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Had to choose between a 3/8-inch drive and a 1/2-inch for a stubborn sheave bolt in a Boston high-rise
The bolt on the 12th floor machine room was totally frozen, and I only had room for one breaker bar setup. I went with the 1/2-inch drive and a cheater pipe, which worked, but the bolt head snapped clean off with a loud pop that made the building manager jump. Anyone have a better method for seized hardware in tight spaces?
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elliotm576mo ago
Remember a job where we had to pull a seized impeller off a pump shaft in a crawl space... couldn't get a real puller in there. Ended up heating the hub with a little propane torch for what felt like an hour, then tapping around it with a hammer while my buddy pried. Came off with a groan, not a snap. Heat and patience beat brute force most times, in my experience.
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smith.nancy6mo ago
Man, heat is the way to go, right? I had a caliper bracket bolt on my truck that just would not budge. Soaked it in penetrant for two days, nada. Finally got a torch on there for a good five minutes, let it cool a bit, and it cracked loose with a normal ratchet. That snap you heard is such a gut punch, all that work and now you gotta drill it out.
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