Rusted nuts

[AUinHsv 579]

Grrrr...  And more complicated than usual. The rear bumper on my 1962 MGA has a metal bracket on the inside that I need to remove to get the bumper rechromed. It may have been removed once in the 1980s' but probably has never been touched since it left Abington. The problem is that there is nothing to grab - The head of the bolt is chrome and flat. It is supposed to have a square shoulder that goes thru a square hole in bumper to provide back to tighten the nut on the bolt inside the bumper. Well it just spins. There is not enough of the bolt extending past the nut to grab with pliers. I am not sure if heat would work because I can't get any grip on the bolt.  I may be able to  get a dremel with a cut off blade behind the nut but it will be close.  I think I remember seeing nut cracker that Dad used a long time ago but wondering if anyone has an idea.  Oh yeah - and there are two of them not one that are like this.🙁

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

Nut splitter.

[AUinHsv 579]

Looking at that now. Not as easy as the picutures because the brackets are kinda V shaped and the nut is in bottom of the V. Plus there is about 1 inch of bumper on the other two sides. Thinking I may get it in at an angle

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

9 minutes ago, AUinHsv said:

Looking at that now. Not as easy as the picutures because the brackets are kinda V shaped and the nut is in bottom of the V. Plus there is about 1 inch of bumper on the other two sides. Thinking I may get it in at an angle

Yeah bumpers are a bitch because those carriage bolt holes strip out so easy. I'd try the Dremel tool first.

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4974]

You could always weld the head to the bumper and then twist your nuts off. And then Clean up the mess with and angle grinder.

Edited January 13, 2019 by NotActuallyALonghorn

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

Is there any play in the bolt ?  Can you get a set of vice grips on the head and dose the shaft with PB Blaster ?

[AUinHsv 579]

tried the vice grips - not enough there to grip and turn the nut. Welding to bumper is not going to happen. The bumper is in pretty good shape for 57 years and I am not going to mees it up before rechroming.  Picking up a splitter tomorrow and if that fails then try a dremel.

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

1 minute ago, AUinHsv said:

tried the vice grips - not enough there to grip and turn the nut. Welding to bumper is not going to happen. The bumper is in pretty good shape for 57 years and I am not going to mees it up before rechroming.  Picking up a splitter tomorrow and if that fails then try a dremel.

Yeah the welding thing would be an expensive way to go.

[davidg 4036]

Dremel will probably be your best bet but you can also try putting Vise grips on the nut to keep from spinning and then try to drill out the bolt head. Could also drill the bolt and hammer in a bolt extractor and see if that will give enough grab on the bolt part to remove the nut

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4974]

6 hours ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Yeah the welding thing would be an expensive way to go.

What if you tack welded a nut onto the head? Could put the welds on the inside. Assuming there is room to get in there of course.

[Shoxthemonkey 1976]

Is the bumper and bracket combo still attached to the car or is it sitting on your workbench? If it is possible to get at it with a drill you can hold the nut with a wrench and drill through the head with a drill that is the same diameter as the threaded portion. A drill vise is handy for this but you can handhold the wrench if need be. We do this a lot when restoring old machinery. We also have a set of LH drill bits that can sometimes unscrew the fastener. Usually things are too tight for that but it's worth a try if you can attack it with a drill.

You didn't say whether the hole is wobbled out or the  bolt head is rounded and maybe you can't tell until they are removed. You might have to take a welder to the bumper to restore the square hole.  Good luck.

Just like @davidg said

Edited January 14, 2019 by Shoxthemonkey

[AUinHsv 579]

4 hours ago, Shoxthemonkey said:

Is the bumper and bracket combo still attached to the car or is it sitting on your workbench? If it is possible to get at it with a drill you can hold the nut with a wrench and drill through the head with a drill that is the same diameter as the threaded portion. A drill vise is handy for this but you can handhold the wrench if need be. We do this a lot when restoring old machinery. We also have a set of LH drill bits that can sometimes unscrew the fastener. Usually things are too tight for that but it's worth a try if you can attack it with a drill.

You didn't say whether the hole is wobbled out or the  bolt head is rounded and maybe you can't tell until they are removed. You might have to take a welder to the bumper to restore the square hole.  Good luck.

Just like @davidg said

That is my third choice. Looked again and think I can get a splitter on it. Can't tell if the hole is wobbled or not and the opposite side has the same issue. I had the same thought on replacement if the hole is wobbled but I only have to get the bolt/nut on once. I am not taking the bracket off again - knowing that Dad never rechromed it leads me to believe the bolt has been there close to 60 years. The next bolt can stay there also.

[Digdogger 1344]

Usually your mom takes care of all my issues with my nuts

[AUinHsv 579]

N o real luck with splitter. Angle made is difficult. Split half of one and none of other. However it did lead me to believe that a cold chisel and hammer would be a good choice

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

14 minutes ago, AUinHsv said:

N o real luck with splitter. Angle made is difficult. Split half of one and none of other. However it did lead me to believe that a cold chisel and hammer would be a good choice

Just watch out what that does to the bumper holes for the new carriage bolt.

[AUinHsv 579]

Don't think it will hurt them. The angle bracket that these bolts hold on is between the nut and the back of the bumper. I am concerned that the hole already is messed up because the bolt turns. In any case the bolt has to come out. Even if the hole is buggered I have two choices - have a rectangular hole added via welding before plating or just put new bolt in and get it tight by holding the end of bolt after putting nut on

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4974]

If your gonna have to have a new hole welded on before plating, why not just tack weld the head to the bumper? Assuming you have a welder or know someone who does.

Edited January 15, 2019 by NotActuallyALonghorn

[AUinHsv 579]

No reason other than not having a welder and not wanting to go find one. Trying other options first

[AUinHsv 579]

Success!!!  But dang it was not easy. Bought the 10 piece cold chisel set at Harbor Freight used most of them. The main problem was the bolts were in the curve of the end of the bumper so you couldn't get a really firm backing to hammer. Plus there was just enough slack that the bolt kept turning when hit. Used all sizes of chisel and the pointed chisels to finally crack the nuts. The second one was so frozen that even with the nut cracked I had to hammer the pointed chisel in multiple places to free it up. Never seen a 9/16 nut require so many tools - nut splitter, various chisels and hammer - to remove it. Really glad the other ten or so came off nicely because I would not want to go thru this mess ten more times. I guess I am even happier that the six large nuts that held the two bumpers to the MGA also came off because it was cold and rainy while doing that

At least I have the original bumpers and can still get the chromed. It is really expensive now. One my first MGA in 80's it was 150 bucks for both. Now 400 each but the originals are still much better than cheap aftermarket ones that you can buy

Edited January 15, 2019 by AUinHsv

[jeevsie 3733]

Wipe front to back.

[DoobieWah 1435]

On 1/13/2019 at 4:15 PM, NotActuallyALonghorn said:

You could always weld the head to the bumper and then twist your nuts off. And then Clean up the mess with and angle grinder.

 

I'm adding this phrase to my everyday vocabulary.

[Scooter Monzingo 820]

Yeah, that thread title needs a little work. So far as the rusted fasteners (see what I did there). Once you have tried the standard chemistry that is available, and couldn’t break it loose. Use the smallest welding torch tip you can find on an oxyacetylene torch. You can control the heat well without worrying about transferring any heat that could potentially blue the chrome. And if the penetrating chemistry was able to make its way down the shank of the bolt you just need to get it warm enough (not red!) to get it moving.

But, getting back to the tread title. I thought it was about us old guys who hadn’t been laid in a long time.