealing w/ valuable or tough to find charger parts (I would know, I've got one as well), I would start small before resorting to larger brute force methods.

If you've got one of those rotary tool kits w/ a thousand and one pieces, there's sure to be something that will work at slicing those bolts off.

Adam

 

[dilbert]

I like the idea of droping the whole thing from the bumper supports then attacking them accordingly. You would definitley have more options and room. It's what i did.

Marc

 

[6t7gto]

have you tried PB Blaster?
or heat?

david

 

[eschoendorff]

Or a sawzall with a really long blade

 

[Rickster]

The angle grinder with a cut-off blade is your best friend.

 

[cudacharlie]

Thanks guys...

Well, I got it off the car, but with the supporting frame and front-to-back Y-shaped supports. The bolts holding the actual chrome bumper to the supporting frame are the ones that need to go...

Hholmberg's got it sussed; if I just take the 24" breaker bar to them it will round out the square holes for sure.

They are all nasty crusty gobs of rust. So much so that I'd basically be cutting new threads in rust for the top 1/2" of the bolt just to get the nuts off. So backing the nuts off by conventional means is not an option....

PB Blaster, eh? Googling now...

 

[Uncle Buck]

If I understand you correct, you have the bumper plus the brackets off? if this is true, either use your torch, or go to a buddy and use his torch to knock off the bolts, that should be the easiest way. If you have no access to a torch, you can always crank the amps way high on an ac welder and burn the offending bolts off, if that is not an option it is angle grinder time.

 

[z28toz06]

buy one of those new MAC tools sockets they are guaranteed to grab a stripped nut where a standard socket wont.

 

[kartracer55]

buy one of those new MAC tools sockets they are guaranteed to grab a stripped nut where a standard socket wont.

He doesnt want to use a socket because it will deform the square holes, also, have you used them yourself yet? How are they?

Id consider cutting them as far down as I can with a dremel or the like and use a dremel of die grinder and essentially grind the remains of the nut away until it is flush with the bumper, soak the remaining "stub" o fthe bolt in some PB or screwloose, then gently use a punch to remove them from the bumper.

Jim

 

[Elroy]

smoke wrench! At least to the point of getting the nut hot enough to kill the rust. Or even a plasma cutter if need be.

 

[markl]

If your careful and have a steady hand why cant you grind the heads off from the front side of the bumper? You say your having it rechromed right? Just a thought.

 

[Remi]

I vote for angle grinder. But if you don't want to acidentaly cut into anything else, than drill them out.

 

[Big_John]

Grab your breaker bar and socket and TIGHTEN until they break. It won't take much. I've done that a few times with Mopar bumpers.

 

[haulna]

How about grinding down the exposed threaded bolt to the top of the nut. Then get a small drill bit and drill a hole down the center of the bolt working from the nut side. After the small hole is drilled, increase the drill bit size to enlarge the hole size. When the hole is large enough, you could apply some twisting force to the nut with a wrench/scoket which would break the nut off.

 

[...dave]

Grab your breaker bar and socket and TIGHTEN until they break. It won't take much. I've done that a few times with Mopar bumpers.

Interesting idea. Less likely to round out the holes, i'd be a bit worried about deforming the bumper, though.

i've got a similar problem on my '60, but worse... somebody installed a trailer hitch on the rear crossmember with carriage bolts, and the support rusted out around the bolts, and the whole mess is blocked by the remains of the hitch and tucked up behind the gas tank.

Angle grinder is the best bet, i'll probably end up using the fiberglass-reinforced Dremel cutoff wheels since i don't have the clearance for it... long sucky job on 1/2" bolts


...dave

 

[Uncle Buck]

Elroy and I agree, you cannot beat the blue wrench route!

 

[Stuart in MN]

If you can get a long wrench or a socket and breaker bar to fit tightly on the nut so it won't round off, give it a try...if you're lucky, the bolt will snap right off which is a lot easier than trying to unscrew them all the way anyway.

 

[D-Cal]

Pour Pepsi on them.