Advise on how to remove rusty allen bolts (1 Viewer)

[77ToyFJ40]

Whats the best way to get the rusty allen bolts out of the face of the locking hubs?

 

[charliemeyer007]

Warm them, then soak with Kroil. Wait a few days while keeping them wet. Use a punch and impact them several times too. Its been a while but can you pull the nuts/cones and remove the hub so that gravity can help.
Use a good steel allen wrench the first time, a cheap crappy one will fail and start rounding out the bolt leaving less to work with when you do get a good wrench.

 

[Mark Jennings]

Whoo! I’d start with penetrating oil…..most likely you’ll be drilling those bad boys out!

 

[3_puppies]

cut thru with a cutoff wheel and buy new Aisin hubs from cruiser outfitters

 

[65swb45]

Sometimes it’s faster/easier/safer to drill the heads off the screws. There will still be enough threads above the hub housing once you remove the hub dial to unthread them with pliers.

And if you’re going to buy different hubs, I would be interested in your takeoffs.

 

[steffan]

That’s impressive! Must have been running on the beach?
I’ve never had much luck with penetrating fluid…. Always end up with a torch to heat them. These look like they’re already rounded out - I would build it up with a nice weld bead and turn them out with pliers

 

[serenity]

Make sure to clean out the head of the bolt to get full depth with the tool. Heating and cooling cycles, penetrating oil and patience.
I find good cr-v tools resist rounding better than cr-mo. If you do round out a head I’ve had luck driving in a torx bit.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Drill the faces of the screws/bolts. Remove the remaining portion and use one of these kits to rebuild

Warn Locking Hub Service Kit - Fits 4x/6x Applications With Warn 28771 Locking Hubs (HUBWARN7309)

Warn Locking Hub Service Kit - Fits Warn 4x/6x Applications With Warn 28771 Locking Hubs (HUBWARN7309)

cruiserteq.com

 

[Blue77FJ40]

^ on the Kroil soak. When you assemble and reinstall - hopefully the Aisans, use plenty of copper anti-sieze on the stud threads and the cone washers. Now, when I disassemble, I use a hard plastic hammer or smaller ballpeen on the rim, just outside of the stud holes. Just a smart tap, nothing savage. Best to leave the nut on a few threads to catch the cone washer when it tries to fly off. A tad of the anti-seize on the cap screws/bolts couldn't hurt.

Don't forget a light coating over all interior hub parts of high speed wheel grease, especially on the splines that the locking cap ring slides up and down on.

 

[South Texas 97]

all of the above, especially on the anti-seize when rebuilding - you have dissimilar metals (steel and aluminum) so there will be some reaction between them.
I used Torx effectively, but ended up having to drill the head of the bolt off.

 

[peesalot]

Why does everyone assume that after the heads are drilled off the rest will unthread, isn't the threaded portion being corroded causing the issue, why would it spin out after the head is drilled off ? Hit them with a plumbers torch and see if they will break loose.

 

[77ToyFJ40]

I tried it without penetrating fluid and they surprisingly came out no problems

 

[South Texas 97]

@peesalot I agree with you - drilling the head off allows the flange to be removed and lets you get some leverage on the shaft of the bolt. I agree with the heat on the aluminum will probably help break it free

 

[WarDamnEagle]

I tried it without penetrating fluid and they surprisingly came out no problems

Good for you; they looked pretty bad. Nobody mentioned an impact driver but that's my first go to after Kroil and/or PB Blaster.

Edit: To be clear, by Impact Driver, I mean a manual one like this:

Snap-on Store

shop.snapon.com

 

[mattressking]

I tried it without penetrating fluid and they surprisingly came out no problems

Because they thread into aluminum. The threads will let go before rust does anything on hardware. Plus the torque is quite low, again....because of aluminum.