I used to laugh at guys who torched bolts to break them loose on a clean rig

After 6 years in the trade I finally gave in and tried it on a frozen 1-inch stud at a plant in Gary last spring, and now I carry a rosebud tip in my bag every shift, so who else here was late to the heat game?

2 comments

2 Comments

charles_price25d ago

Yeah I was the same way, thought heat was cheating until I spent three hours with a breaker bar on a tie rod end that wouldn't budge. Now I keep a torch in the truck almost all the time, it's just way faster even if I feel a little dirty doing it lol. That first time you hear the pop and the bolt spins free, it's hard to go back to fighting things.

willow24425d ago

@charles_price man I gotta disagree hard on that one. Heat is a crutch that makes you lazy about finding the real problem. Half the time people grab a torch because they didn't hit the bolt with enough penetrating oil or let it soak overnight. I've seen guys melt bushings and boil out grease seals just to save ten minutes of patience. Plus that pop you hear is sometimes the bolt stretching or the housing cracking, not the rust letting go. Cold works just fine if you use the right socket and a good impact gun.