How do you remove rounded off exhaust nuts?

[idosubaru]

how do you guys typically get rounded off exhaust nuts off when pulling an engine? i think i'm going to just cut the exhaust, but was wondering what other easy options are out there. once the engines out i can deal with it easier. hate to hack the exhaust, but i do have others anyway.

[Gloyale]

how do you guys typically get rounded off exhaust nuts off when pulling an engine? i think i'm going to just cut the exhaust, but was wondering what other easy options are out there. once the engines out i can deal with it easier. hate to hack the exhaust, but i do have others anyway.

 

I'd say try to hammer on a smaller socket. Maybe a standard size and definately a 6 point. Otherwise blast the nuts off with a cutting torch if you got one.

[mikeshoup]

I'd try a pair of vice grips.

[SuBrat84]

I would highly recommend affording a set of craftsman bolt out tools. They are WONDERFUL. Specifically designed for your exact problem.. they bite into the metal as you loosen the nut/bolt.

[Gloyale]

I would highly recommend affording a set of craftsman bolt out tools. They are WONDERFUL. Specifically designed for your exact problem.. they bite into the metal as you loosen the nut/bolt.

 

I've always wanted a set of those. Somebody tell Santa

[hatchsub]

Yea i have a set i got for christmas and still have yet to use them. That would be my suggestion as well.

[joostvdw]

you can always try to good ol' torch too heat em up, that usually does the trick

 

something else to consider if you have a welder, weld a piece of metal on the nut, the heat will work it a bit and the metal rod will give you plenty of swing to remove them

 

if you don't have stuff like that, maybe you can try a "nutsplitter", I don't know for sure what they are called on your side of the pond, but I DO know for sure they excist and that they work pretty well.

[daeron]

stud extractor tool might work, too.. they look something like a spark plug socket, but inside the ~13/16 socket there is a plate with a smaller hole, and some roundish dowels around the perimeter that pinch together to "hug" the stud. Then you just pull the stud out, put the nut in a vise, and use the stud extractor to get the nuts off.

[Gloyale]

if you don't have stuff like that, maybe you can try a "nutsplitter", I don't know for sure what they are called on your side of the pond,

 

I think here they are called wives LOL

[daeron]

I think here they are called wives LOL

Well, I wasn't gonna say it.. but since you already lowered the maturity level

 

....use the stud extractor to get the nuts off.

 

uhhhuhuhuh.. I said "get the nuts off"

[Gloyale]

uh..... hahahha....Stud exctractor...hahhahaha

[subaruguru]

lol ah ha ha ha +100 for vicegrips (life savers)

[nkx]

i would probably hammer on a smaller socket if i didnt have a nut splitter handy. hit the rest of those nuts with pb blaster!

[regularman]

I have a small 6" ridged pipe wrench that works wonderfull on things like that and bites in 100 times better than vice grips and doesn't slip and round off the nut like vice grips. It will remove the nut or break the stud off, especially if you put a cheater handle on it.

[Gloyale]

I have a small 6" ridged pipe wrench that works wonderfull on things like that and bites in 100 times better than vice grips and doesn't slip and round off the nut like vice grips. It will remove the nut or break the stud off, especially if you put a cheater handle on it.

 

Problem is the exhaust pipe makes using wrenches or Visegrips difficult

[LUVMYBRAT]

fire axe it!!

[zyewdall]

Angle grinder is nice -- but then you are left with a chopped stud you need to remove.

 

Personally, if you can't get a grip on it with vice grips or pipe wrench, I'd weld a chunk of steel of some sort on there -- like a new larger nut perhaps. Having a wirefeed welding sitting next to the car is dangerous.... Gives you ideas

[idosubaru]

no way vise grips or sears bolt kits are going to work. couldn't touch it.

 

i need a torch. i'm going to cut the exhaust off and pull the engine and deal with them out of the vehicle.

 

ha - PB blaster. i hit them multiple times with PB blaster the 24 hours before starting on it.

 

nothing worked on all 4 of these seized jokers.

[daeron]

The stud extractor tool I mentioned still stands a decent chance of working..and it is a worthy tool to have around. Something like this but maybe find one singly, a little cheaper perhaps.. perhaps this beauty from harbor freight.. of course, the HF one has no price on the website, half the time I find their website that has no prices. :-\

 

..and I don't even think to buy PB Blaster anymore. Seafoam Deep Creep beats B'laster to hell just as bad as B'laster trumps WD-40; if not moreso.

[heartless]

learned from a small local exhaust shop run by an older gentleman:

 

heat with torch

cool by spraying water from spray bottle

heat

cool

heat

cool

continue as many times as necessary to clean off the "crud" and break the nut loose

might take a while, but it does work

[samneric]

learned from a small local exhaust shop run by an older gentleman:

 

heat with torch

cool by spraying water from spray bottle

heat

cool

heat

cool

continue as many times as necessary to clean off the "crud" and break the nut loose

might take a while, but it does work

 

Here here!

 

I use heat then spray Blaster while its hot and expanded or is still cooling down so the spray can hopefully pentrate further along the threads.

 

Then I'd use the "Impact Wrench quality" bolt extractor from sears.

 

You may try hitting the bolt extractor (on the nut) with a BFH - I mean really hitting it.

 

I had problems removing the flywheel from my engine which I finally managed with the combination of impact bolt remover, heat and BFH.

 

Steve

[operose]

to everyone that says vice grips are too big.... have you tried smaller vise grips?

 

 

my junkyard xt6 that spent 5 years or so belly pan deep in a mud puddle had exhaust studs that just wouldn't let the nuts come off. it was like the exhaust, the studs, the nuts, and the block had all become one entity.

 

vice grips, pb blaster, and a propane torch and I was in business

[glfarnes]

I've had good luck in situations like this using a four inch grinder and grinding one or two sides of the nut down to near the threads and then hitting the nut with a small chisel on the left side of the ground area. The heat of the grinding and the impact usually takes them right off. Just be careful and not grind too deep.

[idosubaru]

for me it's not that the v grips are too big, it's that they don't cut it. i can't put nearly as much torque into them as a 3 foot breaker bar on a socket wrench. it's stripping the bolt head with a 3 foot pipe over my socket wrench handle and still not budging. there also isn't any stud left outside of the bolt, it's all rusted away. oddly, the rest of the car isn't really rusted that badly. it's like they intended the exhaust studs to rust like stupid.

[joostvdw]

for me it's not that the v grips are too big, it's that they don't cut it. i can't put nearly as much torque into them as a 3 foot breaker bar on a socket wrench. it's stripping the bolt head with a 3 foot pipe over my socket wrench handle and still not budging. there also isn't any stud left outside of the bolt, it's all rusted away. oddly, the rest of the car isn't really rusted that badly. it's like they intended the exhaust studs to rust like stupid.

 

well I guess you're absolutely sure now that you won't loose your exhaust

 

the method described by glfarnes will also work, but it's kinda destructive, but if that's the way to go then that's the way to go...