Stuck pan-head allen bolts

BombThreat

'Diggity
Location
Johnstown, NY
I have some allen bolts that are the flush mount kind that will not budge. At all. They are smaller and use a 3mm allen key, ive tried heating them with map gas and still they just will not break loose. I have not stripped them yet and really want to avoid it. They are black hardened steel bolts in aluminum reed cages. ANY ideas would be very helpful!
 

Watty

Random Performance
Location
Australia
If that fails, get a stainless washer and weld it onto the top of the bolt through the hole. Then, grab a nut or bolt and weld that to the washer. The idea of the washer is to get a bit more surface area to weld to, and so you can weld it the the stock bolt in the centre so you don't damage anthing around it.

You'll probably fid that the bolt you weld onto the washer will break a few times before the stuck bolt comes out....this is fine as each time you weld the bolt back on, it heats up the stuck bolt which helps it to loosen. It might be a last resort though if you don't have a mig or a tig handy.
 

BombThreat

'Diggity
Location
Johnstown, NY
thanks for the idea's, im gonna try more heat... it tough because I'm trying to not melt the petals as they are perfect... and a new set of them costs $200!
 
G

Goose

Guest
get a candle thats made out of bees wax heat it up and try to get the wax to melt around the threads it somehow works its way down in the threads ive had luck with that before
 
have you tryed giving them a good hard wack with a screwdriver and a hammer to break the rust??? screws have a slight bit of clearance between the threads that the rust can build up in. give it a few wacks it should break free. I had to do this on an old yz to get the bottom end apart. every single allan bolt was seized rock tight.
 

dbrutherford

Parts Whore
Location
Fairmont, WV
Worst case scenario, drill the head off of the allen. Then you can get the part apart. But then you have a stuck piece of threaded bolt stuck still in the hole.

Sometimes it is just the friction of the head that causes them to stick. Then the drill the head off method works. But if the stuck part is the threads... well you better try the wax trick. I have heard it works really well.
 
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