a new trick learned today to take out broken bolts

carvel minne farmer

Well-known Member
good evening all, I pulled the right front wheel off the tractor this afternoon to take it in and swap out the old cracked up truck tire for a fairly new tractor front tire picked up at westlock tractor parts, as I had the wheel off I thought might as well pull the hub caps and check the front wheel bearings, a surprise or 2 was waiting! the grease was original I believe from 1961, the brownish black oil had separated from the grease and ozzed out of the hub, the rest of the grease still in the hub looked like black crumble like coal. cleaned out the hub and varsol washed everything up clean, the timpken bearings looked like new! washed and repacked with wheel bearing grease and reassembled, on to the left side to do the same. found only 5 wheel bolts in the hub and one broken off stud in the hub. my neighbor mike who is a heavy duty mechanic told me about a candle trick to take out broken seized bolts. you take a torch and heat up the broken stud hot, but NOT red hot, just hot enough to burn you with out it changing color, then take a candle and hold the wax against the broken bolt, as the candle melts the wax will travel to the hottest portion of the bolt as the portion your holding the candle against cools the wax will keep traveling along the threads to the hottest portion!! traveling all the way through. a couple of taps with a sharp angle narrow punch and the bolt started rotating in the hub until enough was sticking out the back to grab with vise grips and voila it was out :D worked slick. of the 12 wheel bolts on the front hubs one was broken right off and 4 where cracked!! good thing I decided to keep going. both front hubs are now cleaned repacked and back on. so 12 new wheel bolts on tomorows shopping list. if you work on old iron give this trick a try.
 
when I said torch I should have said a propane torch not a acetalyne torch the small hand held propane torch with the small cylender attached, hold the very tip of the blue center flame against the center of the broken bolt for a few minutes, the propane won't have enough heat to turn the metal red but you will get enough heat into the bolt to draw the liguid wax all the way through!
 
Wow it was strange to open this topic and see a posting from carvel minne farmer. I know he died over a year ago.
 
(quoted from post at 06:05:13 12/31/20) Wow it was strange to open this topic and see a posting from carvel minne farmer. I know he died over a year ago.

That's what I was thinking. Then I thought my memory was playing tricks on me again.
 

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